Capitol Peak

All right. Even I'll admit that there is a repetitive nature to my recent posts. With that said, don't expect anything to change for at least a few more posts.

Last weekend I drove back out to the Elk Range to climb Capitol Peak. Capitol is a bit on the anomalous side as far as Colorado peaks go. The view from the north makes it appear to be a solid granite monolith, similar to something you'd see out in Yosemite valley. Upon closer inspection, the rock is more weathered than it appears from a distance and one is reminded that they are still in the Elk Range of Colorado.


Capitol Peak

My trip involved backpacking through fields of wildflowers for 7 miles on Friday night to a beautiful lake at the base of the mountain's daunting north face.


The beautiful Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness


The lake and the peak

Beginning at 5am the next morning, I started up a variation of the standard route on the northeast ridge. I stayed on or very close to the ridge crest for about a mile before reaching the famous Knife Edge Ridge. All the guidebooks and trip reports I'd read really build this ridge up and make it sound like crossing it is an incredibly intense experience. Although the ridge does come to a point and form an unusually geometric edge, the drop off on either side is not as steep as I was lead to believe. Possibly due to my recent slacklining practice, I was able to comfortably walk these knife-edge stretches like a balance beam.


The final ridge to the summit as seen from Point K2


Amy getting ready to cross the knife edge (I'm in the background and stole this picture from her posting on the 14ers website. We were supposed to meet up the night before and climb together, but that didn't work out and I didn't find her until we were crossing the knife edge in opposite directions.)

I spent about a half hour on the summit, taking in the views of nearby Snowmass Peak and the more distant Maroon Bells and Pyramid Peak. I was able to descend, pack up my camp, hike out, and arrive back in Boulder by 4pm, in time to drink beer and play volleyball until it got dark.

Oregon

I left for Oregon after being back in Colorado for 14 hours from Ohio. Not the best travel plans, but by far the cheapest flight option. And it allowed me to go to work for 7 hours, thus not missing another day.

The main purpose of my trip to Oregon was to see my new niece, Anna. Because I was busy with school and Ohio prior to this trip, I didn't do any planning for this trip, so I didn't spend anytime with old friends still in the area. Nonetheless, I had an excellent time. Not only did I get to bond with Anna and help my sister (those newborns are a lot of work!), but I also managed to get a few runs in on my favorite trails (Dans up Dimple and my "run-on-every-trail-loop" at Peavy) and do some relaxing. I even headed to the aquatic center to swim in a pool that I haven't been to since high school swim team 9 years ago.

Babies are much cuter than my rambling, so here are the photos:


The family made a trip to Silver Falls State Park. Here are the 4 generations of women represented.


Anna ready for her first hike.


Abbie, Mom, and Dad. Anna is already passed out (hence the limpness).


Mom, Dad, and I.


Abbie (and Anna) hiking.


Mom and Dad walking behind a falls.


Anna put on her "I love my auntie" onesie for me.


She likes to sleep on her side.


Getting in a 4th of July nap.


My grandma and Anna.


My dad and Anna. He likes to tell her stories about his friends and people he went to college with. I am sure I heard these as a baby and this may explain a lot about my personality.


Bundled up to go outside for my dad's fireworks display. We call this the smurf outfit. Anna slept through the fireworks, even the loud screeching ones at close range.

Ohio

I am way behind on the blogging, so bear with me. Josh said he won't post about his adventures last weekend until I finish my blogs from 3 weeks ago.

In late June, I made my first, and possibly last, trip to Ohio. The purpose of the trip was to attend Brian, a recent MS grad from my lab, and Emily's wedding. Most of my lab friends made the trip, but Josh decided he had better things to do than visit Ohio. Plane tickets to Ohio are ridiculously expensive, so we made a long weekend out of it. I managed to not take a single picture the entire time I was there. Luckily, co-worker Jessica shared her photos.

We flew into Akron Friday and drove down to Columbus. As a positive for Ohio, I will say that it is very green. Our drive was through farmland that was very green and scenic. Being in Boulder, I miss green grass and trees. We arrived at our hotel in downtown Columbus in time to grab some dinner before heading to the post-rehearsal dinner festivities at a nearby bar.


Jessica, Brian, and Brooke Friday night.

The wedding was on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, it was an outdoor wedding and it rained most of the day. But after a 30 minute rain delay, the wedding started. Tony, a post-doc in my lab, officiated the wedding. Besides the rain, the ceremony was beautiful. Brian is known for his fashion sense, so it was no surprise that the groomsmen were in pink shirts.


The newly married couple.


Melanie, Brooke, Lisa, and I at the reception.

Saturday and Sunday we did a bit of touring around Columbus. Jessica and I went for runs each day, heading along the river one time and through the Ohio State University Campus the other. I don't typically run with Jessica because she is too fast, but Columbus is a bit sketchy and there is safety in numbers. Since leaving DC, I have forgotten how horrible it is to run in humidity.


This is my favorite thing we saw on our runs. It is a giant gavel fountain outside the supreme court building. Fitting, yet a little silly.

