Date: 3/19/09
Peak: Capitol Peak
Climb: NE Ridge (Knife)
Ski: Secret Chute
Crew: Joe Brannan, me
Capitol Peak has been in my head for a long time…A LONG time. I remember paging through Lou Dawson’s 14er guide while in elementary school, thinking, “How did he ski that?” I remember hearing my dad telling stories of trying to climb it in the winter and failing…twice. I remember the first time in 2005 when I climbed it during the summer, and then in 2007 when I climbed it for the first time during winter. I also remember (very vividly) the Spring of 2008 when Andy Dimmen and I tried to ski this peak, we were too late, too tired, and maybe even too scared to continue on, we rapped in to the secret chute and slogged our way back out of Pierre Lakes Basin.
After looking at pictures over the last week, I managed to convince Joe that it was worth begging the boss for a day off to go ski Capitol. Somewhat reluctantly, he decided to do it. Joe and I talked about how this mountain would actually keep us up at night if we started thinking about it too much during a given ski season. The couple nights before the big day were no different.
Joe drove up to my house in Basalt on Wednesday afternoon; I was still at the office when he got in to town. Our original plan was to walk in as far as we felt was reasonable that night and sleep for a few hours before the big morning. Through a slew of events (pretty much my fault), it was 7:30 before we were even ready to leave Basalt (and I had to drive back down to Carbondale to get my camera). We opted to still drive to the trailhead, but to sleep there rather than walk in, as we thought we would get more sleep.
Alarms set for 12:00AM We went to sleep around 8 pm. My alarm died during the night, and around 12:45 Joe yells “Dude! It’s 1:45.” That lit a fire in the bottom of my sleeping bag, only for me to jump up and realize he was off an hour, it was only 12:45. We quickly ate and put the boots on for the day. We were walking at 1:25 AM.
Joe and I were moving oddly fast for the first 3,500 vertical to Moon Lake. I’m not sure if it was the 2 five dollar footlongs I ate for dinner, or the massive lunch Joe at the day before, or maybe the fact that we had a nicely packed snowshoe trail to blast up, but either way, we were trucking.
Photo: Jordan—One of our few breaks down low
After moon lake, something to do with my motivation crumbled a little bit, and I slowed down considerably. I wanted to make myself move faster, but something wasn’t letting me.
Photo: Jordan—Moon above Moon Lake
But then the sun came up:
Photo: Jordan—Mount Daly
Finally I made it to the small bench below K2 where Joe had broken out the Jetboil stove. We had some tea and Ramen, harnessed up, cramponed up, and otherwise geared up for the rest of the climb. We also had our first views of the beast:
Photo: Jordan—Capitol Peak
Eating some food and the short rest gave me some sort of new motivation. It was my turn to lead, and I think the technical side of it makes it more fun for me, and therefore more motivating.
Climbing up to K2 was Sporty:
Photo: Jordan—Joe Climbing K2
Photo: Jordan—And Summiting
Photo: Joe—Jordan looking at the objective
Traversing around K2 might have been one of the sketchier sections of the day:
Photo: Jordan—Downclimbing in Crampons is always fun
The Knife Ridge:
Photo: Joe—Jordan on the Ridge
Photo: Joe—Jordan still on the ridge
Photo: Joe—Yet…still on the ridge
Photo: Jordan—Joe on the ridge
Photo: Joe—Jordan looking at the objective..again
Photo: Jordan—Here Comes Joe
Some interesting climbing ensued:
Photo: Joe—Jordan climbing something interesting
And then…I made a nasty mistake; I watched helplessly as the loop of my whippet slipped off my hand and started to tumble down the north face. My stomach was in my throat, suddenly it stopped in the snow about 25 meters below me. Joe got there, we immediately set up a sling and rope on the nearby rock protrusion. Joe lowered me down to where I could get it, and then I climbed back up, this was the hardest climbing I would do all day:
Photo: Joe—Jordan in the dungeon
I led the way for a bit longer, and then asked Joe to go for a little while, promising to take over again soon…well Joe seemed to like the front better, and he kept moving.
Photo: Jordan—Joe taking a turn
Photo: Jordan—Joe leading an interesting traverse
Then we climbed back up to the ridge
Photo: Joe—Jordan following with the North face dropping away
Back up the face:
Photo: Joe— Jordan following with the Southeast Face dropping away
Photo: Joe— Jordan following on some of the sportiest climbing of the day
Photo: Joe— Jordan following on some of the sportiest climbing of the day
Joe charging out front
Photo: Jordan— Joe approaching the final summit pitch
Well about half of the challenge is over for the day:
Photo: Jordan—Summit!
It was 11:30 am. Just 2.5 hours after K2, however 10 hours since we left the cars.
There was snow near the summit block, but it was sparse
Photo: Joe— Jordan starting the skiing (sort of)
Here comes Joe:
Photo: Jordan— Joe off the top
Photo: Jordan— Joe first turns
There was some traversing to the other face:
Photo: Jordan— Joe traversing
I took the lead down the first crux of the route, the snow here was a few inches of crap on top of a more solid pack (and the occasional rock).
Photo: Joe— Jordan scoping out the route
Photo: Jordan—A look back at Joe
Yeah…It’s that steep
Photo: Joe—
Starting the ski down the steepest section of the day
Photo: Joe— Jordan leading the way
Photo: Joe— Jordan through the hardest part
Here comes Joe:
Photo: Jordan— Joe down the crux..Look at that snow
Photo: Jordan— What is that like our 5th turn?
Back to Jordan:
Photo: Joe— Jordan Getting a little bit
Notice I am standing up straight:
Photo: Joe—
Photo: Joe—
Back to Joe:
Photo: Jordan—
Photo: Jordan— Little Arc’teryx advertisement
We’re almost there:
Photo: Joe— Jordan back to traverstng
Photo: Joe—
And we finally made it to the secret chute:
Photo: Jordan— Joe making one of his last turns before the rappel
A glance back:
Photo: Jordan—See our route: Capitol has lots of traversing
Happy Mountaineers:
Photo: Jordan—
Photo: Joe—
The Rappel: Great job setting that one up Joe!
Photo: Joe— Jordan leading the way
Photo: Jordan—Joe Cleaning her up
We all know what this is:
Photo: Jordan—
The secret Chute:
Photo: Joe— Jordan
Photo: Jordan—Joe
Photo: Jordan—Spot the skier?
Short Sleeve time:
Photo: Joe— I think we just made it down that on skis…
Photo: Jordan— Joe….well I’m not sure what he’s doing
Close up of the secret Chute:
Photo: Jordan—
At this point we had to make a decision: We would either climb the one-in-a-million couloir back to west Snowmass Creek, or we would slog out Pierre lakes basin to the end. While sitting there we watched a wet slide come off the side of K2 at the same aspect as the couloirs, that pretty much made our mind up for us and we headed towards the Pierre drainage.
We got to ski everything imaginable on the way down Pierre Lakes Basin
Corn Mixed with powder mixed with a tiny bit of crust:
Photo: Joe— Jordan Skiing
Pure Corn:
Photo: Jordan— Joe getting his
Powder:
Photo: Joe— Jordan getting some fluff
It’s too bad this place isn’t a little more accessible, the skiing could be great!
Photo: Jordan— Can you spot Joe?
The slog out of the bottom of Pierre Lakes was not nearly as bad as when I failed last time. It was still miserable and tiring, but I think the mental game was played better this time. We ended our day back at the cars around 6:25 pm, making for a 15 hour day on what I imagine is the hardest peak to ski that anyone trying for all of Colorado’s 14ers will endure.
I don’t think that there is any doubt in my mind that I will probably never ski a line like this on purpose again. Capitol is a mountaineer’s mountain, it’s only a skiers mountain when it is forced to be one. I have no desire whatsoever to take skis to its summit again.
Closing shot:
Photo: Joe—Burly
I was talking to Joe and thinking about how to describe my feelings towards this mountain. I love this peak summer and winter but I think Frank Konsella said it right last year:
“I won’t be Back”
At least not with skis anyway….
Thanks for reading
JW