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| 2013-06-15 | Standard | Nate (TheGreatCamillo) and I summited Capitol Saturday morning. We had pretty awesome weather, and I suspect that there has been some substantial melting since theuglybear‘s update from a week ago. The steam crossing wasn‘t too bad. we opted to take our boots off and cross barefoot but we witnessed some other guys crossing a bit upstream of the trail so there might be a better way. There was a fair amount of snow to the lake but post-holing wasn‘t a major issue for us. We didn‘t take snowshoes. We opted to hike through the night, which made the snow on capitol, K2 and the ridge somewhat manageable, but there was still enough snow so as to make it unavoidable. We found the crux of the route to be K2. There was a lot of snow on K2 and there didn‘t seem to be a way around it. Eventually we descended and went around to the right on sketchy and very loose rock which was a HUGE bummer. On our return we found a line that went up and over K2 which was much better and my recommendation for anybody making an attempt in the near term. Shout out to Shawn (sp?) who we met at the trailhead and made a valiant effort to solo the peak a few hours behind us. He also hooked us up with some TH beers when we got back which was incredibly cool. Also - to the two guys who were heading up on Saturday - hopefully you guys made it! | dannyg23 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| 2013-06-07 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Made an attempt on Capitol on 6/7. Plenty of post holing on the approach, beginning at about 11,000‘. Mostly full snow coverage above chasm. Ridge a mix of steep snow and exposed rock. Warm temps had the snow turning to slush by 7:30, and we turned around at K2. You‘ll need colder temps or bigger balls to climb this right now. | theuglybear | 0 |  |  | |||
| 2013-03-30 | Snowmass Creek to Moon to K2 | No Easter bunnies in the Elks! My buddy and I attempted a day trip for Cap on Sat and got close, but no cigar. Departed winter Snowmass Crk TH at 3:15am, eventually found Ryan‘s snowshoe tracks from two weeks ago (thx Ryan, huge help in route finding!) and we plodded up. I can‘t remember the exact sequence of times and events, but the scenery was stunning up there. Daly is plastered in snow, lots of wet sloughs were evident. Made it to Moon Lake around 10? After working up higher to 13,300 and getting K2 summit in view, we took a break and melted some water to refuel the nalgenes and give my puppy a break. I ended up digging the pup a small bed area and tied him up to wait out the rest of our attempt. We then headed up and got below the K2 crux and took off our skis. My buddy felt nauseous and dizzy, so after trying to shake it, we eventually called it quits. I climbed to the summit of K2 (sketchy little move in the winter) to get some views of Cap and it was gorgeous. Well covered. Would have been a hard climb via the ridge, not sure if we had the energy to pull it off, but maybe next time. The reward of the day was the beautiful turns down a few thousand feet of vert! The punishment was the slog out thru the gloppy snow and twisting forest. We were happy to be at the truck by 6pm and in Carbondale for pizza shortly thereafter. Good times. | ulvetano | 4 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 2013-03-17 | Snowmass Appraoch | Kyle (letsgocu) and I attempted Capitol Peak from the standard Snowmass Approach this last weekend. I wanted Capitol in Winter bad but between working every other weekend, getting sick, bad weather, and just life in general it seemed like the timing was never right. What began as a great forecast early last week slowly turned to garbage as we got closer and closer to the weekend. I talked to a meteorologist friend of mine all through the week. He said yea it looks like light snow Saturday night but you might have a “weather window” to sneak up Sunday morning before another storm hits while you are descending. That was all the push we needed to make a decision to go for it. Still with the forecast Kyle figured our chances of actually summiting with the bad weather were about 1 in 5 still you never know unless you try. Any day in the mountains beats sitting at home doing nothing on the weekend. We drove up and camped at the road closer to the Snowmass Trailhead on Friday night. We wanted to get up early because we figured with the recent heat the area received and the colder temperatures that arrived our chances of post holing would be a lot less. We got about 1.3 miles in on snowmobile tracks and then the post holing hell that is the Capitol Winter approach began. I was constantly reading the few Winter Capitol trip reports out there and it seemed like the approach varied from 6 to 8 hours to Moon Lake. Even one group summited in 9 hours from the trailhead. But it ended up taking us 10 hours of posthole hell to reach Moon Lake and Kyle is one of if not the fastest/strongest people I have ever hiked with. We took turns plowing trail about every 20 minutes or so. Around 10,500 is where things began to get sketchy the overcast skies began to snow on us pretty heavily and many of the slopes we could see were very concerning avy wise especially since here is where things started to get steep We finally reached our camp sight just below Moon Lake in an area we felt was a little more protected. We dug in and set up camp. Although the day was completely exhausting we still felt somewhat confident we could summit if we had our “weather window” Sunday morning our friend was talking about. It was a cold night. I was mostly concerned about my boots, which had basically frozen over night. We got up about 3:30 an spent almost 2 hours getting ready most of that boiling water and putting hot nalgene bottles in our boots then into our sleeping bags to help thaw them out. We got up out of the tent to partly cloudy skies with no wind and could even see a few stars. At the time we thought wow my weatherman friend called it just right for us. At that moment we were confident we could pull this off. Of course no sooner had we started than it began to snow . . . heavily . . . with wind. We slowly plodded our way up. The slopes that we heard were supposed to be mostly wind blown and perfect for crampons . . . .well they weren’t. We continued to post hole in snowshoes. We traversed several more sketchy sections. Right where picture 4 was taken I began to get this real bad feeling. The slopes that were already heavily loaded were getting dumped on. I knew we were in trouble when at one point Kyle was 30 yards in front and I was trying to follow his tracks and by the time I reached them they were half filled in with snow. We were both feeling strong and figured we could probably make it but how dangerous would the slopes be 6 hours later if the snow kept dumping like this. Also, how bad would the weather be up high on the technical and exposed terrain. We still have plenty of bad slopes below us to go down that are getting dumped on right now. We got to the top of the slope in photo four and made the smart call to turn around. We were right at 13,000ft. We made it back to camp without an issue noticed the tent looked a lot smaller as we approached it well that because it was half buried under what we estimated an additional 8 to 10 inches of snow. We had been gone only about 4 hours! Just as we got in the tent the storm picked up even more. We spent about an 1.5 hours in the tent rethawing our boots, melting more water, and eating as the storm raged outside. I liked the idea of being warm but I knew the longer we waited the more snow would accumulate. There were several slopes I was worried about between where out tent was at Moon Lake at 11,700ft to where things kind of flattened out around 10,500ft. We were very cautious on the way down but still I manage to trigger a small slide right in front of me. I saw it happen and thought wow that collapsed so easy and you couldn’t even tell it was coming. Pucker factor of 10 right here. We stayed close to the trees and after a few more hairy moves we were down to a lot safer ground. We were able to make out the outline of our track and tried to follow that out but still managed to post hole in our old tracks about half the time on the way out. Talk about exhausting. 6 hours after leaving camp we were thankfully back at the car. We really pushed it on this climb but working together kept a good eye on each other to make sure we were as safe as we could be. It was still a great day in the mountains and even more so a great learning experience . Funny part about this whole trip was as soon as we got back into cell phone range I got a message from my meteorologist friend sent on Saturday saying “It looks like the storm for Sunday has sped up and will be there Sunday morning instead of Sunday making it impossible to summit Sunday. Id cancel your trip.” On the bright side I made the joke to Kyle that even though we didn’t summit we both set a new personal record for the highest altitude we have ever continuously post holed in snow shoes at . . 13,000ft. Picture 1: This about sums up our weekend. Here is a photo of me post holing to my waist with a 55lb pack on. Good times Picture 2: Kyle heading up a scary loaded slope. We did this one at a time and traversed far right to stay close to the trees. If you look closely you can see cornices at the top left of the slope. Picture 3: Photo of me Sunday morning. So yea the weather was bad. Picture 4: The last slope. We made it to the top section just above the rocks to the right before we called it. It was right here where I began to get a bad feeling. | kushrocks | 4 | 7 | 6 | |||
