Capitol Peak Colorado 14er Hike Review

Capitol Peak is infamous in Colorado as being the toughest standard route on a “14er” by most of the hiking community. This long hike involves miles of hiking and is usually broken up into 2 days. Trail conditions range from dirt to boulder fields with the crux of the route being the famous knife edge which is situated about a half mile from the summit. Capitol Peak is not an easy mountain and requires a full day of good weather, lots of preparation and experienced hikers/climbers.

Capitol Peak Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Capitol Peak 

Capitol Peak Rating: ★★★★ ★ (5/5 Stars)

Distance: 18.5 Miles RT (12 Miles RT to Capitol Lake)

Elevation Start: 9,500 ft

Highest Point: 14,131 ft

Total Elevation Gain: 5,800 ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 14-16 Hours RT

Difficulty: Strenuous – What does this mean?

Class: Class 4

Season: July – September (Expect snow outside of this period)

Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to Capitol Peak

Trailhead: Capitol Creek

Getting Here: Navigate towards the small town of Snowmass, Colorado either by Independence Pass or I-70. Turn onto Snowmass Creek and follow it for about 1.7 miles and take a right onto Capitol Creek road. Continue on this road for about 8.3 miles until you reach the trailhead. The road turns to dirt about 3 miles from the TH and can get rough in sections. Overall,  most average clearance cars should be okay as long as they have enough power to get up the steep sections of the road. I would not say that 4×4 is required to get to the trailhead unless you are visiting in the early spring when snow remains. 

Fees: None

Parking: The parking lot for Capitol Peak is quite massive, easily fitting about 30 cars. Capitol Peak has no bathrooms at the trailhead or anywhere along the hike.

Summary

Camping: Camping at Capitol Peak comes in two basic options: camping near the trailhead or camping near Capitol Lake. Capitol Lake has about 10 marked campsites and if those are full you are able to camp at least 100 feet away from the trail or any sources of water.

Dogs: Capitol Peak is not dog friendly.

Trail X Factors: Weather, Knife Edge

Capitol Peak is a serious mountain and demands your full attention for the entire hike. This peak requires a hiker with a lot of experience on exposure, Class 3 and Class 4 rock in addition to solid route finding. Due to all of this, a perfect weather day is a must when hiking Capitol Peak. Once you gain the initial north ridge of Capitol Peak, you are completely exposed to the elements. If the weather looks iffy at K2, turn back as there are no ways off this mountain besides the way you came up.

Capitol Peak is known for its famous Knife Edge which is a 30-40 foot section of rock that has dramatic exposure on both sides. Experience (and ballsy) hikers can walk across most of the knife edge, while most people either scoot or position their hands on top of the ridge and walk sideways across. Whatever your technique, take your time and be sure to test all holds. Even though the rock is quite solid, one slip up here would result in serious injury or death. Hikers have died on the knife edge in the past due to rock giving out, resulting in a massive fall off the mountain.

Hike Tip(s): Do Your Research Before Climbing

Reading this post is a good place to start, but be sure to check out my videos, pictures and other websites to make sure you know what you are getting into before attempting Capitol Peak. The mountain has claimed countless lives due to people being unprepared, making bad decision or just bad luck. The most important tip I could ever give is that there are NO shortcuts off Capitol Peak. Whether you are dealing with storms or are physically/mentally tired – the only way off the mountain is back down the south slopes of K2. If you take a look at the mountain from below, you will see that any path that looks inviting from above, ends in cliffs that are hundreds of feet tall. If things go well for you, Capitol Peak is quite a fun day outside but this is not a mountain for those without experience.

Best Views: There were a ton of good views during my hike of Capitol Peak. About a ¼ mile into the hike, you get great landscape shot of the valley and Capitol Peak. Once at Capitol Lake, your views are stunning as well. In terms of higher up on the mountain, basically anywhere past K2 offers great views of Capitol Lake from above and three other alpine lakes to the south. Unfortunately, our summit time was covered in clouds so we didn’t get to enjoy the full view from 14,000+ feet, but I imagine it is pretty good.  

