Trip(s) of the Week: Capitol Peak!

Alpenglow on the northeast ridge of Capitol Peak. Photo by Charlie Nuttelman

Capitol Peak was the place to be on MLK weekend, with three parties making it up the challenging peak, including two rare and exceptionally fast midwinter single-day ascents—possibly the earliest one-day winter climbs ever done on Capitol. On Saturday the team was Stefan Griebel and brothers Charlie and Max Nuttelman, who had scouted the route to Moon Lake on December 30 and laid plans to attempt the peak on the next good weekend, hoping to do it as close to the winter solstice as possible. You know, for bonus challenge.

Capitol's upper slopes. Photo by Charlie Nuttelman

The three started at 12:15 a.m., anticipating a 15- to 18-hour day. With little new snow in the previous two weeks, good weather, and the benefit of their old tracks part of the way, the team raced up to Moon Lake, climbed over K2, and arrived at the Knife Edge way ahead of schedule—it was only just starting to get light! Safely across the ridge, they started up the delicate snow-covered slabs, moving very carefully without roping up. They were on top at 8:45, just 8.5 hours from the car. Descending the upper ridge with one rappel, they carefully reversed the Knife Edge and picked up their skis, returning to the car by 1:30. Charlie Nuttelman has posted an excellent TR, photos, and a video account of this great day at his blog. … Continue Reading

14er Skiing: Best of the Best

The gorgeous south face of South Maroon. Courtesy of 14skiers.com

Frank Konsella, the fourth person to ski all the 14ers from their summits, recently posted a great series on his blog speculating on a new 14er skiing challenge. He writes: “There are still some firsts left on the 14ers—first snowboarder (maybe Eric Kling or Jarrett Luttrell), first woman (Brittany Walker, Pam Rice, and Christy Sauer are all closing in), and first to do them all in one season. But for somebody who isn’t in a hurry to be first at something, maybe getting the best possible descents would be the crowning achievement.”

In six posts, Konsella lists his nominations for the best descent line on each of the 54 peaks, including beauties like South Maroon’s southwest face, “a wilderness classic.” Inspired by his posts, we asked Konsella to pick a few superlatives—the best of the best: … Continue Reading

Riding the 14ers

Mark Rikkers making the first known snowboard descent of Mt. Sneffels, via the Snake Couloir, in 1998. Photo by Barrows Worm

Lou Dawson was first to ski all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks, and Chris Davenport famously skied them all in 12 months, in 2006–’07. But what about snowboarding the state’s highest peaks? Who did them first, and how many remain to be ridden?

The Colorado 14er First Snowboard Descents Project is a website created by Avon resident Zach Taylor to chronicle the history of snowboard mountaineering in the state. Taylor has built photo-packed web pages for most of the 14ers, with information on first known descents of each route that’s been ridden, plus links to trip reports. He’s seeking information on more descents, especially from the early days of snowboarding in the state.

According to Taylor, all but one of the 14ers has been ridden. Fearsome Capitol Peak is the lone holdout, but, as Taylor writes, “We would expect that to change in the next year.” Erik Kling from the Golden area and Jarrett Luttrell from Gunnison are the two most likely to be first to ride all the 14ers; their tick lists are both in the “high 40s.”