Capitol Peak

Capitol Peak is a high and prominent mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range, located in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness of White River National Forest. Capitol Peak is notable for its impressive vertical relief, rising nearly 9,000 feet above the Roaring Fork Valley. Capitol Peak is one of the most difficult of Colorado’s fourteeners to climb. The only non-technical route, the Northeast Ridge, requires crossing the famously exposed “Knife Edge,” the northeast ridge of Capitol. Fatalities have occurred on this route. This peak takes it’s name from the Hayden Survey who thought it looked similar to the U.S. Capitol Building.