Capitol gets ski descent #5

(Last Updated On: March 23, 2009)


^^ Photo of Jordan by Joe

My friends Jordan and Joe were able to summit and ski Capitol on the last day of winter, marking just the 5th descent of the most difficult 14er to ski. The skied the same route that we did last year, the “Secret chute” line, which amazingly was the first time a route had been repeated on this peak. It will be interesting through the years to see which routes get skied on this peak- I would guess that Lou Dawson’s knife ridge route never gets skied again, as few skiers would want to traverse the ridge when they could just drop down the now known Secret chute route. People are gunning for the Davenport/Beidleman line, especially because in a good snow year this line could be skied just skier’s right and made into a little cleaner descent. The Mahon/Beyer line probably needs a big snow year to work, so it might be quite a while before it sees ski tracks again as well. Meanwhile, there is at least one line on Capitol that hasn’t been skied, but seems like it goes as well as any of the others- the North Face:

Jordan and Joe both posted TR’s, and both are well worth reading and really show the extreme exposure of Capitol. Nice work guys!

Jordan’s TR
Joe’s TR

Frank Konsella

Frank loves snow more than anything... except his wife.  He ensures his food is digested properly by chewing it 32 times before swallowing.He is a full-time real estate agent serving Crested Butte and Gunnison and would be honored to send you his monthly newsletter.

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Frank Konsella

Frank loves snow more than anything... except his wife.    He ensures his food is digested properly by chewing it 32 times before swallowing. He is a full-time real estate agent serving Crested Butte and Gunnison and would be honored to send you his monthly newsletter.

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