| 2013-01-22 | West Snowmass Creek | We put in a minor attempt on Capitol via West Snowmass Creek Trail (Moon Lake approach), I stress minor as the trail breaking was quite arduous especially with heavy packs…We were going nowhere fast. The trench warfare ceased @ roughly 10,400’, approximately 4.5 miles from TH. Feel free to poach the trench, and push the trench to Moon Lake. Don’t follow the trail @ the open meadow that traverses into the aspen grove use the meadow trench. | krs1 | 0 | |||||
| 2012-09-23 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | My wife and I climbed Capitol on 9.23.12. Crux of the route was getting around K2, several snowy spots to negotiate. We took the middle option to get around, looked like snow would be encountered on any of the options shown in the route description. There were light flurries on the way down but didn‘t look like too much new accumulation. No real snow on any other part of the route. | glazedham | 0 | | | |||
| 2012-09-15 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Standard route is dry except a dusting of fresh snow under the north side of K2. | rockdoc53 | 0 | | | |||
| 2012-08-18 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Just want to warn folks to stay as far away as you can from the snow/ice field below the K2/Clark Peak saddle. There were numerous natural rockslides today -- some the size of refrigerators. These slides are occurring in both the morning and the afternoon. The debris is spreading several dozens of feet from the impact areas. | tmathews | 0 | 2 | | | ||
| 2012-07-19 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Just a note about the ridge from the saddle to near K2. It‘s class 4 but it‘s more difficult then the ridge from K2 to summit. It does save some time from the standard route but it has more exposure than the ridge from K2 to summit. I would much much much rather go along the knife ridge then this one. | mikefromcraig | 0 | | | |||
| 2012-07-05 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | As stated already, no snow on the Ditch Trail to Capitol Lake. All stream crossings can be accomplished without removing shoes/boots if one looks carefully enough for the crossings. Approximately five small, remaining snowfields left. Most can actually be avoided if necessary. I did not use any traction or ax. Firm snow in the early morning and minor postholing up to mid-calf in the late morning. Current pics available if it helps your decision making process. Everything else is gravy! | stuttle7 | 0 | | | |||
| 2012-06-21 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Approach via ditch trail 100% snow free. From the Daly-K2 saddle to K2 there are still snowfields to cross and ascend, but we made it with just axes, no traction. Route from K2 to Capitol completely dry and AWESOME! TR to come. | AndYouSeeMe | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | |
| 2012-06-11 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Some minor snow patches encountered near Capitol Lake area on the approach trail - nothing significant. Trail is snow-free up to the Daly-Capitol saddle then plenty of snow until talus/boulder slopes below K2. Crampons and ice axe definitely useful. Some good glissading later in the afternoon. Almost completely snow-free from K2 - Capitol. There was one sizeable patch of snow in a gully that requires a short (but steep) crossing or tricky climbing above or below it to avoid the snow traverse. Ice axe would be a good idea for the crossing as a fall or slip here would be bad. | anna | 0 | 1 | | | ||
| 2012-06-03 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | We climbed Capitol Peak yesterday from Capitol Lake. There is some snow on the last 1-1.5 miles of the approach, but snowshoes are not needed. The trail up to the saddle is bare and easy to follow. Once on the other side there is a ton of snow. We used crampons and climbed directly up to the ridge on the East side of K2. From k2 on there is minimal snow with only a few short traverses. We did not use crampons again and you could likely get by without an axe. The route from the knife edge on is about 90% snow free. I have a ton of pictures if anyone has any questions just shoot me a PM. Thanks. | Iman86 | 0 | 2 | | | ||
| 2012-05-20 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Road to the TH is completely clear of snow,snowshoes were helpful from about 4 miles in and especially near Capitol Lake. There are some melted out camping spots about 1/4 mile from the lake near the trail and the stream is running that high too. The trail up to the Daly saddle is melting out, we stashed snowshoes about 1/2 way up. The section after the saddle to K2 is a mix of rock and snow, but with the east-facing aspect it turns rotten fast. K2 wasn‘t too bad to summit right now, good snow near the top but watch the cornice. Crampons and axe are definitely necessary... The Knife Edge is for all purposes clear of snow. I thought the climbing after the Knife Edge was more demanding