Quick Stats

• Capitol Peak: 14,130 ft.
• “K2″: 13,664 ft.
• Elevation gain: 5,300 ft.
• Approach distance: 13 miles (round trip)
• Climb distance: 4 miles (round trip)
• Climb difficulty: Insane (Class 5)

Trip Summary

I decided to attempt Capitol after climbing Huron and Browns Peak in early June. I thoroughly enjoyed this climb even though I was out of shape and marginally equipped for the climb. After I returned from this trip I vowed to get in shape, get the gear I needed, and climb a more physically challenging mountain. Capitol Peak has always attracted my attention because of the physical and mental challenge it presents. I first learned about Capitol on the forums at 14ers.com because of its difficulty – Capitol is regularly included in lists of the most difficult 14ers in Colorado. SummitPost.org has a stern warning to would-be climbers:

The mountain demands much of those who climb it…Any approach is long, the climb itself is equally long over countless rock obstacles above considerable exposure.

The note is warrented – many climbers have perished on its slopes. In fact, last year James Flowers, the United States Paraolympic Swim Coach, died on “K2,” a sub-peak of Capitol Peak. However knowledge of climbing safety and physical preperation drastically reduce chances of accidents.

So why climb this difficult mountain? I climbed it because of its immense beauty, the physical and mental challenge of climbing safely, and the impact the experience has on how I look at life. Higher difficulty climbs invoke a certian focus and determination, knowledge of your own mortality, and a respect for the vast expanse of God’s creation.

There was no place that this was more evident than our first glipse of Capitol not far from the trailhead.

Capitol Peak from the trailhead area.

I was joined on this trip by Travis Arment and Matt Payne (of 100summits.com). Both of these guys are fit, talented, and were committed to the climb.

Matt Payne and Travis Arment hiking the “Ditch” approach.

Travis Arment and Mike Vetter with Capitol in the background.

Matt Payne walking through a beautiful alpine meadow.

We hit the trail around 10am for the 6.5 mile approach hike. Even though we were far away, we were treated to our first glimpse of Capitol right away. After a long slog on mostly level ground, we began to gain elevation and a better view of the mountain.

The remainder of our approach hike with Capitol looming.

Our approach hike was largely uneventful, with a bit of huffing and puffing the last half mile or so. We set about pitching tents and getting settled. This was all done at around 2pm, giving us time to relax and enjoy the view.

Travis Arment blowing up his comfort mat.

We walked the short distance to Capitol Lake and I proceeded to replenish my water supply. I had a new device for this trip – the SteriPen. Essentially this device is supposed to use some sort of radio waves to clean your water. The problem is that the device isn’t intuitive, and I was never confident that the water was actually safe to drink. The guys spent a good portion of the rest of the trip giving me a hard time about my bad purchase. Fortunately Matt had a real water filter, so we were able to get clean water to drink with no problems.

Capitol Lake panoramic shot.

The panoramic shot of the Capitol Peak ridgeline below is one of my favorites – it will probably be blown up to a poster size and framed in my office. What a view!

Capitol Peak ridgeline panoramic.

View back toward the valley we hiked in from.

Capitol and me…

After we enjoyed the warm afternoon sun, we grabbed some supper and headed in for the night. We were in our sleeping bags at 8pm, a normally insanely early time. However we were well aware that we had a 4am wake up call and a 12 hour plus day ahead of us.

Our alarm hit and we were up right away. There were already headlamps lit and headed up the mountain, so we wasted no time in getting our gear together.

Travis and Matt at 4am looking a bit tired, but ready to rock.

We started up the trail in pitch black night and hit the steep ridge trail straight away. The initial ridge climb is a 1000ft slog up a steep switchback. It wasn’t technically difficult but it made my lungs burn. With no training this ridge would have decked me.

At the top of the ridge we were greeted with an incredible sunrise against the peaks to our east.

The beginning of our sunrise on the top of the ridge connecting us to Capitol.

Mount Daily Sunrise Panoramic. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

The rising sun washes us in warmth as we climb.

I shot a few clips of the sunrise experience and some early climbing as the sun burst over the horizon.

We turned off our headlamps and began ascending the more difficult class 3 scramble that promised to lead us to higher elevations.

Travis navigates a tricky section of the approach scramble.

After climbing to the top of the ridge, we climbed to the peak of a small point of rock known as “K2″, not to be confused with the great mountain in Pakistan. At this point things started to look a lot more steep.

View from “K2″ looking down the steep ridge toward Capitol.

Mike climbing on the ridge with K2 in the background. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

After climbing over K2, we set our eyes on the infamous “Knife Edge” – a sheer, pointed section of the ridge that is extremely exposed on both sides. The Knife Edge must be experienced in person to really feel the madness of looking down over 1,200 feet of exposure on both sides of you, with a thin slice of rock between your legs.

A fall from Knife Edge would probably be fatal, so we naturally decided to video tape our potential last moments. Since I own the video camera, it was decided that I should go first. What a great idea. Not.

Mike beginning his crossing of Knife Edge. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

Watch the video below to get an idea of what crossing Knife Edge was like.

