Capitol Peak - Northwest Buttress

09/22-23/2012

Capitol Peak

Grace and I haven't had much success alpine climbing in Colorado: one mini-epic on Longs Peak, and lots of retreats due to wind, weather, and acclimatization problems. Hopefully that streak has now been broken.

Capitol Peak is known as one of the most difficult of the Colorado "14ers", but that's because most of them are just giant piles of sand - well, talus. It caught my eye initially, because it really stands out on a topo map. The easiest route (the NE ridge) is 3rd class, with a few short sections of 4th; this was our descent route.

The northwest buttress is a very aesthetic line that requires a few pitches of 5.8/9 climbing and lots of low-mid 5th class. The crux comes right at the beginning, so you don't have that hanging over you the whole time, and is super fun. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the route turned out to be unpleasantly loose.

We approached on Saturday, through a glorious aspen forest. Our trip was well timed; fall color is in full swing in the high country. This led to a predictably slow pace, as I stopped to take pictures every other minute. It took 4 hours to hike the 7 miles up to Capitol Lake.

We got up at 5 on Sunday, and made the deceptively short hike up to the unnamed pass from which the route begins. The first pitch and a half is really amazing and varied. Good cracks, flakes, overhangs, and a crazy run-out foot traverse along a horizontal 5-6" crack. The 5.9 crux comes in the form of a thin crack that's too small for hands, and too big for fingers. The rock was so smooth, cold, and slippery it felt like climbing a crack in ice. The 40 F temperature meant I had to stop and warm my hands after every few moves. I didn't hesitate to pull on gear.

top of the 2nd pitch

Pitch 2 is a moderately loose 5.8 slot, which was exciting to get established in, but quickly eased to mid 5th. We did the rest of the route in 3 simul-blocks, with difficulty varying from 2nd class to 5.7. There is some fun climbing, and nice positions higher up on the buttress, but the loose rock that began after the first pitch was pervasive, and particularly noticeable on the harder 5.7 sections. I was constantly worried I would kick something loose which might chop the rope or hit Grace.

We made it to the top in 6.5 hours of climbing, and were able to enjoy a brief patch of sunshine on the summit before it began snowing. Short squalls alternated with sun as we descended the NE ridge. We were back at the lake in 3 hours from the summit, and then bombed down the trail to the car in 2.5 h. Motivation: reach civilization in time to get a burger. Instead we found a steakhouse in Glenwood Springs which served us lamb chops and elk steak. mmmm.

Overall, I can't really recommend the route. It's cool to do a long committing 5th class route on a big beautiful peak, and the line is very aesthetic. However, all the loose rock really detracted from the experience: I can't enjoy climbing when I'm constantly worried I might kill my partner (wife!) with a misjudged move. Grace may have had a better experience; the worst any rocks she knocked off might have done would have been to smush one of the many pika.

Still, it was a great weekend. Excellent scenery, company, and a nice sense of satisfaction in having safely completed the route.

Dorado Needle - SW Buttress

8/30-8/31 2012

Grace and Forbidden Peak

Grace and I were flying back to Seattle around Labor day for Brian and Michelle's wedding. As the wedding took place in Mazama, we couldn't resist tacking a climbing trip on at the beginning. It would have been too much to drive over highway-20 and not climb something.

The ambitious plan was to climb Eldorado on Thursday, and then on Friday link the SW face of Early Morning Spire, and the SW buttress of Dorado Needle. In the end, we contented ourselves with only the latter, and had a fantastic trip.

We flew in on Wednesday night, and crashed on Jim and Melissa's floor (comfy air mattress), borrowed a bunch of gear (thanks!), and set out at first light. We got our permits and were headed up the Eldorado Creek route by 10:00. By 15:45 we were refilling water at a convenient pool of snow-melt at the base of the east ridge of Eldorado. We dropped our packs and scrambled to the summit through billowing clouds. Very scenic.

Too wrecked to continue to the Dorado Needle col, we made camp at a perfect site a few hundred feet up the ridge. We'd not seen another person all day, not even a boot track on the summit ridge. Having not made it as far as we wanted, we decided to stick with the route on Dorado Needle, since the approach to Early Morning Spire is a few hours further.