We also attended ComFest (short for Community Festival), which was a music/art festival. Sunday night we headed to the Ohio Theater, a historic landmark that shows old movies.


Ohio Theater where we saw Hitchcock's Notorious.

Monday we drove north to Sandusky. Our google map directions took us on some back roads for the 3 hour drive, so we got to see some new landscape. Unfortunately, this was quite a bit slower as we got stuck behind a horse and buggy - I guess that happens in Amish country. Sandusky is home to Cedar Point amusement park, known for having the most roller coasters. We spent the day going on rides and avoiding the rain.


Ryan and Tony on one of the older coasters.


Lake Erie and the Cedar Point skyline as we drove away.

We flew back to Denver on Tuesday morning. During my four day trip to Ohio, I got to see a lot of the state, enough so that I am not in any hurry to return.

Non-Talking Goat

Just before leaving the office on Friday to go climb some more mountains, I got a response to a partner request I posted on the 14ers.com website. I planned to do a moderately technical climb on Pyramid Peak on Saturday and thought it would be good to have a climbing partner.

I met up with Heather at the Maroon Lake Trailhead Friday night, and we began climbing at 0330 on Saturday. The climb was great all-around, but the highlight was the ever-so-friendly but mute goat.


Hey Goat

We encountered him on the way down (we climbed up the Northwest Ridge and descended the Northeast Ridge, which is why we didn't see him on the way up). He walked towards us for a while with inquisitiveness written all over his face. I know he wanted me to pet him, but my inner voice wouldn't let me. I had my super-zoom camera with me, but I couldn't use its potential as the goat was too close.


Another picture of the goat, still refusing to talk

As the goat was in the trail, and the complex and steep terrain was not conducive to going around him, we slowly chased it as we continued to descend. Eventually, he disappeared and reappeared behind us. At this point he had a look on his face that said, "Hey, where you guys going? You just got here. Don't you wanna play?"

The climb itself was a great class 4 scramble with interesting route finding and a couple of fun cruxes. I'm convinced our circumnavigation (up one ridge and down the other) was the best way to climb the peak.


Pyramid's 'irregular' summit


Pyramid from low down on the Southeast Ridge

On Sunday I drove to the next trailhead south, camped, and got up in the morning to hike up Castle and Conundrum Peaks. Heather went home, so I was on my own this day. Most of this area is covered with undesirable scree, so I climbed up the the only route that still held snow - the Conundrum Couloir. Only 600 feet in length, the couloir averages 47 degrees. I was there so early (0600) that it was still quite icy. Had I slipped, I probably would have ended up in the beautiful lake below. Come to think of it, something like this with warmer water would make a great amusement park ride!


Conundrum Peak, with the Conundrum Couloir in the center

I topped out on Conundrum at 0700 after a long approach and a short but fun climb up the couloir. I scrambled across the ridge connecting Conundrum to Castle, and descended the Northeast Ridge on Castle Peak, completing my second fantastic tour in the Elk Range in as many days.


Castle Peak from the top of Conundrum

Dad's Weekend

Similar to the OSU weekends of yesteryear, my dad came out from Oregon to visit for few days, as he typically does once a summer. Two years ago, we attempted to climb Mt. of the Holy Cross, one of Colorado's many 14,000 foot mountains. After two years of dwelling on the fact that he didn't make it to the top, he came back to prove himself.

The trip started with a couple of acclimatization hikes to about 12,000 feet. The first of these, on the 4th of July, involved Dad hiking up to the continental divide near Rollins Pass in the Indian Peaks while Andy, Dave, and I skied a couple of chutes in the cirque immediately northeast of Beacon Peak.


Beacon Peak, with one of our ski lines visible in the cirque

The first line we hiked up and then skied was probably the steepest and most committing line I've skied since Alaska.


Line 1 - Unnamed southeast facing chute north of Beacon Peak

We had a few minutes left before Andy needed to be back for some BBQ festivities, so we skied a mellower, shorter line on the flanks of Beacon Peak.


Line 2

Meanwhile, Dad was hiking up the next prominent ridge north of us to the continental divide (that's how we got the first picture shown above). He made it all the way to the top and was back down about the same time we finished up.

The next day, Dad was ready for some more acclimatization, this time with a bit more elevation gain. To accomplish this, we drove to Rocky Mountain National Park for a hike up Flattop Mountain. Being a Saturday on a holiday weekend, the park was packed and full of yahoos. After a solid elevation gain of 2800 vertical feet, we successfully made it to the top.

With two hikes under out belt in two days, we were running out of time in our 4-day weekend to climb the Mt. of the Holy Cross. So on day 3, we drove to the trailhead and backpacked up over Halfmoon Pass, down to East Cross Creek, and up the flanks of Holy Cross to about 11,000 feet.


Mt. of the Holy Cross

We had just enough time to set up the tent at 11,000 feet before the lightening, thunder, hail, and rain began. The rain continued through the night and was still coming down at 3:00 am when we rose to start hiking towards the summit, 3000 vertical feet above us.

Roughly half way up, the rain turned to snow. It was apparently just cold enough for the snow to stick to the rocks, turning every step into a potential slip. The rest of the way up, we were in a whiteout and could not see more than about 100 feet. We reached the summit at about 8:00 am. The visibility was so poor, we had to search out the summit register to convince ourselves we were at the top.


Dad holding the summit register


Father and Son on the Summit!

Yes, these pictures are from last weekend and there was 2 inches of fresh snow in the ground! We didn't stay on the summit long as there was nothing to see except clouds and we were cold. The trip down was slightly more treacherous than the way up as it was increasingly difficult to keep from slipping on the snow covered rocks.



Even the flowers were stymied by this July 7th snowstorm.



After descending about 500 feet from the summit, the clouds started to break and we could see glimpses of spectacular views in every direction the clouds allowed. Unfortunately, the peak we had just climbed remained at least partially shrouded for the entire descent.


Dad descending at about 13,500 feet, Holy Cross hiding in the background

It was truly awesome to see my dad work so hard to accomplish something that he was determined to do. We overcame some adverse weather conditions to be the only two people to summit that day. In fact, we didn't see anyone until we were at the top of Halfmoon Pass on our way back to the car.

Bell Ringin'

The very photogenic Maroon Bells

Keith and I decided to ditch work on Friday, so we found our way over to the Aspen area on Thursday night. Our original plan was to climb North Maroon Peak and Maroon Peak (collectively known as the Maroon Bells) on Friday, and climb Pyramid Peak on Saturday.

We began hiking, with skis on our backs, at about 4:30 am. By 7:30, we had dropped off our overnight gear at a camp spot and were putting our crampons on 3500 feet below the summit. The weather was absolutely beautiful, making the majority of the climb sunny and hot. After weaving our way through some cliff bands lower down, we entered the Bell Cord Couloir at 12,000 feet. This couloir is the extremely aesthetic line that bisects the two peaks.


Half way up the Bell Cord Couloir

We climbed the steady 45 degree couloir for 1800 vertical feet to the saddle, where we could finally see over the other side and switch from climbing in ski boots to trail shoes.


Keith topping out on the Bell Cord, Pyramid Peak in the Background

The physical demands required to reach this point were greater than anticipated. We were both feeling tired and drank the last of our water at this point. Having dealt with lack of water and dehydration before, I calculated that I could still complete the day's plan of summiting both Maroon Bells. After a short break, we started towards North Maroon's summit.


Scrambling up North Maroon Peak

The ridge linking the two peaks offered great contrast to the snow couloir we had spent the last few hours in. The sedimentary rock was awful (crumbly) by Colorado standards, but great by Cascade volcano standards. Although only a short distance away, it took about an hour and a half for me to climb my way over to the summit and back in the tricky terrain. The ridge traverse is rated Class 4 in the guide book, but I'd give it 5.4 in a few sections.


Maroon Peak from North Maroon Summit

After making it back to the saddle and top of the Bell Cord Couloir, our level of exhaustion was noticeably higher and we weren't becoming any less dehydrated. The Bell Cord was littered with rocks, so our original plan of skiing down it was put into question. On the way up, we could see the 'Y' Couloirs and they didn't seem to have nearly as much rockfall strewn about them. As tired as we were, it was a difficult decision to make, but we decided to put our skis on our back for the final summit push up to Maroon Peak's summit. Upon reaching the summit, we could only think of water, so we didn't spend too much time there and began hiking down the south ridge, aiming for the top of the 'Y' Couloir's northern branch.


North Maroon Peak, from Maroon Peak Summit

As we approached the 'Y', we found a trickle of a stream of melting snow. We put Keith's water bottle under it for a few minutes and had our first water in quite some time. I made sure not to overdo it since shocking a dehydrated system is generally not a good idea. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon now, and we were anxious to get down.

We took another short break at the top of the 'Y' to put our ski boots back on and prepare to ski.


Looking down the 'Y' Couloir

Keith dropped in first as my knee brace had broken on the way up the Bell Cord couloir and I was a bit timid skiing without it. The fact that it was now so late in the day meant the snow was very sun softened, but it never froze overnight, so I doubt our timing had that great of an affect on the conditions.


Keith dropping into the 'Y'

Although soft, the snow was still quite forgiving and very enjoyable to ski! After descending through the narrowest part of the couloir, we encountered several water runnels, some posing fairly substantial obstacles. Keith found his way into a rather large one of these and I managed to get a comical shot of his attempt to extract himself.


Keith stuck in a giant water runnel

Carefully choosing our line the rest of the way down to avoid future encounters with these man-eating runnels, we soaked in the beauty of the line we were skiing.


Keith skiing the beautiful 'Y' Couloir

Lower down, we skied through the garbage chute which had multiple waterfalls cascading over the surrounding cliffs, compounding the beauty of our location.


Exiting the Garbage Chute

After about 13 hours, we finally made it back to our camp. Although I've had many outings in the mountains lately, this is the first one for a while where I really felt like I accomplished something. It felt great to push myself both mentally and physically in one of the most beautiful landscapes in Colorado.


The Route, as completed

Needing more time to recover, we hiked out the next day and left Pyramid Peak for another time.