Once I got onto the rock I found it was not technically difficult. I decided right away that I would not straddle the rock, but instead would use simple climbing moves to grip small cracks and handholds to stay attached to the mountain. I felt comfortable enough to stop and take a picture down the massive void on each side.

The 1,200ft void beneath me on Knife Edge.

I managed to cross the exposed section with no major mishaps other than a couple times that my boots slipped down the steep rock. I felt confident once I got into the swing of crossing the thin bridge. Matt came next and didn’t have any major issues. Travis, with this being the first substantially exposed section of his life, did surprisingly well. He opted for the “crotch” method of crossing this section, which means he kept a leg on either side of the knife the entire way. This meant he got a good arm workout and risked mangling himself, but he managed to come out unscathed.

I assumed that after Knife Edge we would go back to standard scrambling up to the peak. Wrong. We continued along the spiny ridge on class 4 and lower class 5 climbing.

Travis and Matt navigate an exposed section of the ridge we followed.

Another 30 minutes of climbing brought us to the foot of the Capitol summit pyramid. What a view it was!

Mike just below the final summit pyramid. Photo by Matt Payne.

Matt preparing for the final push.

After investigating the possibility of dropping to the left on the “standard route”, we decided to take a more direct, steep route straight up the ridge. This required some low class 5 climbing, but the route was much less loose and had drastically lower rockfall danger. Since both Matt and I prefer steeper (exposed), more solid climbing over rockfall danger, we made the easy decision to take the direct route. Travis seemed much less excited about this plan, but went along with the idea.

The route turned out to be a steep yet very solid option. At the same time we climbed this route we heard multiple rockfalls to our left, another reason I like staying above the madness even if the route is more steep.

A steep portion of the climb near the summit.

At times the route felt very exposed and airy, but it was solid. Travis, with this being his first Class 4/5 climb, got the “Elvis shakes” a few times during the ascent, which was kind of funny, but really scary. “Elvis shakes” refer to a rapid shaking motion of your feet when your calves burn out from straining to keep your feet in small holds. Fortunately Travis’s shakes didn’t last and he made it up just fine.

I felt very comfortable on the route thanks to a lot of training I did earlier in the summer at the Palisades back home. The 5.1-5.3 moves came naturally and felt great on the solid rock we encountered.

Here is a short clip of the climb near the top of Capitol Peak.

Another 30 minutes of class 4/5 scrambling is all it took us to climb the last 500 feet of rock to the summit. My lungs, although busy, were able to keep up with the steep ascent. It felt absolutely wonderful to be climbing challenging rock above everything else in our area. As I pulled myself up the last few boulders, I realized that there was nothing left to climb. As I walked the last few feet, the mountain disappeared and an incredible panoramic view opened up in front of me. The view took my breath away as the world opened up before me.

Capitol Peak summit panoramic view including Snowmass Mountain (14,092ft).

Capitol Peak southeast panoramic view – Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

North Maroon Peak (14,014) and Maroon Peak (14,156ft) from the summit. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

My summit picture with Snowmass Mountain in the background. – Photo by Matt Payne.

A group of climbers including Matt and Travis on the summit.

Another summit picture with one of the beautiful Pierre Lakes on the right. Photo by Matt Payne.

A zoomed view of one of the Pierre Lakes. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

For a short tour of the summit, watch the video below.

After spending about an hour on the summit, we ditched our laziness and began the long trek down the mountain. Instead of attempting a downclimb of a class 5 route with no ropes, we opted to use the standard route. Although this route was less steep, it was much more loose, and only marginally less exposed. I felt much less safe on this route, but there were no other options. So down we went.

Mike and Travis downclimbing an exposed section of rock below “K2″. Photo courtesy Matt Payne.

I’m looking over my boots down at the loose rock that made the descent challenging.

Matt downclimbs an airy section of rock about 500ft below the summit.

The Knife Edge was there again, just as steep as the way up. We were more confident this time, although a bit more tired. The second crossing went by largely uneventfully.

Travis wraps up his final crossing of the Knife Edge.

After some knee-pounding scrambling for over an hour, we made it down from the summit area, and down into the valley that lead back to camp.

Travis carefully navigates one of the few remaining snowfields on our descent.

Matt is stoked to be finished bouldering!

Our valley once again comes into view – a welcome relief from the constant rock descent.

After dropping back over the ridge (a very quick descent!), I was greeted with this amazing view of Capitol set against a beautiful meadow filled with flowers.

Capitol Peak with a high-elevation alpine meadow in the foreground.

We packed up camp and headed down the mountain, ready to eat some mad pizza as soon as civilization could be reached.

Matt and Travis are stoked to eat pizza ASAP.

After another two hours of downhill walking and a lot of sore joints, we reached our car. We wasted no time in throwing our gear into Matt’s Jeep and burned it to the pizza. We were so excited to eat pizza that we didn’t document the experience. I assure you it was tasty.

Conclusion

Climbing Capitol was an incredible experience. It had all the elements of a great climb: physically and mentally challenging, technical (for my skill level), great company, and incredible weather. I’m blessed to have experienced what I did, and I hope it inspires others to go beyond what is comfortable and experience God’s amazing creation.

I’ll leave you with one final shot of the peak that captivated all of us.

Capitol Peak from Knife Edge set against a brilliant sky.

Photo Gallery