| Peak: | Capitol Peak - 14,130 feet | |
| Posted By: | Kiefer | |
| Post Date: | 10/28/2009 | |
| Date Climbed: | 10/26/2009 | |
|
|
Return to TR List Printer-Friendly Version Add a Report My Reports |
| Some winter recon on ‘The Fortress‘ |
Capitol Peak ♦ Sunday 25th & Monday 26th ♦ Glen & Kiefer ♦ 15.1 miles Glen had some time off coming up and wanted to hit something big. We had bounced a few ideas off each other like going down to the Wilsons, hitting something up in the Elks, a slew of 13ers and 12ers in the Cimarron or possibly staying closer to home for something more convenient. The weather forecast wasn’t too good and actually deteriorated a bit. It was looking like Monday would be the only good day for a summit. That logically ruled out the San Juans; long way to drive for basically one day of climbing. Then Glen brought up the idea of Capitol Peak, a mountain that I often refer to as ‘The Bastion’ of the Elk Mountains. We thought it over and decided the Elk’s was our ticket. I was actually surprised at how fast I was to agree to Capitol Peak. Because last time, as I was walking away down the trail, I was angrily mumbling to myself like Will Smith does in Independence Day, as he’s dragging the alien across the desert wrapped in his parachute, I reached a point of inner frustration  , I turned around and yelled out, “And F**k You!” It took me 6 attempts to land that 1 summit and I promised myself unconditionally that I’d never go back. Down-climbing the summit in a cloudbank with it snowing on that 6th attempt just made me feel that this mountain had something personal against me. I’ve experienced some of the worst weather ever in the backcountry on this mountain.
Since I was already in Northern Colorado having ‘attempted’ (use that word loosely) Keyhole Ridge on Long’s Peak, Stephanie and I drove down to Glen’s house in Golden and after some catching-up, Glen and I parted ways with Stephanie who then drove back up to Lumpy Ridge (Estes Park) to meet Chase to take care of a stubborn rope. 
Glen 
Kiefer 
Capitol Glen and I started to hike in mid-afternoon. It took some time to figure out how to cross Capitol Creek (the bridge is gone-either washed out or intentional) but we set out on a reasonable pace. Neither one of us felt a dire need to get to the lake, so we kept our pace moderate. Temperatures were probably in the neighborhood of low 40’s and we didn’t want to start sweating profusely only to start shivering massively once we set camp. We stomped a decent patch of snow about a mile from the lake just before the trail prominently switchbacks up the slope. Glen brought his new Hilleberg tent, a 3-man mansion with one hell of a covered front porch. What a tent! Before we turned in, we joked that we had started the day off hiking in some great fall conditions/temperatures and had somehow fast-forwarded right into winter  . We were hoping that summer would make a guest appearance higher on the mountain. Temperatures had crept down to the high teens and when we woke around 6:30am, we struggled out of camp through low single digits. The cold is so enveloping and consuming the first few trips out until you can re-adjust your body and mind back into winter mode. The mental game is, in G.I. Joe‘s own words, "...half the battle!" 
We never hit the lake. We kept hearing a coyote wail and we wanted to possibly see it. So we angled through the forest on an ascending traverse and once we breached tree-line, we found ourselves already high on the slopes coursing towards the saddle. We linked exposed rock and scant cover as best we could but still post-holed considerably. We reached the saddle and took our first real break. We left camp at 8:00am and it had taken us almost 2 hours to get this far. But, man, the mountains and skies were astounding! The skies were, in the words of Marilyn Manson, "...as blue as a gunshot wound". We left the Capitol/Daly saddle shortly after 10:00am and proceeded up onto the alternative class-4 ridge that leads directly to K2. This ridge under winter conditions was undoubtedly the hardest class-4/5 I’ve ever undertaken. The clearing and sweeping of ledges, chopping of underlying ice and tugging rock to determine what was stable was endless and aggravatingly tiresome. Just in order to gain the ridge, I had to kick steps 4-6 times per step and punch holes with my fists in the large but mellow cornice just to get up on top. I snapped a shot of Glen coming up and he continued on past me leading most of the way. The gendarmes of which, we counted two prominent ones, were steep and there was no safe way around them except straight up and over. Traversing on either side due to the snow & ice was simply not an option. Fact we never left the crest for the whole span. We counted three knife sections interspersed with narrow catwalk segments. These knife sections, one in particular made the ‘proper’ knife section past K2 pale. Glen actually referred to one specific section as a PnP climb (poop in pants). *The summit register of Peak Nine in the San Juan’s actually has a comment by someone who detailed that particular summit as a PnP mountain. While straddling the ridge, I had to inch out to grab a 5’-6’ column of rock. I leaned out to bear hug the thing and having only air under my feet, swung myself around to a small ledge on the other side. I loosened my grip to allow myself to slide a little while slowly inching my butt out so that I could place both palms on the ledge. I worked my arms down so I could have my forearms supporting my body and finished the move by landing my feet on the next ‘safe’ ridge segment. It was awkward to say the least. I’m sure there was probably a much safer way of getting around this but with the snow cover, hell if I knew where that was. Turns out, Glen performed the same maneuver. 
UN12,751 This is the point right across from Capitol. 
