On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Wag
Last September, my wife and I continued our journey to climb all the 14,000 foot high peaks in Colorado, taking a weekend to backpack in to Capitol Lake, followed by a climb of one of the most challenging peaks in in the state. After a long hike in, we set up camp at Capitol Lake, and went to be early, ready for an early morning for our climb the next day.
After hiking in, we set up camp, then walked a short distance to the lake to filter water in preparation for our climb the next morning. Looking up at the imposing face of the peak, we were nervous, but excited.
The next morning, we left camp at 5 AM, and climbed to a high pass between Capitol and nearby Clark Peak. We arrived at the pass in the dark, and it quickly became obvious that we would need to wait for dawn to proceed. As the sun came up, we could begin to make out the nearby peaks of the Maroon Bells.
Once the sun rose, we were able to find our way down to a large talus field (a large area of rocks ranging in size from 12 inches to moderate sized boulders) to make our way to our next goal, the infamous Knife Edge ridge.
One of the most challenging parts of the climb is a feature known as the Knife Edge. The Knife Edge is a sharp ridge, probably 150 yds long, with small footholds on either side, that requires you to traverse it with your hands on the upper edge of the ridge. The exposure is intense, with more than 1000 feet of exposure on the south side, and 1400 feet on the north. Luckily, the rock is solid, and there is no risk of handholds or footholds breaking loose. It is a nerve-racking traverse.
Some climbers get across the Knife Edge, and decide that there is no way in hell that they’re going back across it. Unfortunately for them, on the other side is a gully that gives the illusion of an easy and direct route to Capitol Lake that bypasses the difficulties of the Knife Edge. The gully quickly steepens, and dumps those who try to descend it off an 800 ft cliff. In 2017 there were a number of parties that fell prey to the siren’s call of the gully, and 6 people died over the course of the summer.
After crossing the Knife Edge, there is still more difficult climbing to go as you traverse and climb across the face of the peak on loose ledges and small bands of rock. The views into the Basin below help keep you focused on the task at hand
Finally you reach the summit of the Peak. The views in all directions are amazing. The next closest 14000 ft peak is Snowmass Mountain, 3 miles to the south. The intervening ridge between Capitol and Snowmass has only been climbed a handful of times, and is rightly considered one of the most difficult and committing climbs anywhere. The 3 mile route takes a highly competent team a couple of days to traverse. It is uniformly described as climbing across a giant mountain of Jenga Blocks, ready to collapse under you at any time. It is nicknamed Satan’s Ridge.
I have no intention of ever trying it.
Another view across the seldom visited Pierre Lake Basin towards Snowmass.
After down climbing the Peak, traversing the Knife Edge, and working our way through the endless talus, we were rewarded with this view of the peak we had climbed. We were back in camp at 3, packed up our tent, and hiked out. A great adventure.
eclare
I get out of breath just looking at your photos!
GBintheHC
Congratulations on your success. The photos really convey the intensity of climbing in the high mountains. My heart is racing and I’m still in bed.
Thanks for the adrenaline!
prostratedragon
Le gasp!
Rusty
Amazing pictures, than you for sharing!
Spanky
Are you fuckin’ nuts?
Great pictures, though.
JPL
What type of boots do you have? I can only imagine slipping and sliding in mine.
Betsy
Absolutely terrifying! It would be for me, anyway. But not impossible for you! What an adventure! Thanks for sharing your incredible day.
raven
Awesome, on my first honeymoon in 1973 we tried Mt Quandary. We had two dogs, Ralph and Henry, and as we approached the peak we could see a storm coming and we skedaddled to the tree line. I wish we had made it but we didn’t. That is an incredible climb!
Van Buren
I think the window between me being too young, careless, and overconfident in my ability to do the knife edge and me being too damn old to do it was about one year, maybe 1997 or so.
raven
My buddy is starting the Washington leg of the Pacific Coast Trail today and I can follow him on a Garmin GPS app.