than the Knife Edge itself. After crossing the Knife Edge the rest of the climb is a mix of rock and snow with plenty of class 4 moves; we also ran into low class 5 moves with our route selection. We took the ridge back to K2 because of less than ideal snow conditions, more demanding moves for sure. Tips: -It took us 16 hours from high camp to the summit and back to the car, rotten snow tacked on a lot of time on the way back. We started at 5 AM from camp, an earlier start time would have been better. -Set a rigid turn around time and stick with it. After K2 it took 2.5 hours to the summit and about 2 hours to return. -Watch for rockfall in the gullies after K2 -This was a very demanding climb with the mixed conditions. Plan accordingly and don‘t underestimate the mountain. -Have fun, it‘s beautiful up there. Photo 1- from the trail, idea of snow conditions up top Photo 2- K2, note mixed rock section and cornice Photo 3- Summit from K2 Photo 4- Last gulley and access to summit ridge | Cool Hand Luke | 4 | 1 | | | ||
| 2012-05-07 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Ditch creek trail has a few snow drifts to post hole through. Snowshoes required from about 10k all the way to the lake. Snow is not quite continuous to the Daily saddle. East side of the saddle boot pack through the basin and all the way to K2. From K2 to the summit ice ax and crampons required. Hit the summit at 9:50am. Last register signatures were from January. Didn‘t spent much time on the summit as the snow was already turning soft on the decent. Thunder snow rolled in about 11am as we hit K2. Snowed pretty much continuously all afternoon. Frequent snowshoe post holing on the way out. I attached a few pics: 1- looking back at the ridge 2- some of the traversing on way to the summit 3- K2 with the storm moving in (you can seen our tracks up an over K2) | summitbound | 3 | 2 | | | ||
| 2011-09-28 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Good to go. Fall leaves are really popping right now! Snow starts in the boulderfield leading up to K2, but is trivial at that point as its low angle and mostly sown between the talus. A couple small low angle snowfields must be crossed with steps already in place. Downclimb off of K2 towards the knife edge is the only worrying section of snow, about 50 feet, but steps have been kicked, and there are always dry handholds when your feet are on snow. The rest of the route is pretty much dry, with one or two places where you step in snow for one or two foot placements, but with steps kicked and good handholds. Tennies are fine. An axe or crampons would not really make any difference at all. | andyclimbs | 0 | | | |||
| 2011-09-10 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | The north/west side of K2 has some snow, but it‘s only enough to make you really check where you‘re about to put your feet. The ridge between K2 and Capitol had some frost and a little snow on the north (ascender‘e right) side, but not enough to cause problems. It melted off by the time we descended. The rest of the route had infrequent, inconsequential amounts of snow, mainly in nooks where the sun couldn‘t get to it. As we descended, a storm came in with a very small amount of graupel. | BobbyFinn | 2 | | | |||
| 2011-08-30 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | No need for crampons or ice axe up to K2. K2 clean of ice or snow on North side. Only saw 3 or 4 cows on the way up. You can avoid getting wet at creek crossing if you travel 100 or so yards to the right and then cross. | hugemike | 0 | | | |||
| 2011-08-08 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | Summitted during the only perfect weather days of the summer, last week. Several sizable snowfields across the talus prior to K2. You can do it with hiking poles, but in the early morning, the steps are icy and spikes would be nice. Once you ascend toward K2, conditions are ideal. Camping is a challenge. Arrive early or be prepared to invent a campsite. (Hillhag & Slowhead have only two 14ers left now.) | slowhead | 0 | | | |||
| 2011-08-07 | Northeast Ridge from Capitol Lake | River crossing still seem fairly high. Trekking poles and a change of socks helped. All summer conditions on the mountain with the exception of the talus fields between the Daly-Capitol saddle and the right turn to K2. There is still one significant snow field in this section which is unavoidable. Having microspikes and ice axe were nice, but others got away without...but then they missed out on the sweet glissade. We had an awesome blue-bird day (though with some increasing wind) which made for a very relaxed, fun summit push and return. image 1: crossing an optional snowfield helped avoid a lot of talus image 2: the unavoidable snowfield after the right turn towards K2 image 3: snow free for the last few hundred feet to K2 image 4: wild flowers in full bloom | LynnKH | 4 | 2 | | |
