Capitol Peak, the so-called “hardest 14er” has eluded me for years, sending me back home multiple times through wildfires, floods and even an overturned trailer of pigs shutting down Glenwood Canyon. Finally, my car was at the trailhead. We battled relentless cold, soaking rain and trails of flowing mud to reach our camp below Capitol Lake, then hastily pitched our tents and jumped in our sleeping bags, trying to regain some morale and feeling in our appendages. The weather finally broke in the afternoon, long enough for us to partially dry out and not spend the night hypothermic, and the next morning the sun rose as we reached a frost-covered K2. Luckily the rising sun burned off most of the remaining ice on the SW ridge as we climbed across the knife’s edge and up the wild terrain thereafter, reaching the summit at 8:30AM. You didn’t make it easy, but thanks for finally letting me up ol’ Cap.