Northeast Ridge (Knife-Edge) 

The most dangerous part of this route is the traverse around the north side of K2. The north face of K2 is a pile of rubble waiting to slide to the valley floor, with a helpless climber along for the ride. A helmet is advisable from K2 to the summit of Capitol. After crossing the knife edge, stick closer to the ridge. Trending left (south) will put one into steep and loose areas.

If you approach Capitol Peak from Snowmass Creek Trail be careful when you look for the West Snowmass Creek turn-off to Moon Lake. It is not obvious and you can easily end up marching towards the Maroon Bells. The trail cuts across a nice, grassy pasture (lots of cattle) about 1/2 mile from the trailhead. We encountered a lot of bushwacking in parts of the trail (maybe because we were off trail?) all the way to Moon Lake. From Moon Lake, it is straightforward to K2. We did not rope-up on the Knife Edge since it is very solid and there was a queue of climbers lining up at the start. There is lots of loose rock from the Knife Edge to the summit. WEAR A HELMET!! You cannot trust that those above you are as conscious about sending rocks down as you are.

Did this last Saturday and it was a hoot! Excellent solid rock all the way. Rather than trying to traverse around the N side of K2, I recommend going to the top of K2, then downclimbing the NW face of K2. This is steep but excellent solid rock. The remaining ledge to the notch south of K2 was not bad at all.

It is quite reasonable to do this peak in a day from the car. It is a similar day to climbing Longs via the trail although maybe 15% longer in mileage, vertical feet, and a tad harder technically. Of course you want to start before sunrise to ensure getting to the top before the thunderstorms. We used the longer Capitol Creek approach as this sounded easier to navigate in the dark. We opted to leave the helmets behind and this turned out to be a reasonable decision. Due to rain overnight and many clouds in the morning we saw only 3 other climbers on the route and we were careful to avoid dropping rocks on each other. Half the route is on a ridge so there is no rockfall hazard there. If the upper part of the route was very crowded I suppose a helmet would be a good idea.

For "extra credit", some of our party bagged Mt. Daly on the way back, this is the peak north of the pass above Capitol Lake. This ridge is much looser and unpleasant, more like the rest of the Elk Range. Still the second half of the ridge is very easy and has some great views back toward Capitol.

A rope isn't needed IF everyone can handle the exposure (assuming dry rock). Clearly, if rain is threatening you don't want to go past the knife edge.

Another tip to make this route easier, especially if you are doing it in a day:

As you gain the saddle near Daly from the lake, head 90 up the ridge instead of dropping down. From there you will cross 2 gullies. Follow a cairned route that hugs very close to the bottom left hand side of a cliff band. This is class 3. It always seems improbable, looking like it might cliff out, but it goes very reasonably. Doing the approach to K2 this way saves a lot of elevation loss and gain as well as time.

I hiked in one way and out the other trail. Both are very scenic and very different. I suggest checking them both out.

I did this route alone last July. Here's my take:

Approach: Roach's approach description for Cap. Cr. trailhead is very accurate. The Capitol Creek trail is excellent. I hiked out on the alternate trail (contouring along the west slope of the valley) and found it tiresome. It's perhaps more scenic and avoids the 500' rise to get to the trailhead; but it's also longer, has ups and downs, and the portion near the trailhead is rather muddy and ugly.

Getting to K2: The trail from Capitol Lake to the Capitol-Daly saddle is also very good. After that, I recommend dropping down low. The class 3 traverse is rotten, tedious, and slow. I dropped down to the valley on the way back, and thought it was a lot nicer -- a bit more elevation, but better than thrashing across rotten couloirs. With care, you can avoid most of the unpleasant talus below K2. I second George Bell on hitting the K2 summit.

Knife Edge and beyond: The knife edge is 4th class, but it's amazingly solid. Great hands and feet all the way. I took a rising traverse once the ridge started to look tough, and it was a bit loose. This made the climbing seem harder to me than on the knife edge. I wouldn't bother with a helmet -- but there was nobody near the summit when I was there. Maybe a helmet is prudent when it's crowded (though less so than on the Keyhole route on Long's). You probably won't find yourself below another climber on this route unless you drop low.

Capitol's summit is among the best in Colorado. The summit views alone would make this climb a must-do.

I stayed fairly high after reaching the Capitol-Daly saddle, staying on the ridgeline itself and dropping down below the cliff band would have been a better option. Using the summit of K2 as George Bell and others suggest is also a good option, worked well for me.

This is an excellent one day outing from the Capitol Creek trailhead, physically challenging but no real route finding issues or technical difficulties. Staying high along the entire summit ridge from the Capitol-Daly saddle to the summit eliminates most rockfall danger unless parties are ahead of you. Definitely start before sunrise, and try to do the route midweek when traffic is at a minimum to avoid rockfall.

Did the full ridge last weekend and found the ridge before K2 to be more difficult than expected. Route finding was easy; we stayed up high on the ridge. It isn't any harder than 4th - low 5th class, but it is very exposed and the rock is all very loose. Many sections had me wishing I was on a rope. Not sure it would have been useful to bring one though, that rock offered little in the way of pro.

This climb is certainly doable in a day but Capitol Lake is a spectacular place to camp. The "alternate" Ditch Trail is definitely preferable...if you find the correct route. It is especially easy to get off route on the return and end up on a social trail that leads to more elevation, bushwacking and frustration. Look back and take detailed mental photos on the way in as you approach Capitol Creek.

We did this climb in 7:15 round trip from high camp at Capitol Lake on 8-29-05 (a non-holiday Monday). There were no other campers at Capitol Lake the night before and there were no other climbers whatsoever on the mountain during our climb. The weather was the most perfect we've had on any Colorado mountain climb. The rock is remarkably solid by Elk Range standards, and the summit is one of the most spectacular of the Colorado 14ers.

Trip report from our climb of Aug. 21, 2008.