So after wading across the recently formed beaver resevoir (according
to another sign) we arrived at the bridge, and contemplated our options. Jumping
looked unlikely. So did trying to stay on the bridge while
wading. Eventually we bit the bullet, switched to Tevas, removed
pants, and waded the horse ford area. Water was moving fast, but
never much more than knee deep. but damn was it cold
After the bridge, it's a fantastically scenic ramble up the
Valley. About 3/4 of the way up,we met the only other people in the
area heading back down. They were hiking with overnight packs, in
Tevas, although had trail-runner shoes hanging from the packs. They
said they'd been turned back by a lot of deep, soft snow. So when we
came to that bit, we elected to boot kick straight up a steep, sunny,
hard slope rather than wade through the softer snow in the
woods. First time we've used the ice axes since moving to this state.
The lake was mostly frozen, wussed out on the swim. Had to go down a bit for a camping spot off snow, and with some shelter from the wind. Judging by the signs which show numbered, organized camp sites, this is a pretty busy and popular spot when the snow leaves, but we had it to ourselves.
Saturday we took a shot at Capitol. We had read the Roach description
once or twice, and left the book in the car (you'd think Roach would
print a book on nice, light paper, small font, but nooooo, it's like
carrying a brick around). Capitol is famous for the 100 ft long
"knife edge" near the summit, so we were all set for that, but we
weren't set for everything between us and the knife edge.
Our first mistake was trying to stay too high. We did a lot of steep
snow traversing - bit of a pucker factor given the rock below, lack
of crampons, etc. Tiring of snow, we moved up onto the rocks, and
found ourselves on a narrow, class 4, loose, exposed knife edge. too
early for that, so back down to the snow to do what we should have
done all along - drop into the valley and head up behind the main
ridge. It was during this time that I looked over at the snow field
about 1/4 mile away and a bit above us and saw a big brown something
galumphing along up there. It was definitely brown, moose or elk
colored, but was clearly not a moose. Which left only one guess; a
good sized brown bear. What the heck a bear was doing on a snow field
at 13,000 I have no idea. As we watched, he hit a soft spot and
nose-planted in the snow. That made us feel a little better. Then he
dissapeared over a small ridge. That didn't make us feel very good at
all.....
In yet another example of lousy route finding, I got off the snow too
early and back on the rock, which hadn't looked bad, but turned out to
be a lot more borderline class-4 with lots of loose lousy rock. And a
bear lurking somewhere nearby. We got through the rocks, and found
the bear's tracks, but never saw the bear again. Second pic shows the
ice ax for reference of scale. Each track was pretty similar in size
to my boot print in the snow. BTW, the new boots were workin just fine.
The weather was decent, but not great; here's the only picture of the
famous marroon bells, not exactly shining in maroonness today:
But this was a cool shot down into the valley between Snowmass and
Capitol. Ironically we had chosen Capitol over Snowmass peak because Roach
mentioned a "hazardous stream crossing on Snowmass at times of high water".
So, a bit later than planned, we're sitting on top of Peak 13,664, and
the only thing I remember from the Roach description is "rest here
and ponder your destiny" or something to that effect. It was in fact a
rather grave ponder. While we had been prepared for the final knife
edge, we weren't really prepared for what we saw; close to 1/2 mile
of pure class 4, exposed, loose, scrambling. With the occasional snow
patch to keep things interesting. It was already late. Our nerves were
already frayed from the scrambling we'd done off route,and the
prospect of 2+ hours of high pucker factor was just a bit too much. So
we called it a day from there, and took the easy way down the snow.
Pretty nifty knife-ridge between Snowmass and Capitol
Looking back out the approach valley
The rocks and terrain are pretty photogenic. From a climber's
perspective, however, they're loose, nasty sh*t, good for little but a
brisk scare.
Good trip overall, and someday perhaps we'll go back, a little later in the season, and knowing how much pucker factor to expect
