Capitol Punishment

Sheer drop offs; to the west a mere 1,000 feet, to the east several thousand; wind whipping up the driving snow; temperature a chill 8 degrees Fahrenheit. "Are we having fun yet?" A typical winter's day on the infamous knife-edge ridge of Capitol Peak

Jonathan and Bill passed the greatest difficulties of a winter ascent of Capitol Peak (the knife-edge ridge) only to be forced into retreat by the clock. Laila and I had opted out shortly beforehand when Laila's hands and feet went numb while waiting in the belay "pipeline" in the extreme conditions.

The idea to climb Capitol Peak in a one-day assault from the road first germinated in my mind when I read in Lou Dawson's Guide to Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks that no one had ever done it. Immediately I thought, "I could do that!" After all it was only 16 miles round trip, 5,800 feet elevation gain.

Having now tried Capitol three times in three successive winters, I have gained a respectful appreciation for just how formidable a task a one-day ascent really is. Two years ago I tried it from the Snowmass Creek side on New Year's Day, alone with my wolfdog, Sam. When he disappeared shortly after dawn I had little choice but to wait for his return. Four and a half hours later he slunk back guiltily and exhausted. I was forced to abandon the climb due to lack of daylight hours. Even so, I had never located the trail, or even found a way up from Snowmass Creek. A little over a year ago, I again tried it on December 22, 1999, from the Capitol Creek side along with Kelly Bates. We left at midnight under the largest full moon in 100 years. In the soft corn snow typical of early season we floundered and struggled through deadfall only to give up after seven hours of drudgery, shortly after dawn. We were cold, the temperature hung steady at 5F, and our spirits sank as we saw snow plumes spirally off the mountain-indicating high winds. So we turned around.

For this year's attempt I enlisted a tough, highly fit crew. Jonathan Cavner and Bill Lhotta had also read Dawson's observation of no one completing a one-day ascent of the peak in winter as a challenge. When I suggested the idea of their trying it with me they were enthusiastic. To round out the team I invited my girlfriend, Laila, the passionate Spanish lady-a strong climber with ultra marathon endurance.

On my previous winter attempts I had started early in winter, reasoning that there would be less snow pack. This time I decided that late in the winter might be better; the snow would have had time to consolidate, and also there would be at least three more hours of daylight.

All week we tracked the changing weather reports for Aspen, nearest large town to Capitol, and monitored avalanche conditions for the area as well. Early in the week it didn't look promising-they were calling for snow Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! Our plan called for packing the trail and route finding to Moon Lake, elevation 11,750' on Saturday, then completing the climb on Sunday. As the week wore on the weather report changed daily, until ultimately it looked like snow on Saturday and partly cloudy skies for Sunday. Not ideal, but prospects seemed to be improving.

Friday night Bill's fiancée's sister graciously put us up for the night at her place in Glenwood Springs. At 0930 Saturday morning following a hearty breakfast at the Red Rock Diner in Carbondale we were marching up the 8/10 of a mile road segment closed to motor vehicles in winter. At road end well-groomed trails beckoned us onto Snowmass Ranch. This is private property and one should request permission before using this approach. It does save a horrific crossing over Snowmass Creek later on, however. A mile or so later we were surprised to see a dog team approaching from behind us, then another, then another-- until eight or ten teams were circling around the maze of groomed trails. The small huskies took an interest in Sam the wolfdog, and once almost pulled the sled off track.

We had decided on making our attempt from the Snowmass Creek side at Bill's prompting. Snowmass Creek offered less elevation gain, and ¾ mile less distance each way. On the other hand, the trail was spotty according to Jonathan, who had climbed Capitol in summer using this route a couple years ago. In winter the condition of the trail is less important, and Bill guaranteed to keep us on course using his GPS.

The first test for the GPS led us slightly astray, however, when Bill directed us too far southwest in the open field directly west of Snowmass Creek. This was the same place I had not been able to find the trail two years ago. When his GPS told us to turn directly west we looked up into deadfall and no apparent trail. Prudently we backtracked to where the trail was evident. Indeed someone had packed the trail--a welcome development. Switch backing up through mixed pine and aspen, the trail went up the left side of the drainage. After ¾ mile we had a choice of switch backing to the right and staying in the left side of the drainage or staying left and passing into the next ravine. Here the GPS really shined as it told us unequivocally to move left. With the softening snow clinging annoyingly to our snowshoes we found ourselves stopping at every tree to knock it off. Bill, especially had problems with his new Sherpa snowshoes.

Soon, we passed into an open field where we noticed the packed trail diverted into an apparent campsite. Not long afterward the packed trail had disappeared altogether. I guess that is where our trailblazing benefactors had given up their expedition. We had many more miles to go both this day and the next.

With no packed trail to guide us Jonathan in the lead began angling up the right side of the ravine. Soon we were on steep slopes-difficult to continue on. Looking down into the ravine we espied what we thought looked like the trail. Backtracking we adjusted our course to up the middle of the ravine.

Plodding steadily upwards we next came on an apparent impasse of deadfall and dense trees in the ravine center. Moving left we found ourselves ascending an avalanche chute. Too high it seemed, so we began moving right to stay in the ravine, only to realize we would have to give up all of our hard earned elevation to avoid impending cliffs. Up and down, it was a good thing we were doing our route finding on this day rather than on the climb day.

The way up grew ever steeper until ultimately, as I led the group, in order to ascend to the next level I found myself floundering waste deep in snow and forced to wade on elbows and knees to maintain upward momentum. Snow spit from the sky intermittently; increasing in intensity the higher we climbed.

We pushed on with one eye on the clock as the hour approached 4 P.M. Six hours and fifteen minutes after leaving our vehicles that morning we reached Moon Lake, elevation 11,750'. We stashed crampons, ice tools and other gear (I left my entire pack) in a cavity below a large rock. Jonathan, Laila, Sam and I set forth ahead of Bill while he put on his skis. Not long afterward he swooshed past us. By following his fall line down mountain we avoided our up hill errors and packed a true and easy course for the next day's endeavors.

With no rest breaks, Jonathan, Laila and I made it back to the vehicles in two hours and 45 minutes-shortly after sundown. Bill was already comfortable in his sleeping bag and cooking dinner in the back of his Outback, having completed the return in an hour and 45 minutes. Still, he ultimately decided it wasn't worth hauling the nine extra pounds of skis and boots up again the next day and had determined that it was not feasible to "skin" up to Moon Lake on his skis. Having left his snowshoes up at Moon Lake he decided to go up without snowshoes or skis the next day. Luckily, Jonathan had an extra pair of snowshoes, because despite Bill's thoughts that it was doable without, the rest of us had our doubts…

Later, when Bill asked what time we wanted to start in the morning I volunteered, "4 A.M". Bill suggested 3 A.M., which we settled on. The next morning up and moving shortly after 2 A.M., we ultimately got the train rolling down the tracks at 3:30. The sky overhead was clear and starry, the temperature a mild 28 degrees.