I finally returned to Capitol Peak on September 5, 2009. It has been just over a year since my last attempt to climb Capitol, and I was hoping for better luck this time. Instead of climbing the Northwest Buttress, I opted to climb the standard "Knife Edge" route.
Devin Shunk and Jason Pepin joined me on the climb. We decided to climb it as a day trip so that we didn't waste energy hiking in with heavy packs. We left the car at 1:20 in the morning, hoping to reach the summit around 8 am. We had a full moon to light the way, and it was a spectacular night of climbing.
The only bad part of the trip was that Devin rolled his ankle descending the couloir from the Mt. Daly saddle. We helped Devin get back out and onto the easy hiking path down the saddle, but he insisted that we continue our climb. Jason and I debated what to do, but we decided to continue on.
During the climb out of the basin, we joined up with Paul Brown, who was climbing solo and looking for his final Colorado 14,000' summit. It was a pleasure climbing with Paul, and we were fortunate enough to share in his celebration on the summit.
We reached the summit around 9 am, and enjoyed a clear sky without a trace of wind. It was great! Capitol Peak was my 57th successful summit in Colorado. I now only have San Luis Peak left to climb.
