Capitol Peak and Snowmass Mountain are two of the more impressive 14ers in our state. Capitol is arguably the most difficult 14er in the state because of it’s mandatory 4th class knife edge on the standard NE route, and Snowmass is incredibly remote with the standard route measuring at 22 miles round-trip. These two mountains are somewhat unique when compared to the range’s other 14ers in that they are both made up of granite as opposed to the unstable piles of mudstone that compose the range’s more famous 14ers. Capitol in particular sticks up like silver spires amidst the red hue of the Elks, almost demanding your attention.
The most interesting part of linking these two peaks is that they are connected by one of the most magnificent ridges in all of the Rockies. While this ridge’s aesthetic is amazing, basically no one does it because the ridge itself is incredibly loose and extremely exposed. Despite the difficulty, or perhaps because of it, Independence Run and Hike Race Team member Casey Weaver and his good friend Morgan Williams decided to connect these two peaks in a single push. Read below about Casey’s experience.
I often find writing about a big run somewhat difficult. You can write about a run, describing it in concrete detail and effectively convey information about a route, it’s difficulty, and how to avoid mistakes, or you can wax poetic and end up with a mess of disjointed, mixed genres, failing in both to really capture that which you experienced anyway–which makes the entire experience feel somehow cheapened.
I’ve put a couple drafts together trying to describe the experience. None of them felt right. None of them really captured what I was trying to convey–what I actually experienced (on this run in particular, but repeatedly when I pursue similar objectives–and the reliability of which is specifically that which incentivizes subsequent pursuits).
But that doesn’t necessarily suggest, I guess, that the run isn’t worth sharing. It was a big route, I’d been wanting to run/hike/climb it for a while, finally getting it in was gratifying, and knocking it out with one of my best friends was incredible. It was incredible in such a variety of ways, in fact, that trying to capture the emotions and grandeur within the limited parameters of this type of write-up can only misrepresent them.
So I’ll let the following photos and brief route description suffice, recognizing that neither do fully.
Route: From Maroon-Snowmass trail head, up Maroon-Snowmass trail to Snowmass Lake, around the lake and up Snowmass Mountain via the standard route. From the summit, down behind the peak on the west side of the ridge to the col between the main and north summits. Down the main drainage that the standard route ascends to Heckert pass, the sole weak spot on the north ridge. Over and down Heckert into the Bear Creek drainage, ascending the drainage between Pierre Lakes to the Wandering Dutchman couloir (on Capitol’s east ridge). From the top of the couloir, up to K2 on Cap’s east ridge, across the ridge to the summit. Back across the ridge from the summit, down to Moon Lake, out via West Sopris Creek drainage (off trail) until it meets the West Sopris trail coming off the Haystack saddle, back to Maroon-Snowmass trail, and out to the car.
The loop took all day, required miles and miles of loose talus travel (though I have no idea how many miles the entire run was), and involved a two hour walk out in the dark with my iphone flashlight guiding our way. The highlight was probably hanging on the knife-edge in the golden, early evening light on our way back across after hitting the peak.
Thanks Morgan Williams for the run, and my girlfriend, Joy, for holding off on calling search and rescue!
