Capitol Peak & Snowmass Mountain Linkup – Pierre Lakes Basin

Post-Harvard Brainstorming

After finishing up the Columbia to Harvard traverse, I headed back into BV, fueled up at Love’s, and made my way to Aspen. I wanted to start backpacking in that afternoon, but decided it might be better to just relax and hike in the next day since I had just tackled Lindsey, Yale, Columbia, and Harvard in three days.

I tend not to know when to let my body rest, but looking back, fresh legs would’ve been the move. The whole drive I was constantly thinking about these two peaks — the difficulty, how to link them, and just how I wanted to approach it. Even though I had just completed a 5.7-rated traverse, Capitol still loomed in my head.

People always talk about how the Elks are crumbling, the rock is garbage, and that Capitol is just no joke — full lock-in factor from K2 up and back. I thought about doing both peaks via their standard routes and splitting it into two days, but after some thought I got set on the Pierre Lakes Basin as my camp. It looked like a great access point for both.

I’d read about two possible routes to Snowmass from Pierre:

• Low point in Satan’s Ridge (not much beta, west side said to be notoriously loose)

• Heckert Pass (well-known loose garbage)

I figured Heckert was the better move. Looking back… nope. Not the move.

Aspen Arrival & Bushwhack Special

Pulled into Aspen, went straight to New York Pizza, downed two massive slices and a beer, and then sat in the truck just gandering at what lay ahead.

Next morning, I fueled up, grabbed a breakfast burrito and a big coffee @ fuel, and headed to the Snowmass Creek Trailhead. To my surprise — free wag bags! And not just any wag bags, the good ones. I’ve never been so excited to see a wag bag.

Hit the trail at 12:33 p.m. expecting a fairly quick hike in. I had a GPX track for Clark’s Peak, knew Bear Creek would take me to the basin, and figured there might be some bushwhacking. Underestimated that big time. Shorts were a mistake.

First three miles on the main Snowmass Trail flew by (3 miles in about an hour), then I hopped the river and started losing/finding faint trails. Eventually came to a massive cliff slab with a waterfall. The GPX track showed a switchback here, but all I saw was endless trees to the right. Instead, I made a traverse over the slab with my stupid-heavy pack — some very questionable scrambling moves in there.

Thought I was close after cresting above the cliff… wrong. Over and over, I thought I’d top out, only to find more uphill. Finally, trees started thinning and North Snowmass came into view. I picked a hammock spot, set up camp, and hiked up to scout the lakes.

Even that was exhausting — endless massive boulders between me and the water. When I finally got there, I stared up at Capitol, the Wandering Dutchman Couloir, North Snowmass, and the unseen Heckert Pass. Honestly, for once, it felt like maybe linking these two wasn’t possible for me. The basin is freaking massive, and you don’t understand that until you’re in it.

Dinner was a Mountain House lasagna with meat sauce, some Liquid IV, and a Granny Smith. Weather looked good — just the usual afternoon thunderstorm chance. I decided if I could knock out Capitol early, I might have a shot at Snowmass. Set my alarm for 3 a.m.

Capitol Peak

Woke up groggy but excited — I’ve wanted to climb Capitol for as long as I can remember. Ate a Pop-Tart, drank some coffee,

and started moving at 3:38 a.m.

Made a few mistakes getting to the Wandering Dutchman, but topped out at 4:57 a.m. Loose, but not near as bad as Heckert would be.

Made a direct line for K2 and climbed it head-on — wanted the summit, plus it looked better than the loose 3rd-class bypass on the right. Topped K2 at 5:25 a.m. with the sun rising behind me, staring at the infamous beast ahead.

The downclimb off K2 was fun and fluid. Stayed right on the ridge crest all the way to Capitol instead of skirting the east face. Moved deliberately, checking every hold.Summited Capitol at 6:06 a.m. Took in the otherworldly views, called my dad, and stared across to Snowmass thinking, “Man… this is gonna be an interesting day and it’s only just starting.” I hadn’t seen a single soul all morning, so I spent way too long trying to get my phone to take timer shots — propping it up on random rocks, sprinting into position, and hoping for the best. Eventually decided I should probably start heading back. Topped K2 again at 6:53 a.m., finally crossing paths with a couple of parties working their way up as I was headed back to the wandering dutchman.

Heckert Pass & Snowmass

Dropped into the basin, filtered water, and began the endless rock hop toward Heckert. Reached the base of pass at 8:46 a.m. after dodging spiders and grinding up loose scree I found myself atop heckert.

From the pass, descended more scree toward Snowmass’ east slopes. Found a cairn and started the climb. Slow going. Felt like I was barely moving.

Finally topped out on the ridge and scrambled to the summit at 11:04 a.m. Called my dad, sat for 10 minutes debating North Snowmass, but decided against it. Still had to get back over Heckert and the weather could turn.

Descent to Heckert was slow. Climbing back over it? Just pure grind. Then more uphill back to camp. When I finally arrived, it had been 10 hours and 56 minutes since I’d left that morning.

Evening: Out to Aspen

I thought about staying another night, but the idea of crappy bar food won. Packed up and left camp at 3:10 p.m.

By some miracle, I found a trail on the way down that led all the way to the cliff/waterfall, saving time. After some bushwhacking, I hit the main Snowmass Creek Trail and those last three miles felt glorious.

Rolled into the truck at 7:33 p.m., zonked out and borderline delusional. Drove into Aspen, crushed two Modelos and some wings at Steep’s, and slept like the dead.

Thoughts After

• Going up and over Heckert twice was atrocious. Wouldn’t do that again.

• Low point in Satan’s Ridge intrigues me for a future loop — Capitol via moon lake then Wandering Dutchman, descend to low point, up west side of Snowmass, down east slopes to Snowmass Creek TH.

• Pierre Lakes Basin is way bigger and more committing than it looks on a map.

• People think I’m absurd for doing this solo, but I like moving at my own pace and getting lost in the process.

This was the pinnacle of type 2 fun. One of the hardest pushes I’ve ever done. I’ll remember it forever. Cheers.