Another view of UN12,751 This is going to sound really weird but trust me on it. On several other sections where I didn’t trust the holds or ledges, I sat straddled, had both hands in contact with the rock, many times, jamming curled-up fingers in cracks and I made sure to sit on a fin or crest of rock, basically putting the center of my ‘cheeks’ in the middle, as it were (cough-cough)  , until my feet could reach something more secure then what was immediately within reach. Honestly, it felt strange and really weird (no surprise) but what it did was give me extra security of where my body was and center of balance/gravity. All I can say is that it worked for the place & time.
After a long mad dance of twisting and turning, climbing into the rock and facing out, mantling, lowering and pushing/pulling simultaneously like some drugged ballerino in his dying throes, we finally reached the end of the ridge and were able to pick our speed up and we cruised on up towards K2 on gentle open ridges. We were both surprised at the amount of snow on the ridge and higher slopes. There was more then we had thought and I guess, we were counting on most of the ridges being windblown. It seems the underlying ice layer was bonding the snow on the rock but on the open slopes, it was all knee-deep unconsolidated powder and sugar. There was one very awkward move to clear in order to gain the summit of K2. I had swept as much snow as I could from a couple of ledges on slabby granite about stomach level and finally asked Glen for his axe since he had it handy. I chipped away the ice but I could sense Glen was getting antsy. We switched positions and he somehow ‘wormed’ his way up the tilted 5’ long slab to a good hold just out of reach. It was impressive. I continued to clean the rock till I was satisfied (mainly thinking about the down-climb of this same section) and also wormed my way up and met him on the summit.
From the lower valley 
Shelter 
Let the ascent begin! Now came the dilemma. We discussed this thoroughly going over 4-5 different scenarios. We both felt good, astoundingly good actually. We had no doubt that we could reach the summit of Capitol. The unknown however, was the down-climb. The ridge traverse from the Capitol-Daly saddle to the summit of K2 took us just under 3 hours. From what we could gleam from the topo, it’s roughly ¾ mile long. Once past K2, following the standard route as it traverses across Capitol’s NE face wasn’t going to happen. I wanted no part of that especially on dry, early season bad snow. I remember that snowy down-climb from a few years ago being a solid 10 on the pucker scale. We both agreed that the safest path was keep to the ridge crest. But how long would it take to down-climb back to K2? It was about 3:10pm. We fathomed another 2 hours to reach the summit. That put us at 5:00ish. We guesstimated that the down-climb would take somewhere around 3 hours to complete which, would put us back on K2 between 7:30-8:00pm, in other words, after dark. Add to that, descending the normal route post-holing and traversing unseen slopes with the temperature dropping back down into the single digits. Neither one of us had bivy gear and the snow was so dry and unconsolidated, digging a small cave would have been impossible. Glen and I wanted no part of that. It would be inviting an accident. So even though the decision wasn’t what we wanted, we felt we made the correct choice. It’s tough sometimes to listen to that inner voice of reason (Ego) when your Id is trying to smother it. We reached camp at 7:15pm and promptly packed up the tent and re-organized our packs while the stove was boiling water for tea and water on the way out. I was able to have a wonderful dinner of ½ a powerbar (actually a Honey Stinger Bar but the word ‘powerbar’ has become synonymous in my vocabulary with anything that resembles hardened regurgitated termite spit), a couple chocolate medallions, some dry salami from Glen, 2 Cliff Shot Bloks and a cup of hot lemonade so alarmingly sweet, I actually yelped and coughed. Though we didn’t summit, I still feel the trip was a success because of finally having climbed a ridge I’ve been wanting, standing on K2’s summit (in winter conditions) and observing/collecting some valuable info on the basin and peak for a winter attempt later in January. Though now, I don’t hate Capitol Peak anymore even despite a record of 1:7. I’ve come to respect the gray fortress that it is, as one of the few Colorado Mountains that could hold it’s own on the world stage. 
Mt. Daly (13,300) and our path 
Clark Peak Now THAT‘S a spicy meatball! 
Just another day at the office! 
One of the knife sections before K2 
The first gendarme 
Snowmass and its‘ tantalizing ridge. #1 on the list for summer of 2010 
Glen cresting the mellow cornice at the start of the ridge 
Kiefer NINJA!! 
Our Trail from treeline 
Glen clearing the tricky move just below K2 Thumbnails for uploaded photos: 
 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go To Top | ||||
|
| Comments or Questions (21) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Go To Top | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
. I am betting that you‘ll get Capitol done this January no problem. I haven‘t really looked at the winter ascent route on Capitol, but I think I would want the pro of a rope while crossing that South-East Face!
Caution: The information contained on this page may not be accurate and is not intended to be used as an instructional guide. Trip report text and photos can sometimes make terrain appear easier (or more difficult) based on the descriptions or photos provided by the author. Before climbing a 14er, make sure you have the proper equipment and skills. Failure to have the necessary experience, physical conditioning, supplies or equipment can result in injury or death. Hike, climb, or ski with care and use your best judgment and climb with experienced partners when possible. Mountaineering requires sound judgment and adequate physical conditioning. Be wary of all terrain and know when to turn back. Please read the 14ers.com Safety and Disclaimer pages for more information
©2009 14ers.com