Clark Peak & Daly Peak
Date: 07/17/2021
Partner: Kristi Henes, Heather Ryan (photos by all)
Distance: 6.25 miles
Elevation Gain: 3600ft
Summits: Clark Peak, Daly Peak
Difficulty: Class 3
Duration: 8 hours 40 minutes
After reading about the 'awful' talus in the Clark zone I was a little nervous. However, as it turned out the talus hopping was kinda fun. There was just a lot of it. In fact... I had a fever... and the only prescription was more talus. So we hopped our way from camp to Clark's west ridge and scrambled on solid rock taking in the stellar views of Capitol, Snowmass and everything else in this incredible place.
After climbing Clark, the talus hopping continued, and we made our way to the K2-Daly saddle and ascended Daly's class 3 south ridge. Two thirds of the ridge was fun scrambling, the last third was class 2 walk up. Looking back to Capitol from the ridge was awe inspiring. What a sexy mountain Cap is!
After spending some QT on the summit I proposed descending a loose easterly gully and traversing to some un-named lakes above our camp. It was a more direct route but there was some risk of nastiness in the gully. The girls were having none of it, so we descended back down the ridge, dropped early and talus hopped back to camp.
At camp we ate, napped and enjoyed some brook side brews before hitting the hay. A tremendous day in the books!
6.25m - 3500ft - 8.5 hours
Early morning talus started right out of the gate
Kristi enjoying a Talus Sunrise
Heather above Moon Lake - Daly Peak behind
We talus hopped to the saddle of Clark's west ridge (front and center)
Daly Peak and what I called 'Little Cap' from Clark's west ridge
The views of Capitol from Clark's west ridge were off the hook. The rock was stable and solid as well.
Fun class 3 scrambling along the ridge
Heather Hunking
Oh... The views of Snowmass, Hagerman and Pierre Lakes weren't too shabby either
Summit selfie in an amazing setting
Heather leads the way back down the ridge. Daly here we come!
Descending the ridge was as much fun as the ascent
We descended north off of Clark's west ridge, into the basin and wrapped around 'Little Cap' and climbed to the K2 - Daly saddle. Be stingy with your vert on the reach around
Ascending the K2 - Daly saddle
Starting up Daly's class 3 south ridge
Plenty of fun scrambling to be had on Daly
The views back to Capitol were breath taking
The scramble continues. The first two thirds of the ridge were easy class 3. The last third was class 2 walk up
So good looking!
and back down the ridge
Heather rounding Moon Lake and back to camp