Getting to the Top is Optional....Capitol & Daly in Late-Spring

Summer of 2017 was the worst one I can remember on Capitol. I offer my sincere condolences to the friends and family of the climbers who did not return from their climbs of this daunting peak. I don't want summer of 2018 (or any future year) to be like that. If this trip report helps even a single climber avoid a fatal mistake, it is well worth it to me. Ed Viesturs says it best in No Shortcuts to the Top, "Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory."

None of us know exactly what transpired in the series of accidents from summer 2017. A common theme though in 3 of the 5 deaths and another helicopter rescue was climbers off route. If you're thinking of climbing Capitol and have already grown bored with this Trip Report, please at least look at these first two photos.

Now check out the same spot viewed from Capitol's neighbor, Mt. Daly. It doesn't go.

Shocking change in perspective, right? I couldn't get my head around where or why people were trying to take a shortcut last summer and it was really disturbing to me. My wife pleaded with me to not go up last fall to check it out myself - it seemed Capitol needed a little "alone time". I could wait no longer this spring and headed back up to Capitol. If you have a short attention span, you can be done after looking at the first two pictures. Maybe a few will keep reading about the full climb.

Day One - Sunday June 3, 2018

I hadn't done Capitol since 2011, but from what I remembered, I didn't want to be on it with very many other people. An early-June summit takes care of most of that, but just to be sure, I decided to pack in on a Sunday and climb it on a Monday. Mission accomplished - I had the lake to myself aside from a family from Virginia (non-climbers) and saw no one else on the mountain. I also hoped to get a better look at Capitol from its neighbor, Mt. Daly A, which I had not yet climbed.

Stats
Car to camp at Capitol Lake - 2:50
Camp to summit of Mt. Daly - 1:57
Camp to camp RT for Daly climb- 3:37

Overcast skies kept it nice and cool during my pack in up to the lake. Capitol looked a bit menacing as a result.

I had read a couple of trip reports for Daly. It sounded like more than I wanted to bite off in a single day with Capitol, so I decided to climb it Sunday evening once I got my camp set up. The advantage of doing so was getting to climb it in the daylight (vs. a sub-alpine start for an ascent of Daly before a climb of Capitol). I found the trail mostly dry up to the Daly saddle. I turned left at the saddle and bypassed the first obstacle on the left (west side of the ridge).

I had read about a window in the ridge at the end of that first bypass - quite unmistakable.

I continued on for some class 3 traversing across the ridge without gaining any elevation for a while. I expected the rocks to be pretty solid on the ridge crest. Some were, but others weren't. Welcome to the Elk Range. For the most part, I stayed on the ridge crest and if something looked like it would go, it generally did. If it didn't look like it would go, there was a logical way to bypass it without dropping more than 20 feet from the ridge crest.

Day Two - Monday June 4, 2018

Stats
Camp to Capitol summit - 5:15
Elapsed time until I was back below K2 on descent - just under 8 hours
Camp to camp RT - 9:39
Pack out from camp to trail head - 2:57

My alarm went off at 3:30 AM Monday morning and I launched for Capitol at 4:19 AM after oatmeal and coffee. I ascended to the Daly saddle in the dark and was greeted with a couple of nice views from the top.

From the saddle, I walked a few feet to the right towards the gully to descend down into the basin. This is another area where fatalities have occurred - there is likely to be snow here - maybe into July and August. Bring traction - for Capitol, I think crampons are warranted over spikes.

Once down the steep descent gully, I turned and started traversing the great early-morning spring snow up into the basin.

Once off the snow, I took off my crampons and continued up towards K2.

The easiest way to get by K2 is to descend a little bit off to its north (right) side and go around the corner to the west side to bypass the steep Class 3/4 rock. You can also down climb that pitch. I've opted for the K2 down climb each of my first two Capitol climbs, but decided to check out the "easier" way this time. Unfortunately, K2's north side was still covered in snow (it was early June after all). I put my crampons back on and got my axe back out. I took my time and carefully descended 10-15 feet, then traversed across the steep snow slope to the rocky rib that marked safe passage to the west side of K2.

From K2, it is a short climb back up to the ridge crest, then some gentle scrambling on solid rock to get to the famous knife edge. I took my crampons off and didn't need them again until my descent.

The knife ridge gets all the hype on Capitol. Yes, a fall from here would be very bad. If you don't like exposure, you will hate it of course. It's a long way down in either direction. The rock is solid though and there are plenty of features just below the ridge on one side or the other such that you can just keep your hands on the top and walk your feet across below you and be just fine. The thing I like about the knife ridge is I feel like my safety is within my control. As long as I take my time, test the hand holds and choose foot placements deliberately, I'm not going to go anywhere. Beyond the knife ridge, that changes dramatically.

Once you reach the end of the flat traverse (of which the knife ridge is the middle), it's time to gain the last few hundred feet of Capitol. She does not give up those last few hundred feet easily however. The standard route goes well below the ridge onto the face on the east side. The ridge direct also goes, though I have not done it yet (planning that for my fall trip).

Here's another look at the upper part of the route taken from North Snowmass last week.

The face is the most dangerous part of this climb in my opinion - especially if you have other climbers above you. A few minutes on this face and you will quickly be longing for the solid rock from the trusty knife ridge. The standard route traverses most of the face, crossing loose gully after loose gully (which I found with some spring snow in them which wasn't very keen on staying on the mountain - my trusty axe came out each time). Despite the traffic that Capitol gets as a 14er, there were still plenty of loose rocks eager to make their exit from the upper peak. Most of the cairns were visible in traversing across the face, but even on route, this is no fall zone where you need to take your time and pay attention. Finally at the rib in the picture above, I turned uphill on more solid rock and gained the summit.

I didn't linger long. I was anxious to get back down the loose stuff, back across the knife ridge, up and over K2 and onto more forgiving terrain. Going down that loose face is even more tiring and exhausting than going up since gravity is now working with the rocks and encouraging you to go places you don't want to go.

I got back down off the face to the base of the ridge traverse and felt a sigh of relief. Right where you come off the upper face before going back across towards the knife ridge is where I took the first picture in the TR - of what I believe is the tantalizing apparent shortcut back down to the lake. Here it is again. BEWARE OF THIS SPOT AND DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DESCEND FROM HERE.

This is what you're looking at. It DOES NOT GO.

On my descent, I chose to climb up and over the top of K2 (a fairly straightforward Class 3 climb). Thrilled to be back down onto easier terrain, I cruised back down into the basin and to the gully I needed to ascend to get back to the Daly saddle. This last photo shows the slope angle a bit better with the snow and might help convince you to bring crampons and an axe along.

In Closing

My intent here is not to try to analyze last year's accidents or second guess any decisions made. Those are things I can't control. What I can control is trying to get information out there for future climbers that might help someone prepare a little better or make good decisions on the mountains (like "descend your ascent route"). If you are heading out to climb Capitol, you can control a number of things - the right gear (helmet, crampons, axe), the right research (14ers.com route descriptions, trip reports, topo maps), the right partners (experience counts), the right environment (a weekday climb with a good weather forecast), etc. Some things are outside of your control like the loose rock. Remember, you're in the Elk Range - check everything you touch before weighting it if the consequences of a mistake are severe.

Ed Viesturs has it right - getting to the top is optional; getting down is mandatory.

Thanks for reading, and as Melissa tells me every time I set off, have fun and stay safe.