Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

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rijaca
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by rijaca »

Peeps get off route on Class 1/2 terrain as well. Witness the recent rescue on Shavano/Tab....
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by two lunches »

yaktoleft13 wrote:1) know yourself
2) know YOUR route
yaktoleft13 wrote:know yourself and whether the route you've selected is within your abilities
+2

i read this where "abilities" = completion, forwards and backwards, before exhaustion
if you need a shortcut, then in my personal opinion, the answer is no. no, it is not within your abilities.

anyway, thank you to all our SAR buddies for bailing us out as-needed. glad this one wasn't a fatality, and i super hope he learned something.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by CORed »

Conor wrote:
Sean Nunn wrote:
Buckshot Jake wrote:Still can't believe people just climb this mountain on a whim. I prepared for years before attempting this mountain, researching routes, going on solo climbs, familiarizing myself with mountain terrain. It's always been the same on Capitol though, never fails. Even like six years ago after summiting and approaching the lake some solo climber came up to us at about 1PM and asked if he was on the route for Capitol.

You can literally be holding their hand and they will still walk out into the intersection.
+1. I am at 33 or so on my list now (including Long's and Crestone Needle) and I don't feel like I am anywhere near ready for Capitol.
This is the typical "pay your dues in the sawatch" mentality of the .com. Capitol, while it can be a bit of an endurance challenge, doesn't really pose that big of a technical challenge. Sure, people can get butterflies, especially if they are preparing by just doing more 14ers. Obviously, I think that is a poor way to get over the "class 4 hurdle." Or any hurdle. Many have done it that way, but that doesn't mean it is the only way.

I did Capitol on a whim. I got in my car and started driving. By the time I hit Silverthorne, I decided to head to Capitol. I read roach's description, checked the conditions report "ice axe and crampons mandatory," and day tripped it in my trail runners and hiking poles. When I come across people in the backcountry, a common conversation to have is about the route, it doesn't signify we are lost or in over our heads. I'm not some type of mountaineering phenom, rather a chubby/balding father of 3 who gets limited time in the mountains. But, it just may be possible that a skillset for 14ers can be developed outside of just climbing "class 2" 14ers. I know it has worked well for me. I am jealous of those who get out every weekend (even if it is swatch 14ers) while I'm stuck tiling a bathroom and changing poopy diapers between batches of mortar.
I did a lot of class 3 bouldering and scrambling at various locations in the foothills and mountains long before I ever set foot on a 14er, much of it during childhood and teen years. Getting comfortable moving around on rock, preferably where there isn't a lot of exposure, is probably the best way to prepare for the more difficult peaks. Trying to climb Capitol, or even Longs, if you've never done any kind of class 3 or 4 moves, and with lots of exposure, is not a good idea for most people. I suppose a climbing gym would be another option, but those didn't exist when I was learning in the wild.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by rob runkle »

AlexeyD wrote:Jeeze, this is getting silly. Going off-route, or even off the intended route, doesn't always lead to accidents and tragedies, in fact oftentimes it's perfectly fine to do so. It does so only when the attempted shortcut leads you into a bad place. Knowing when it's OK to do this and when it isn't is a function of being able to read a topo map, study and memorize the terrain beforehand, and other types of spatial awareness. Things that generally come from spending time in the mountains, as well as just doing your research.
+1
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by rob runkle »

How do first ascents stay on route? :shock:
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by dpage »

rob runkle wrote:How do first ascents stay on route? :shock:
They see a splitter and say I want to climb that crack and then don't turn the climb into a face climb.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by SchralpTheGnar »

capitol was easy when I climbed it in November but I was climbing 5.11 at the time, we also did the full ridge from the Daly saddle to k2 all the way to the summit. I was also doing 50 mile mountain runs with 10,000 vert, which while not anything to brag about is actually something to post about but say it’s not worth bragging about.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by DaveLanders »

To answer Candace's question from earlier in the thread: Yes, there is a ledge on the south side of the knife edge that can be used to bypass the knife edge. I haven't done it myself, but 2 friends did, and reported that it was about 100' vertical below the knife edge. They used this on the return because there was a bad traffic jam on the knife edge, not because they weren't capable of re-doing the knife edge. (I'm not necessarily recommending this to anyone; both of my friends were already experienced when they did it.) I don't know if they had prior beta about the existence of this bypass, or if they found it on their own.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by RyGuy »

DaveLanders wrote:To answer Candace's question from earlier in the thread: Yes, there is a ledge on the south side of the knife edge that can be used to bypass the knife edge. I haven't done it myself, but 2 friends did, and reported that it was about 100' vertical below the knife edge. They used this on the return because there was a bad traffic jam on the knife edge, not because they weren't capable of re-doing the knife edge. (I'm not necessarily recommending this to anyone; both of my friends were already experienced when they did it.) I don't know if they had prior beta about the existence of this bypass, or if they found it on their own.
This sounds like something that is going to lead people into a really bad situation on Capitol. The problem we are having right now is inexperienced people thinking there is another way down. There is one way up and down and there is a reason it's the standard route.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by Candace66 »