OzarkHillbilly
Beautiful.
debbie
@Spanky:
As beautiful as the scenery is (and it is!), I second your sentiment and will continue to gaze longingly at the photos on my Ansel Adams wall calendar.
MazeDancer
Great photos!
Victor Matheson
Congrats! Veteran of all 54 14ers here. Moved to New England a while ago and now working on the 4000 footers here. Capitol is a wonderful climb.
Albatrossity
Great story!
I am glad that there are people who like to climb mountains.
I am equally glad that I am not one of them!
Wag
@Spanky:
Maybe a little
@JPL:
Last year I finally wore out my Salewa climbing boots this year I’ve mostly been climbing in approach shoes. Lighter weight
@Van Buren:
I’m 59 now, and looking forward to continuing to climb for years to come!
Wag
@Victor Matheson: Earlier this summer we climbed the peaks in the Chicago Basin. It may take three or four posts to do that trip justice.
How many 4000 foot peaks are there in New England, and how many to go?
Betty
Wow! Your and your wife have won your dare-devil badges. Amazing views indeed!
WaterGirl
Breathtakingly beautiful, and terrifying. So very glad you shared these with us!
arrieve
Wow. I’m not as afraid of heights as I was when I was young but there was never a point when I would have been both willing and able to do climbs like this. These pictures are just magnificent.
Victor Matheson
@Wag: Chicago Basin may be my all-time favorite! Just the idea of flagging down a train when you pack out is awesome.
I am in MA. There are roughly 48 in NY, but that’s an impossibly long drive for day trips, so those will probably never be attempted. There are 6 in Vermont (which I have finished.)
There are 46 in NH, generally no further away than the Sawatch range is from Denver, so all doable in a long day. Mt. Washington feels exactly like a CO 14er. About 4,500 ft vertical starting in trees and ending above timber line with a mix of path and scrambling. Others are more path and only maybe 3000 vertical with a couple not even having a view above the trees. I am about 1/3 of the way through these.
There are also about 15 in Maine including Katahdin, which is the Capitol Peak of New England, complete with knife edge ridge. But that’s a ways away, so that will take a dedicated trip and the right climbing partner.
JanieM
Wonderful, evocative pictures. I never did that kind of climbing even back when I had knees that could stand it. But I hiked a lot, including one trip where we spent a couple of nights in a meadow under the face of Longs Peak. Amazing high country — stark and beautiful. I remember crossing a talus field and needing a little encouragement — it was my first day of hiking ever outside New England. Also the thunderstorms that rolled in like clockwork every day we were there.
Thanks for the great pics, and the memories.
PS A site about 4000-footers in NE.
Dagaetch
Gorgeous photos, and it sounds like an incredible hike. Thank you for sharing!
Wag
@Victor Matheson: Sounds like a great project. Maybe I’ll take a trip out to do Katahdin..
Just checked out photos of the Katahdin Knife Edge. Reminds me of the Catwalk an the way to Eolus!
cope
Those are evocative pictures of the special territory above tree line, thank you. I always wanted to do Capitol and take on the knife edge when I lived in Colorado but that’s probably off the table at this point. I’ll have to be content with the two fourteeners I did manage, Quandary and Sneffels (four ascents).
Raven: my first attempt on Quandary was in December of 1971, an adventure I’ve detailed here before that ended a few hundred feet short of the summit. I went back in the summer of 1972 and finished the job.
Uncle Cholmondeley
Wow, thanks for these. Even as a young man I didn’t have the drive to tackle those kinds of challenges. But I’m sure glad there are people in the world who do, especially those who take the time to take pictures.
Victor Matheson
@cope: Sneffels is another beautiful mountain. Not as dicey as Wag’s Capitol trip, but if I remember right, there’s not a whole lot of room right at the summit and a long way down on that north side if you lean too far over to take a look.
dp
Just wow.