The next morning we started from camp around 08:00. The Inspiration and McAllister glaciers were broken up enough to be interesting, but not difficult. A little climbing on 45-degree neve was required to get around one crevasse at the McAlister-Inspiration col, and there was one narrow but solid snow-bridge beyond.

the first 5th class pitch

By 11:00, we were established in the moat at the toe of the SW Buttress of Dorado Needle. I led up easy slabs to the base of the first real pitch, and then Grace made a long spectacular lead up a corner and flake system to the crest of the lower buttress. Form there, the route went pretty smoothly in a total of 9 pitches. The structure of the buttress is fairly complex, so there were a few junctures where I did quite a bit of exploring before making a decision on  the best route. Since there isn't much beta out there on this route, I've written a full description (below). Note how little resemblance it bears to the one printed in Nelson (Vol. 2). The most memorable pitches were Grace's dihedral, the wildly exposed hand traverse, layback, and fantastic face climbing on pitch 7, and the final long dihedral on pitch 9. Any one of these three would be popular fare at cragging area. The rest of the route was more 'alpine' and less memorable, but there was nothing truly terrible or frighteningly rotten. The position of the route is spectacular and exciting, and the summit is sharp and scenic.  Highly recommended.

crevasses on the descent

We descended the NW ridge in two pitches of down-climbing. One rappel got us into the moat, which we were able to climb out of quite easily via a narrow ice ledge. Navigating the glacier back down to the Dorado Needle col where we were to camp was really fun. Several tenuous-looking, but solid, snow bridges and some down-climbing on steep slopes above gaping cracks got us through, and protected well with a few pickets driven into the hard September neve. From moat to moat, the route took us 7-hours to complete.

After a good nights sleep, we headed home across the glaciers. We paused for sunrise back at the East Ridge of Eldoroado, and then made the long, scenic descent back to the car. The BBQ caboose and Cascadian Farms provided refreshment, and then we were off to the wedding festivities.

 Route description:

1. Climb onto the right side of the buttress at about the lowest point. Move right up easy white blocky slabs, then move back left to the base of a left-leaning dihedral (60-70 m, 3rd and 4th class).
2. Climb the dihedral to it's end ~20 m, passing several small roofs/overlaps on the left. Step left around a bulge, and ascend a fun flake system up and left to easier ground and the buttress crest (60 m, 5.7).
3. Simulclimb easy ground up the buttress crest, bypassing blank lichen covered slabs on the left. Bealy in a large amphitheater of white blocky slabs a bit above where the lower buttress joins the upper ( ~150 m, 4th).
4. Climb the slabs into a shallow corner, and ascend up and left to the upper ridge crest(50 m, low 5th).*
5. Continue up on the right side of the crest, through a dirty slot and up a short clean open book. Make a delicate step left onto a short slab with a nice crack, and belay on the crest (50 m, 5.6).
6. Climb on the crest. Pass a small steep gendarme on the left, and descend to a notch at the base of a steep, improbable looking step in the ridge. Belay in the notch at the base of a right angling hand/finger crack (20 m, low 5th).
7. Hand traverse out and right along the crack onto a steep but well featured slab with wild exposure. Pull onto a small ledge, and layback a short wide crack up to a large ledge. Traverse left along the ledge** to the base of a left facing flake/crack system, and climb up onto the blunt arete. Follow the arete up on clean slabby rock with many small solid flakes for holds and pro. Belay at the summit of a small gendarme, right on the sharp crest. (60 m, 5.7).
8. Proceed along a short knife edge, and descend into a notch. Climb over a blunt gendarme and belay on easy ground on the far side near another notch below a steep, impossible looking wall (40 m, low 5th).
9. Move the belay left on rubble strewn ledges to below a long clean dihedral.*** Climb up to the dihedral and stem up to a rotten ledge. Move right along the ledge, and ascend the buttress crest to the summit (60 m, 5.8).

* We actually climbed a different line to the R, which was more like 5.7-8 and kind of loose. the line described looked like it would be better.

** Careful rope management is required to avoid massive drag here. A right facing flake directly above the layback crack looked possible, but harder, and would avoid putting a giant Z in the rope.

*** The climbing on this pitch is excellent and clean until the very top, where there is considerable loose rock. Consider belay placement carefully to protect the belayer from rockfall.