7/3/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/3/2018, By: jladderud Info: Not much changed from the previous reports—summer conditions with a few snow gullies. Except, I'll add that if you are confident enough on your feet to be doing 4th-class scrambling on Capitol, you probably don't need to bring an ice ax for the snow gullies. Some microspikes and trekking poles are more than enough for most people (I didn't use either)—but of course that's ultimately your call to make. |
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7/1/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/1/2018, By: WildWanderer Info: Summer Conditions from trailhead to Mt Daly saddle. From here crampons or microspikes are useful off and on until you hike up to K2. There are at least 3 different cairned routes from the saddle to K2, depending on how comfortable you are traversing the snow gullies. You must summit K2 because the alternate route is covered by a large amount of loose snow. The knife edge is mostly solid, except for two slabs in the middle which are wobbly (and will probably flake off in the next year or two). The entire ridge and knife edge are dry. |
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6/30/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 7/1/2018, By: srtaylor1317 Info: Beautiful day for the climb. Started from the trailhead at 3:45am and climbed to the summit in almost exactly 6 hours. Snow free until past the saddle above Capitol Lake, and then intermittent snowfields to traverse--traction and ice axe recommended. The K2 bypass is clear of snow, but I had trouble finding it on the way up and just went over the top. The bypass trail was more obvious on the return. I was glad I got an early start because by the time I was returning from the summit, there was a steady stream of people kicking rocks loose, including a couple big ones. A good reminder that helmets help protect you from other people. I recommend staying as high as possible on the return trip, as that makes it less likely someone is kicking rocks on your head. I noted that most of the climbers were ascending on a pretty low line, and there were a handful of cairns much closer to the ridgeline (the cairns are small and hard to spot while ascending). Also, the rock is significantly more stable closer to the ridgeline (just like on the knife-edge). In the early afternoon the snow was still firm enough for a couple nice glissades on the descent. |
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6/23/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: alyannkar Info: The approach trail is snow free until just below the first set of campsites where there is a small snow patch to cross. The hike up to the saddle is snow free. After the saddle, there are several gullies covered in snow that you need to cross where an ice axe and spikes (crampons would have been better in my opinion, but I used spikes) are necessary. On both my ascent and descent, I took the ridge at first to avoid some of the gullies, but this depends on your comfort level with scrambling. Up to K2, there is quite a bit of snow. There is also still snow on the north side of K2, which did not look fun, so I went straight over the top. From K2 to the summit, there is no snow. I glissaded back down the snow on my descent; highly recommend. Time to backpack into the lake: 2.5-3 hours. Time from camp to summit: somewhere between 5 and 6 hours. Descent: 3 hours. Backpack out: 2-2.5 hours. |
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6/23/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 6/24/2018, By: dwoodward13 Info: Essentially snow free to the saddle. There are several snow gullies to cross and quite a bit of snow on the way up to K2 where traction/ax are highly recommended. Snow on the K2 bypass, so you have to go over the top. Snow free from this point to the summit. Summited at 2pm as planned due to concerns about weather on the following day. Snow was still supportive and glissade-able that late in the afternoon on the way down. Good camping at the lake but bring the bugspray! What a mountain! |
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6/19/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 6/19/2018, By: soloclimber97 Info: Trailhead to lake is 99% free of snow, clear all the way up Daly saddle. Still several snowfields that must be negotiated in the basin headed up towards k2. I used both micro spikes and axe, highly suggest bringing both. North side of k2 still has a considerable amount of snow, opted for going over the top of k2 which was completely dry and continued to be completely dry all the way to the summit. |
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6/10/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 6/11/2018, By: Flyingfish Info: The trail is essentially dry all the way to the Daly saddle. Through the trees below the lake there is quite a bit of blow down and avy debris. The creek crossing where the ditch trail joins the creek trail is outstandingly low at only ~10ft wide. From the Daly saddle to the last 500ft below K2 there is a very large snowfield which was quite soft even by 9am and on the way back down at 1:30pm was quite frustrating. The north side of K2 is still very snow covered so we opted to climb directly over K2. The rest of the route from K2 to the summit is dry. |
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6/4/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 6/4/2018, By: bmcqueen Info: Approach to the lake is mostly dry until about 11,400. The snow is melting fast though. Above the lake, the trail to the Daly saddle is almost all dry. Beyond the saddle, the descent gully is snow-filled and very firm in the morning. Great snow coverage (and very supportive in the am) going up towards K2. K2's north side easier bypass isn't so easy right now - the north side is covered in snow. Once beyond K2, things are mostly dry across the knife ridge to the start of the east face. On the east face, there are a few gullies holding a bit of snow that have to be negotiated. Most of the cairns are visible and most of the route is dry. Photos: 1 - Capitol from the Daly saddle 2/3 - Descent gullies from Daly saddle 4 - Looking back at Daly 5 - Looking up (K2 visible right center) 6 - K2 (snowy north side) 7 - Summit 8 - Looking back at upper route 9 - Looking up the descent gully to get back to the Daly saddle on the way out. |
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5/27/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 5/29/2018, By: stewilso Info: The trail is clear until about a mile before capital lake. The post holing starts out light and goes to full time post holing 1/2 mile from the lake. The summer trail from capital lake to the saddle is mostly clear. The snow pack was freezing slightly overnight but still had runnings water along the ground and rock out croppings (it is primed to soften super fast once the sun comes up). There is a boot/crampon path for about 1/4 mile beyond the saddle but it ends abruptly where most people turn around. |
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5/24/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 5/25/2018, By: soloclimber97 Info: Didn't make an attempt at the peak but attempted to run to the lake, most of the approach is dry until the last mile or so when postholing becomes a problem. Not sure how much longer till it's all melted out. |
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3/8/2018 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 3/9/2018, By: ScreeSurfer Info: This report is for the West Snowmass Creek/Moon Lake approach to Capitol. We put snowshoes on at the Snowmass Creek Trailhead and didn't take them off until 200' feet below K2. The snow was very supportive and our snow shoes usually only sank below the surface 2-4 inches, occasional short stretches in the trees to 6". We used crampons ascending K2 all the way to the summit staying on the ridge as the eastern face appeared to have 2-3 feet of softer unsupportive snow. Didn't see any slide areas except for one large area across the Pierre Lakes basin on the north face of North Massive. Pictures below: |
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9/15/2017 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 9/15/2017, By: soloclimber97 Info: Turned around at "k2" this morning as there was about 4 inches of fresh powder that fell overnight. There was about 2 inches of snow in the talus fields after dropping from the Daly saddle, on our way back a lot of it was already melted out. Hopefully it all melts out soon as I plan to head back next Friday. |
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9/7/2017 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 9/9/2017, By: kayleenann8 Info: As other reports have mentioned there are several minor snowfields. No need for traction. Easily avoided. Mountain is dry and clear of snow. There were no cairns on K2 when we were up there so added a few. Pretty much all of K2 including every fully looks like a social use trail at this point. Memorize your route! |
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8/20/2017 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 8/21/2017, By: chicagostylehotdog Info: As previously mentioned, the only snow are minor snowfields between the K2-Daly saddle and K2. Some are easily avoidable, but at least 2-3 that require you to cross. The two fields we crossed on the ascent (before we climbed up a gully off-route, avoiding the rest of the snow fields) around 5:00am, were solid, and were borderline requiring traction. Our group made it across without traction, but I can't say it was a great idea. Careful foot placement on suncupped section and old footsteps helped. We crossed all of them easily without traction on the descent around 9:30am when the snow was slightly softer. |
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8/6/2017 Route: Northeast Ridge Posted On: 8/7/2017, By: Marmot96 Info: Summer conditions from TH to top of the pass, then minor snowfields between the pass and K2. They can be avoided but will require that you lose/gain more elevation both directions. Bring spikes and poles/axe and you will be fine. Max angle 30 degrees. |