09-06-2020
Inyo County, California
Mt. Emerson's Southeast Face is an easy 5th class climb with lots of varied scrambling that ends with a fantastic ridgeline traverse. While the route finding might seem intimidating at first, there are really only two markers to look for: the notch where you enter the ridgeline traverse and the summit itself. Well... I guess I can only speak for the ascent. We got stuck behind a slow party at the start of the climb which we ultimately decided to climb past once we realized how much daylight we were losing. By the time we summited, the sun was behind the neighboring mountains and the horrendous rocky scree descent wasn't as obvious to find in the dark. Did I mention a large fire started near Mammoth as we hit the ridge? It was an interesting adventure climbing through smoke and ash. By the time we hit the ridge, the quickest way down was to summit and descend the scree descent. What a day! Shout out to Britt for coming along this sufferfest with me.
Distance (Approach to Loch Leven Lake via Piute Pass Trail): ~2.5 miles
Elevation Gain (Trailhead to Loch Leven Lake): ~1,400 ft.
Elevation Gain (Trailhead to Summit): ~3,880 ft.
Final Elevation: 13,225 ft.
Directions to the Parking Lot and Trailhead: Use the following coordinates in Google Maps to route your directions to the North Lake Hiker Parking Lot. From here, hike towards the North Lake Campground where you'll find trailhead signs for Piute Pass Trail.
A Wilderness Permit is required for overnight trips.
Here's a map of the approach, ascent, and descent of the route.
Parking Lot
Headed to the trailhead with Britt!
Continuing on...
Getting late... should set up camp soon.
Rise and shine! We camped and left our bags near the end of the descent route here.
Getting our first peek at our objective before breaking down camp and hiking out. 
On our way!
Turn here and scramble a rock field to get to the base of the route.
Stuck behind a slow party... Waited nervously for nearly two hours as we observed god knows what. We were trying to be courteous until we realized how much time has passed. They are not entirely to blame though, we started fairly late too.
After impatiently waiting, we yelled out and asked if it's okay for us to start and pass them. On our way up the first pitch! This is probably the only technical 5th class section (and maybe one section before the notch)
We simul-climbed most of the easy 3rd class and lower and pitched out the steeper parts.
Getting on the ridgeline just past the notch.
Britt is just awesome!
This is where the smoke really started to come in. We still had a long way to traverse and we were losing daylight more quicker than we thought. Unfortunately our quickest way down was up at this point. Almost to the summit (high point in this photo).
Holy smokes! This shot was taken just under the summit.
Summit is right behind me!
Made it! #47. Don't forget to sign the summit register.
Chris's Difficulty Scale - 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment