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climb14er
Aug 2, 2004, 4:24 PM
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It's been quite a few years since I last hilked into the Capitol Creek Valley the 6.5 miles to Capitol Lake at the base of granite laden Capitol Peak. This past weekend, was a marked change from the past two months of rainy weather in Colorado's high country. It was absolutely glorious, beautiful, warm and even sometimes downright hot.
The backpack in to the valley begins with a drop of four hundred feet to the valley floor. This altitude gain/loss, especially on the return can be somewhat mitigated if you take the Capitol Creek Ditch trail on the way back. It's higher up in the valley and is very scenic in its own right. The 6.5 mile trip took up 2.5 hours with some nice scenic stops along the way. Easy and gradual the whole way up.
If you've never seen Capitol Peak, you're in for as surprise. (I'll try to get some pics posted soon). The peak fills up the whole end of the valley with a towering massif of solid granite on the north side. On the south side, it's a mixture of granite and broken slabs of large taous and some scree.
The round trip from Capitol Lake to the summit of Capitol, going over the 1000 ft saddle to the south side, then down a few hundred feet and up to the 13,500 ft K2, across the 'knife edge', etc is approx 2800ft. and four miles. This is small on elevation gain and mileage but the amount of time and attention needed on virtually the entire climb, save for the lake to saddle is amazing. You've got to pay attention closely on the entire Class 4 sections including decent from K2.
The crux for me wasn't anything on the knife edge or the traverse eventhough this is a scary section for most. The 'dangerous' section is once you leave the traverse from K2 to Capitol and begin the ascent upwards and along the SW face. Here you have incredibly loose rock, tons of scree in sections and did I mention, lots of loose rock and steep angles with tons of open air exposure. I went high most of the time to see if I could stay as close to the better rock near the high ridge but at times, the natural routing would take me down a little, skirting the cliff bands and rock face, intermittent with more lose rocks.
The mountain is a mixture of solid granite and loose flakes and other rocks that can easily break off. It is imperative to always check hand and foot holds. The four of us made it to the summit of K2 in a little less than three hours and another hour and fifteen minutes to the summit of Capitol. Round trip time was 8.5 hours including losing the decending climbers trail that goes down a steep gully at 4:45am, even with headlamps and the full moon and wasting a solid twenty to thirty minutes. DUH! We also spent A LOT of time on Capitol's summit and on the knife edge, just having fun.
If you're comfortable rockclimbing, you'll have zero difficulty with the knife edge. We had fine weather the whole day and this lessened any stress levels related to weather, like rain and lightning. I for one would not like to be anywhere up high on Capitol during a storm. You're well up over 13,000 ft. 80% of the time on the climb and after the knife edge, you're well over 13,500 ft. so it's necessary to pay attention to the skies.
The hike back out was LONG as we were all a bit on the tired side of life. We camped at the highest spots available in the area and the beauty of the full 'blue moon' when we got out of our tents at 3:15am was breathtaking with the massive granite north face reflecting the light.
Oeverall, another great 14er trip this summer with fine friends and for once, GREAT weather. Visit the valley sometime and if you choose, climb Capitol. This is one of the most beautiful areas of Colorado with views to Snowmass Peak, the Maroon Bells, Castle, and the valley right now is lush and green, filled with great fragrances of emerging wildflowers.
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dlintz
Aug 2, 2004, 4:54 PM
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Nice report and I agree with you completely, Capitol Peak is not to be missed. Definitely one of Colorado's best.
Doug
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climb14er
Aug 4, 2004, 1:51 AM
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Link to a few Capitol Peak pics:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ryanbadtke/album?.dir=/1ccd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ryanbadtke
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shrubby
Aug 4, 2004, 3:37 AM
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thanks for that great description and the photos. capitol is definitely on my hit list!
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kcrag
Aug 4, 2004, 5:11 AM
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In reply to: If you're comfortable rockclimbing, you'll have zero difficulty with the knife edge.
nice trip report. what an awesome peak. i have a different opinion about the knife edge/ridge, though. climbed the northwest buttress a while back (15 or so pitches, 5.9 and below, on chossy rock). the whole time i was climbing up, i was nervous about the descent (the standard route, crossing the knife edge). yes, it is only about 25 feet of positive hold traversing, but the exposure is wild and dangerous. each side is a sheer dropoff of over 2000'. you slip, you die. it really freaked me out. if you're at all nervous about it, rope up.
what a climb, and what a peak. enjoy.
-kelly.
here's a link to a pic that could freak you out... http://www.summitpost.org/...ain_id=398&route_id=
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climb14er
Aug 4, 2004, 1:02 PM
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[but the exposure is wild and dangerous. each side is a sheer dropoff of over 2000'. you slip, you die. it really freaked me out. if you're at all nervous about it, rope up.]
Totally agree.
Great shot you have there on the edge. Fine balance as well.
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climb14er
Aug 5, 2004, 4:05 PM
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Lots more pics:
http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ryanbadtke/album?.dir=/6c70&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ryanbadtke
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mother_sheep
Aug 5, 2004, 4:15 PM
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THAT'S IT!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! I'M GOING TO DO CAPITAL SOMETIME THIS SUMMER!! The knife edge looks cool. Would LOVE to do the NW Buttress and descend via the Knife Edge but that may be an endeavor that I'd be more prepared for next year. Great pics! They motivated me even more!!!
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mother_sheep
Aug 5, 2004, 4:17 PM
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Hey Jerry. . .is the Knife Edge more technical or difficult than the Peak to Needle traverse (Crestone)? It looks shorter.
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zen_alpinist
Aug 5, 2004, 4:53 PM
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I've been having the same thoughts about heading there soon too, anyone up for a group to head out within the next few weeks?
I'm available either the 15,16 or 22,23 of August.
I think on one weekend I'll be climbing the 3rd Flatiron and the other I'd like to do Capitol.
Definitely looking at the knife edge, not up for other routes just yet. Besides it doesn't look any more difficult than the Bash Ridge on Blanca which we just did last weekend.
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climb14er
Aug 5, 2004, 5:11 PM
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The Knife Edge is straight forward fun, with solid rock though lots of exposure. It's in one long 100 ft. section and then there's another thirty or so ft section that follows. My friend called it The Little Edge.
Personally, as I mentioned, if you're a good rock climber, you'll have no problem with the knife edge. Most do not rope up on this section as it only slows you down. The more difficult and dangerous section is the SW face with all the loose rock and very steep exposure. People have been killed on this section!
Any traverse, whether it be from K2 to the summit of Capitol and back which is about two and one half hours or the traverse between Crestone Peak and Needle is time consuming and needs to be done in near perfect weather. If you are up high, say above 13.5K for hours at a time, if weather moves in, then things happen, usually for the negative.
The rock on the Crestone traverse is great, lots of movement up and down with route finding, crossing gullies, etc. The K2 to Capitol is fairly straight forward and very sustained. You need to move quickly yet watch your step(s).
You'll have fun on the knife edge. There's the pic of me kind of manteling across, moving fast and then later on transferring to the south/left side, and doing some lean backs on the rock. I switched this around coming back.
You could do the buttress route to the summit, down the SW face, across the knife edge, across to K2, down five hundred feet, then up to the saddle and then back down to the lake...that would be a longish day. It would be good to have someone who knew the route really well as I wouldn't go into that kind of trip 'blind' assuming the factor of the weather. Other than that, the rock is solid granite.
I'd recommend just doing the route the standard way and getting some 4th. Class mountain 14er experience under your belt. You could always come back for high fifth class routes later on when you've got more of the tougher 4th Class peaks done. Just my humble opinion based on 'some' experience.
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dlintz
Aug 5, 2004, 5:51 PM
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In reply to: The Knife Edge is straight forward fun, with solid rock though lots of exposure. It's in one long 100 ft. section and then there's another thirty or so ft section that follows. My friend called it The Little Edge. Personally, as I mentioned, if you're a good rock climber, you'll have no problem with the knife edge. Most do not rope up on this section as it only slows you down. The more difficult and dangerous section is the SW face with all the loose rock and very steep exposure. People have been killed on this section!
On the descent I opted to skirt around K2 while my friend headed for the summit. Neither of us found the going very straightforward.
At the very eastern edge of the knife edge be sure to stop and take a look down the vertigo inducing "gully" on the south side....awesome.
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