Math Guy
Managed to climb most of them when I lived in Colorado. I really miss the mountains! Savor and hold on to every moment you have there.
cope
@Victor Matheson: Yes, not too dicey up the standard route from Yankee Boy Basin, just a bit of a slog. The first time I got to the top, a young woman was already up there taking in the view with her German Shepherd. Yes, it’s a drop on the north side but you can see a hundred miles to the north, all the way to Grand Junction where all my kin are. I miss my mountains.
Old School
@Victor Matheson:
Does that mean you’ve done Satan’s Ridge?
susanna
This must have been an arduous, and satisfying trek upwards and down. Loved #3 with good b&w gradations. You make the rocks come alive in most of your pictures, then the calm lake – all of them are awe-inspiring.
Yes, thanks for sharing these pictures. Too old now for that, but remember the exhilarating feelings when doing so back in the day.
cope
@Old School: I was unfamiliar with Satan’s Ridge so I looked it up and it’s the three mile Capitol/Snowmass ridge Wag mentions.
It seems to be one of those climbs you want to have done but don’t want to actually do. Here’s a log of one successful attempt.
https://www.summitpost.org/never-ending-punishment-on-satan-s-ridge-traverse/688118
StringOnAStick
@raven: Quandry is a great climb with an excellent false summit to surprise you. I’ve climbed it and skied down the east face many times but probably won’t do that again since we’ve moved much farther west.
Old School
@cope: I wasn’t familiar with it until Wag mentioned it in the write-up as a climb he was unwilling to do.
It certainly isn’t on my bucket list.
frosty
That’s pretty much my take on anything with a sheer drop. Kudos to you and the other commenters and thanks for the great pictures.
jimmiraybob
@Victor Matheson:
I’m going to be hiking down to Chicago Basin from Silverton next month and then down to take the train back. At least that’s the plan. I’ve had the Weminuche Wilderness on the bucket list for half a lifetime. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing any serous scrambling far off trail though.
Wag
@cope: Yep. That was the trip report that convinced me that I was never going to do that traverse. Great writing and scary photos.
Wag
@jimmiraybob: The Chicago Basin is amazing. Sounds like a great trip!
J R in WV
Great story and pics, thanks for sharing. Many years ago I went to CO and WY for a rock collecting trip, which led us up into some high country. That was then, and this is now. But great memories.
In June we were at the top of a giant talus slope at the mouth of the adit of an old abandoned mine, looking hard at the rocks. Eventually I stood up to stretch, turned around from looking at the mountain, and saw a weather front coming in fast. By the time we were down off the talus it was blowing snow hard. A 4×4 Ranger with a topper to protect the gear. We made it to the cabin OK… This was south of Salida a little bit IIRC. Fine memories.
WaterGirl
@Wag: This may be the most comments on a daytime On the Road post.
stinger
@WaterGirl: What amazing photos! I wouldn’t have been surprised to learn they’d been taken from a plane or helicopter. That they were taken by someone there, on foot — fantastic!
Wag
@WaterGirl: :)
Wag
@WaterGirl:
I’ve got a couple more peaks in the wings.
way2blue
I missed out on the gene that would motivate me to try scaling these peaks with their vast scree fields & knife-edge ridges. Wow. And yikes. Perhaps it was excised after climbing Mt Stuart in the Cascade Range of Washington. Many years ago.
The climb up was uneventful—great view from the top, Tibetan prayer flags, a book to sign, a few climbers who came up a different route. We came straight down—across a wide snow field. My friend ‘paralleled skied’ down in his hiking boots, I side-slipped until I lost my footing part way, and rocketed downward, digging in my heels and using my legs as springs so as to not collide hard with the boulders at the bottom. My friend then bounced down the boulder field, boing boing boing. Didn’t matter if a boulder rolled as he was airborne headed to the next one. Me, slowly climbing up & over each boulder. Started to drizzle halfway down, my thighs were shaking… And then around the campfire, he mentioned he’d wanted to climb Mt Stuart ’cause he’d remembered it being hard. What! Grrr.