Summit not found
We couldn't match that link to a verified summit in our directory — it may be mistyped or out of date. Every summit we show is fact-checked, so rather than guess we're telling you straight.
Browse all summits
Facts checked · live weather
Elk Mountains, Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, Pitkin County, Colorado, USA · USA
Capitol Peak
Capitol Peak is widely regarded as the most dangerous of Colorado's 53 fourteeners, a serrated granite fortress in the Elk Mountains whose standard Northeast Ridge route crosses the infamous Knife Edge — roughly 150 feet of exposed ridge crest barely wider than a boot, with nearly 2,000-foot drops falling away on both sides. Even setting aside the Knife Edge, the route is sustained Class 4 terrain over loose, complex rock with serious route-finding challenges, and a deceptive false gully below the summit has claimed multiple lives from climbers who mistook it for the descent. The mountain demands full commitment — a long approach to Capitol Lake, a pre-dawn start, and total confidence on exposed scrambling — which is why guiding services and the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative both stress this is not a mountain for a climber's first fourteener.
Elevation—
Prominence—
First ascent—
Range—
Right now, and the week ahead
Conditions on the mountain
From people who've been
Reviews
Provenance
How we verified this
Provenance
How we verified this
Elevation, prominence, coordinates and first-ascent facts are checked against published references and official sources. Where a fact isn't clearly documented, we show it as unknown rather than estimate.
Photography via Wikimedia Commons under its respective licences — the same sourcing standard as the resort photos elsewhere on the site.