Capitol Peak Hike Route

Gear Needed

• 14er Day Hike Packing List
• Men’s Trail Runners
• Women’s Trail Runners
• La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
• La Sportiva Trango Hiking Booths (Women’s)
• Backpack
• Climbing Helmet
• Food & Water
• Optional: Garmin inReach
• Optional: Hiking Poles
• Optional: Headlamp
• Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
• Optional: Camera and Lens
• Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
• Optional: Overnight Gear – Tent, Sleeping Bag, Cook Kit, Bear Bag etc.
• *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.

Our Trip to Capitol Peak: August 2018

Day 1

When planning out my list of “14ers” to attempt for 2018, Capitol Peak was among the most anticipated hikes of that summer. I had heard about the dangers of the mountain, the false “way down” the mountain and of course the infamous knife edge. I knew that Capitol Peak was a mountain I wanted to hike with other people, so I organized a weekend with two friends and we made our way out to Snowmass. When we arrived to the trailhead I was surprised how many cars were in the lot. Surely, all of these people were not hiking Capitol Peak, were they? Our plan for the weekend was to hike up to Capitol Lake on the first afternoon, make an early summit attempt the next morning and then hike out later that second day. Weather for the weekend looked optimal in parts and not so great in others so it was definitely a concern and something we were going to be mindful of all weekend.

We started the hike up towards the lake and decided to take the Capitol ditch trail which has become the new standard way to approach the lake over the Capitol Creek trail. The main difference between the two was that ditch trail had less elevation gain/loss which made it more enticing. The trail worked through a massive ranch where cows openly roamed around the fields and forests, what a life! We hiked along the well defined dirt trail crossing a stream and eventually entering into Maroon Snowmass Wilderness after about 2 miles of hiking. The hiking was relatively mellow at this point, gaining only small amounts of elevation over the course of each mile we hiked. We continued along the trail and reached a massive open field where Capitol Peak, K2 and the entire ridge of our hike came into view. As we were scouting out the mountain from afar, we noticed the dark skies above us which shortly opened up with rain. Although the rain wasn’t heavy, it was annoying enough to force us to stop and put on our rain jackets and covers for our bags.

The rain continued to fall off and on as we reached the crossing over Capitol Creek. The creek was low and made for a quick crossing and we continued back into the forest reaching another trail junction. We stayed right to continue up towards Capitol Lake, our destination for the night. After crossing the creek, the trail started to pick up more and more elevation. We hiked through more open fields, dense forests and made a few more stream crossings before reaching the final hill that sits in front of Capitol Lake. It was around 7PM and the sun was fading quickly which made our arrival at the lake pretty perfect. There were several other groups camping in the hills around the lake, so we decided to find our own spot in the woods just south of the lake. We set up camp and headed up to the lake to pump some water for dinner and the hike the next day.

At the lake, we enjoyed a dramatic sunset through the storm clouds that we had walked through earlier. We were very excited for our hike the next morning but hoped that the weather was going to hold for us. Capitol Peak is not a mountain you want to attempt in anything but perfect weather.  After some pictures and water pumping, we headed back to the campsite, made dinner and went to bed.

Day 2

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep our alarms went off at 4AM the next morning and we were all excited for the day ahead. We emerged from our tents and the sky was full of bright stars, a great start to the morning! We all decided that breakfast on the trail was probably the best idea, so we packed up our day packs and hit the trail. As we worked up the steep eastern slopes of Capitol Peak, we noticed some others hikers ahead of us who seemed off trail. At first, we didn’t think much of it but as we approached the top of the saddle one of the people in our party started to get worried. Two of us waited on the saddle while the third in our group attempted to help the lost hikers. When he came back, he informed us that they had no idea they were off trail but had almost gotten themselves into a precarious situation. This was a depressing reminder that these mountains have no barrier of entry and that anyone can attempt them, regardless of their preparation or skill level.

While we had waited on the saddle, a couple of other hiking groups caught up to us so we let them lead the way along the east side of the mountain. This section of the trail involved several sections of route finding and some Class 2 and low Class 3 hiking. We worked down the slopes of Capitol Peak and into a massive boulder field. We continued along and eventually up this boulder field to reach the summit of K2 just as the sun was rising. One of the hikers in front of us started to feel the effects of altitude and decided to turn around. I was so proud of the decision that I probably made him feel uncomfortable with the level of praise I gave him. I am certainly not an advocate of giving up when things get tough, but if you know today is not your day, it takes a lot of awareness to call it quits – a trait many people do not have (myself included).

