Another Tragedy on Capital Peak, CO

Sadly, I think I may have very possibly heard the incident. I was with a group of 4 and we were descending the ridge and about 5 minutes from the knife edge. We heard a significant rockslide from up near the summit. It was loud and It lasted roughly 30 seconds. At the time it sounded like it came from the south face but we could not see anything, it may have come from the north face.

Also, I had a friend who stopped at K2 and hung out there for a couple of hours while we summitted, I spoke with him last night and he specifically remembered speaking with the young couple. They had asked him if he knew of an alternate way to descend (which he did not). So very sad. My thoughts and prayers go out to friends and family.

I believe my partner and I were the last to see them at the summit. We climbed the ridge the whole way and were within 5-10 min of them the whole way. We summited at 11:24 and started our decent at 12:15. They summited soon after we did and were very friendly, even shared some fireball they had brought up with them. We took each other's pictures shortly before starting the decent. They indicated they were pretty worn out and wanted to decend as quickly as possible, hence I doubt they stayed for another 5-6 hours on the summit. Right before we started out decent Ryan said give me 5 minutes when Carlin indicated she was ready to go. Still can't believe such a tragedy happened and condolences to family and friends.

That would be my guess regarding what happened. Prob tried to descend a different way. As crazy as it sounds, the knife edge is the easiest way up or down Capitol as far as I know. If there was an easier way, then that would be the way, no? As we know, Capitol's alternate routes basically all cliff out, but this is very hard to see from above. A few people have died this way on Capitol for sure.

Initially, an official with the Sheriff's Office said the bodies were found below Capitol Peak's north face. However, upon further consultation with MRA volunteers, it appears the bodies were discovered closer to the area below the Knife Edge, a 100-foot stretch of narrow ridge with precipitous drops on either side, Jesse Steindler, a commander with the Sheriff's Office, said Wednesday.

"I think they possibly sought an alternate route that skirts around the Knife Edge on the north side (of the ridge)," Steindler said. "That makes the most sense."

It's unclear why they might have taken a different route, though the Knife Edge can be intimidating. It's also not clear how far the couple fell or from where, he said, though it's obvious they did not survive the fall, which was at least 200 feet.

Steindler said he thinks the fall may have occurred during the early evening hours Sunday. That's because the Sheriff's Office has received three reports from people camped at Capitol Lake on Sunday night who heard screams, rockfall and a man and woman shouting to each other, Steindler said.

One man said he walked down to the lake about 6:30 p.m. and heard a woman scream for a full minute, he said. That man thought the scream came from high on the mountain and, perhaps, the Knife Edge area, Steindler said.

Another man who was with the man who reported the minute-long scream said he heard a woman scream about 6:20 p.m. and again about 7:10 p.m., he said. He also thought it came from high on the mountain, though he did not say it lasted an entire minute, Steindler said.

A third man not with the other two said that around the same time, he heard rockfall, then a scream and then the sounds of a man and woman shouting to each other, Steindler said. A few minutes later, the man said he heard rockfall again and a male and female shouting to each other, he said. He thought the noises came from the summit area of the mountain, Steindler said.