Knife Edge (Capitol Peak) from K2

Standing atop Point 13,664—also known as K2—the view southwest to Capitol Peak’s 14,130-foot summit is both intimidating and inspiring. It’s intimidating because the mountain is a soaring fortress of rock. It’s inspiring for the same reason. The mountaineer in me admires the peak’s architecture, and the aesthetics of its few routes of ascent.

From this vantage, I can see the famed northeast ridge head-on. In many circles, it’s referred to simply as The Knife Edge, and it’s why I’ve come to this remote 14er in mid-July. By many standards, Capitol is the king of Colorado 14ers .

Its approach is long—at least 17 miles roundtrip by the shortest route. Its ascent is great—5,800 vertical feet of cumulative gain. And its easiest route is anything but—a Class 4 ridge with unrelenting and jaw dropping exposure.

The mountain’s north face, at 1,800 feet tall, is one of the state’s highest mountain faces. The south face is no slouch in its own right. The northeast ridge, meanwhile, bisects these two great faces in one long, elegant sweeping ridgeline. It’s a committing route, mind you, where the difficult climbing is sustained and those thousands of feet of vertical relief pull at your heels.

The Knife Edge

One day earlier, I parked my Jeep at the Capitol Creek trailhead southwest of the town of Snowmass and hiked in to a camp just below Capitol Lake, where I met up with three friends with whom I’d make the ascent. At 6:20 the next morning, we left camp and climbed to the saddle between Capitol and Mount Daly, then wound around the backside of K2 before standing on its summit and contemplating the remainder of the route.

4th class moves with lots of air under our heels

We tackle the ridge the only way you can—directly. The route offers only way to go…along the ridge crest…and in high wind or bad weather, it would be an absolute nightmare, if not worse. Today, thankfully, we’re blessed with blue skies and almost dead calm.

Soon, we engage the genuine knife edge. Less experienced parties will often opt to use a rope here or scoot along the crest of the knife edge on their butt with one leg dangling over each side. But the knife edge proves much more intimidating in trip reports and route descriptions than it does in reality. I grasp the solid rock of the crest with my hands, and place my feet on small ledges to one side of the ridge.

It’s the narrow ledges covered in loose rubble higher on the mountain that give me the most pause. The mountain falls away precipitously to the Pierre Lakes basin below, and in more than a few places I become acutely aware of my own mortality.

Capitol is a full body climb, one that requires both hands, both feet, and your head. It’s exhausting not only physically, but mentally as well. The mountain demands 100 percent concentration from start to finish. A fall anywhere on this mountain would be the last fall you take, and I test every handhold and every foothold.

Then, at 10:30 a.m., I’m standing on the summit, with no higher to go. A coyote howls from somewhere in the basin far below. This is indeed a wild place and an even more wild mountain. 

The Few…and the Lucky

Frank Consella's Self Portrait

I’m amazed to think that, from this lofty perch, a very select group of elite skiers have done what few have or will: descend Capitol Peak on skis.

Legendary backcountry skier Lou Dawson (wildsnow.com) did it when he became the first person to ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14ers, a feat that took him13 years to accomplish, from 1978 until 1991.

Professionalbig-mountain skier Chris Davenport skied all 54 in one calendar year, from January 22, 2006 through January 19, 2007, becoming the second person.

Then, earlier this year, numbers three and four joined the ranks. In April, Aspen’sTed Mahon became the third person, saving Capitol Peak for last. One month later, Crested Butte’s Frank Konsella became the fourth to ski all 54.

Konsella skied Capitol in April, like Mahon. I had seen photos of Konsella’s descent so on my own descent, I recognize major landmarks where he and his partners picked their way down the mountain’s south face. On an intellectual level, I know how they did it – I read Konsella’s trip report, and saw his photos, and talked to him personally. But on a whole other level, I have no idea how he did it. The skier in me looks at those steep slopes and simply thinks, How? No way.

Like the scant few others who have skied Capitol, and especially of the even fewer who have skied all the 14ers, Konsella shares a common viewpoint. His hardest 14er descent? Capitol. His most rewarding 14er descent? Also Capitol. Would he ski it again? Absolutely not.

The Route

Each time Capitol has been skied, it’s been done so by a different route. All routes, though, share a denominator: they are one, big no-fall zone.Ski the mountain well, and when you’re back on safe ground, be glad that you didn’t die. Just ask Sean Crossen.

Crossen was in line to become the second person to ski all the 14ers, and when that title was taken, he was in line to become the third, and after that,the fourth.

For literally years, Capitol remained his final test. It’s a mountain that has repelled most of its skiers multiple times – successfully skiing the peak, and living, demands not only skill on the skier’s part, but also perfect route conditions on the mountain…a rare combination. Crossen had been turned back multiple times, but in April of this year, he approached the mountain one last time, with Frank Konsella and company. As they approached the base of the south face, Crossen decided that he didn’t need to ski Capitol after all. With a wife and a child waiting for him back in Crested Butte, the risk just wasn’t worth it. 

“I’ve got a kid,” he said to the others.  “It changes you. It just does.”

I can understand his sentiment. I’ve never tried to ski Capitol, and probably won’t. But with my wife Kelli at home and with our first child on the way and due in December, I was more aware than ever that the risk-reward balance of big mountain climbing and skiing is brought into stark relief ona peak like Capitol; that Capitol’s reputation as Colorado’s most fearsome 14er is well-earned, and that it deserves much respect. 

More Fearsome 14er Photos

Capitol Peak Photos Courtesy of Peter Bronski
Capitol Ski Photos Courtesy of Frank Consella
Ski Route Photo Courtesy of Chris Webber

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