DaveLanders wrote:To answer Candace's question from earlier in the thread: Yes, there is a ledge on the south side of the knife edge that can be used to bypass the knife edge. I haven't done it myself, but 2 friends did, and reported that it was about 100' vertical below the knife edge. They used this on the return because there was a bad traffic jam on the knife edge, not because they weren't capable of re-doing the knife edge. (I'm not necessarily recommending this to anyone; both of my friends were already experienced when they did it.) I don't know if they had prior beta about the existence of this bypass, or if they found it on their own.
This sounds exactly like what that fellow described. Thanks.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by Rasmus »

Hello everyone...

I have contemplated for many days now if I should even make this post. However, as I frequently have used this site for beta in the past, and have never contributed before, it felt appropriate that since I possess first-hand knowledge of this incident, that I share my experience as it relates to the evacuation and rescue of Eric. I anticipate that after reading through this post, it is highly likely that there may be some "constructive" feedback. Please feel free to share whatever it is you'd like. My only hope is that maybe - just maybe - someone may read this and it will have an impact on their safety and planning of a future excursion in the High Rockies...

Some additional context to the near-tragedy...

I was the other climber referenced in the articles which were posted, that stayed on the correct route. This, however, does not mean that I am not negligent in having had the opportunity to do more to prevent Eric from departing down his self-proclaimed "short cut".

So, who am I? And who is Eric?

My climbing today includes experience on numerous multi-pitch routes up to about 5.10, successful summits of Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, and (lord willing and if the creek don't rise), hopefully Denali come August 2024, professional work experience in the outdoor space as a white-water kayaking instructor, backcountry snowboarding/alpine guide, and snowboard instructor. Of potential relevance, I also have over 100 individual canyon descents throughout greater southwest Utah, including having made a near-successful attempt at the FKT for completing both Heaps and Imlay in under 24 hours. I have also volunteered and participated in rescue operations in the greater Vail, Colorado area. With these "qualifications", many of which I had accumulated at the time of this climb, you would think that I would have made better decision myself - and I am regretful to have not handled the situation which arose differently.

Anyway... onward to what you're really here to read about.

Prior to Capitol, Eric and I had previously submitted North Maroon together, as well as Longs peak. This was the extent of our experience hiking as a team, along with an attempted a winter ascent of Pyramid several months before we climbed capitol (we turned back due to route finding issues and adverse snowpack conditions). These three experiences, at the time, made me believe that collectively we had the “risk awareness” and “risk tolerance” necessary to climb Capitol.

We began the trek the day before the “incident” by hiking up to approximately 1 mile prior to Capitol Lake. We did not begin the hike until mid-day, and consequently, we set up camp during dusk. A hearty meal followed, but due to the elevation gain and having just came from “flat land” the day before, we were both fairly tired and quickly went to bed. The following morning, after eating breakfast, we packed our bags with 4L of water each, approx 3k calories of gorp/cliff bars/snacks/candies, and if I remember correctly, some type of electrolyte. I also carried some climbing equipment, as I'll describe later, but we did not bring with us a GPS, EPIRB, or helmets. It's remarkable looking back on this day and seeing just how delusional our thinking was.

Anyway, we made VERY quick progress, had little difficulty route finding, and began the traverse of the knife's edge at 9:29am. We successfully reached, and stayed around, the summit between 10:45-11:15. We had cell reception at the summit, and I recall placing a call to one of our other friends over facetime. After summiting, we traversed back down the knifes edge, and mistakenly, we BOTH stayed high on the ridge rather than navigating more to "skiers-right", which is the path that we had originally taken on our assent.

At approximately 11:45, Eric and I got into a disagreement about the route. So - what the f**k happened, you may ask? Unfortunately, the answer is quite simple. Do you remember earlier in the day when I told you that we had packed approximately 3k calories and 4 liters of water? And if you recall from the newspaper articles about his rescue, that we were only 22 years old at the time? We were both down to about .5L of water remaining, and neither of us was in the highest of spirits. As disagreements go in one’s early twenties, Eric became more set on being “right”, than on staying alive. I tried, repeatedly, to tell Eric NOT to descend the way that he wanted to. All attempts were unsuccessful. Words were not going to work, and I made the decision that it was better for me to take the standard route down, rather than to follow Eric down the couloir. Eric departed the ridgeline and took the “shortcut” at exactly 11:54am. This decision nearly cost him his life. Still to the day, I contemplate frequently if there is anything else that I could have done to convince him not to have made that choice.

I know the exact time that Eric departed the route, as I took a short video of him as he was descending as I figured that the chances of him needing to be rescued were extremely high. It is time stamped at 11:54am. I'd be happy to share this video if anyone is interested, but I worry about it being taken out of context and do not want it to be published in anyway where it could be construed as an appropriate route by mistake.

It took no more than 5 minutes of retracing my steps before the path became clear and evident to me, and I made it down to the lake at 3:15pm. It was then that I confirmed what I had previously thought - Eric had made a terrible, terrible decision. I’d like to share things for additional context. I had a 60m, 8mm rope that I ALWAYS carried with me while climbing, as well as a harness, webbing, and assortment of rescue gear including prusiks, pulleys, quick draws, carabiners, and an assortment of TRAD gear. I not only always carried this gear, I knew very well how to use it and HAD used it on multiple other occasions. Eric had none of this, nor would he have known how to properly set an anchor, or how to otherwise secure himself to the rock. He carried nothing with him other than a jacket, water, and the aforementioned food/snacks (which were nearly depleted by time we had parted). I was fully aware of his lack of gear, and made no objection at the start of the climb. "Fast and light" was the moto.

Anyway, I make it down to the lake, and notice two other climbers looking ominously over to the location where Eric was and I quickly approached. They said that they had been watching Eric for about 15 minutes, and similarly thought (or perhaps knew) that they were about to witness a tragedy. Taking “control” of the situation within seconds, one of them attempted to activate their EPIRB (Garmin brand, I don’t know the model). It did not work, and no signal was sent out. Having already summited themselves and having intended to continue down to begin with, one of them elected to take the others gear, and the other began the sprint back to the trailhead to get help. There was no cell reception at Capitol Lake.

As there was nothing I could do while watching, I briskly hiked up the side of the lake to the point where I thought Eric was and began yelling his name and attempting to make contact. I’m not sure what I was trying to accomplish... but towards the end, I believe the only words that was repeatedly coming out of my mouth was “stop”. With no radios, when he did finally hear my voice, the only word that he shouted back to me was “helicopter”. It was later that I would learn that he described the conditions in the couloir as extremely small, and EXTREAMLY loose. Eric was somehow able to successfully place a call to 911, and as the newspaper articles surrounding his rescue share, he was picked up by a helicopter several hours thereafter. At the time he was rescued, he was unquestionably entirely out of all provisions including water, and as he recounts to me, if he had shifted his position whatsoever, the chances of death or otherwise sliding down further into an even more precarious situation would have not just been possible - but probable. The numerous mistakes made by us both are easy to see in hindsight...

So, it was obvious to me that there was no way that I would have been able to mount a single-handed rescue myself, as I was both fatigued and it would have taken at least 3 hours to get to the top of the spot where he had descended. Even then, I'm not sure what I would have done as he was further than the 180' that my rope would have reached. I was able to use an extra-large emergency blanket that I was carrying, along with some large rocks placed on top and shaped like an arrow, to point at the spot which Eric was “stuck” inside of. This was the total extent of what I was able to do to help. I never made visual contact, and again - the only words ever exchanged between us successfully were "stop" and "helicopter".

After Eric’s successful evac, the fun only continued. Making my way down the trail one mile to our campsite, I then had to pack up and haul out the entirety of our collective gear. It was exhausting. Upon making it to the car, there was a note left on my windshield that read along the lines of “Came by with Sheriff and you were not here. Heading to a hotel, I’ll call you in the morning”. Of course I wasn't there... His cell phone went straight to voicemail (I would later come to find out that this was because he "didn't have a charger"). So, I proceeded to call every hotel in the area, and I eventually was able to locate where he was and drove to his hotel. At this point, I still didn't know the extent (if any) of his injuries, and I also was very emotionally confused as to how I should be feelings, and how (if at all) I should address the days' events when I got there. Of course, we would eventually have a long car ride to talk through it all too...

The “big” takeaways, from my personal, first-hand, amateur experience are:
(i) I should have carried an EPIRB and GPS (which I subsequently have done for all climbs).
(ii) I should have carried more water, or at the very least, refilled from the lake and placed some iodine tablets in the bottles and/or filtered it so that way I’d have contingency water should the need have arisen. I often wonder if he would have been less eager to take the route he chooses if we had more water on us, and how much of a factor that played.
(iii) Instead of taking a video of Eric departing down a route which I was 99% certain may lead to the need for his rescue, or worse - his death, I should have instead fought even harder to convince him to retrace our steps. I argued with him for nearly 10 minutes before he defiantly made the choice he did, and I wonder what more I could (and should) have done.

Perhaps most importantly, I learned from the experience, and have carried forward with me an even greater safety-focused mindset in all of the future climbs and endeavors I have undertaken. Perhaps equally as important, although we still remain friends to this day, I no longer climb with Eric.

This is all just stream of conscious thought. If you have questions or further insight now that you have more detail, please do not be afraid to ask.
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Re: Deja Vu on Capitol Peak

Post by HikerGuy »

Rasmus wrote: Sun Jan 28, 2024 10:58 am I no longer climb with Eric.
Smart move.
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