Since we had reached K2 somewhat early and were surrounded by other hikers, we decided to summit the mountain and take a quick break there instead of skirting around its north edge. The weather was still looking beautiful, but we had noticed that there was a slickness to some of the rock which wasn’t going to be super fun once we hit the knife edge. After a short break, we continued down from K2, down climbing some Class 4 sections to regain the ridge. We hiked along the narrow and slick rock to reach the knife edge shortly after. I was stunned. I had always envisioned the knife edge as this massive section of rock when in reality it was only about 30-40 feet long. We watched the hikers ahead of us scoot across the ridge and finally it was our turn to pass. I decided to go last so that I could grab some pictures and videos of the rest of our group. As they worked across the ridge, they informed me that the rock was a bit slick, but solid.

I secured my GoPro to my helmet, zipped up my bag and started my way across the narrow granite. At first, I was a bit overconfident and even said “this is a hype beast!” Mother nature smacked me with some humility as I worked my way across the ridge. I realized how much exposure was on both sides of this narrow section of rock and changed my crossing technique from walking to scooting. After we all safely crossed the knife edge, we continued along the exposed ridge with a couple of tricky sections of granite shortly after. Even though the knife edge gets all the attention on Capitol Peak, the sections after it still demand your full attention and have quite a bit of exposure in their own right. Eventually, we had cross this entire section and reached a very somber point in the hike. To our right was the false “shortcut” off the mountain where several people had died in 2017. I will admit that this gully did look inviting from our perspective but if you had seen the slopes of Capitol Peak from below, you would know that what starts off as a harmless gully ends in steep granite cliffs that drop hundreds of feet.

We continued along the western slopes of Capitol Peak, crossing a series of narrow sections and eventually reaching more Class 3 and 4 climbing. Although the rock was still solid in most places, there were several ways to ascend to the final section of ridge which made rock fall a concern. Most people around us seemed to be experienced hikers however so we never had a problem with it. Between my stopping to take pictures and videos and the overall level of “shittiness” I had been feeling that morning, I had lagged behind the other two hikers in my group. I wasn’t sure which way they had gone, so I decided to just take the ridge the remaining way to the summit. I worked my way up through the Class 4 sections and regained the ridge only about a hundred yards from the summit of Capitol Peak. After a short section of exposed class 3 hiking, I had reached the summit of Capitol Peak! Our time on Capitol Peak was extremely short, probably less than 5 minutes because we had been watching clouds roll in all morning. By the time we had reached the top, Capitol Peak was completely covered in clouds. Although they seemed harmless, we had no idea what type of weather was behind them and didn’t want to risk it. We snapped a couple of pictures and headed back down the northern slopes of the mountain.

Overall, the trip back down to Capitol Lake was fairly uneventful but I can say that the knife edge was much easier the second time around. I ended up walking about 5/6ths of it and felt much more comfortable with my route across. I will also say that the sections around K2 can be a bit tricky too if you did summit the mountain on your way up. There are lots of sections of loose rock and dirt which could result in a bad fall if the proper precautions weren’t taken. We reached Capitol Lake and took a small rest before packing up camp and heading back to the trailhead. On the way out the weather turned to shit. While we were thrilled we were not up on Capitol Peak still, hiking through rain, hail and mud mixed with cow shit was not exactly a fun time. At one point, we started playing a game of how much money we would pay someone to transport us back to the car. What started off as $100 quickly turned into $500 as the rain and hail continued.

Hike out aside, Capitol Peak was one of my favorite hikes in Colorado to date. I enjoyed the beautiful high alpine lake, route finding and dramatic exposure that the mountain offered. Given the chance, I probably would revisit Capitol Peak, but probably won’t be for quite some time as it was a very physically and mentally taxing trip. Like every mountain in Colorado, Capitol Peak deserves your full attention and respect and I only would recommend it to someone with a lot of experience in the mountains.

Capitol Peak Virtual Trail Guide