Mt Emerson - Southeast Face

We're planning to climb Mount Emerson this weekend via the Southeast Face (AKA Waterfall Route). We'll take the standard approach by leaving the Piute Pass Trail below Loch Leven. We were planning to descend via the West Ridge Route to Piute Pass, but I've noticed that most seem to descend via the South Chute.

We're comfortable on Class 3/4 terrain, but prefer to be on rope. We'll pitch out anything Class 4 and above, but we're going to try (first attempt) to simul-climb some of the easier Class 3. We're planning on a long day with an early start.

Has anyone done this route recently or do you have any advice for a successful summit attempt?

You'll probably only need to rope up and belay for the beginning and the end. This should speed things up for you.

The first pitch is definitely class 5 and so you would probably prefer to rope up for that one. The pitches above it are class 4 for a couple hundred feet but not as exposed. You'll follow the chute straight up and it'll ease up to easy 3rd for a while, during which it would be almost burdensome to be roped up. Take care in choosing how you get onto the ridge after this. Once we saw the ridge we stayed low until finding an exposed ramp up to a notch where you can gain the ridge. You may want to rope up for that section, as well as once you gain the ridge, due to the extremely exposed knife-edge terrain. A beautiful climb, and good practice for exposure. We did everything unroped except for the first pitch, but if you feel sketched out, you have the rope so you might as well use it. Have fun!

There is A LOT of loose debris on the many 3rd class sections. A rope might make these sections hazardous for the follower. Pitching it out may not be very practical and could make for a very long day. Be careful.

Awesome! Just don't underestimate it. From your description I would recommend starting the approach before dawn. Headlamps.

Be very careful in the vast middle bowling alley. The rope will kick stuff off, don't kill anyone.

The awesome ridge can take forever if you want to have your follower with the rope above them as much as possible as they'll be downleading many down climbing sections.

The descent is not trivial either and you might want your second downleading many pitches.

The supertopo description is really only relevant to experienced and confident alpine climbers - it's a big climb if you pitch it out! My wife and I crawled and ended up taking 21 hours car to car.

It's great tho!

Superclimber wrote:There is A LOT of loose debris on the many 3rd class sections. A rope might make these sections hazardous for the follower. Pitching it out may not be very practical and could make for a very long day. Be careful.

+1

The summit ridge of Emerson is really great, but you do a lot of other stuff to get to it (and a lot of non-fun stuff to get down from it)

How about try the Crystal Crag first?
Less committing, lots of fun climbing, less high altitude, lots of chances to find out about approaches to moving fast with or without various strategies for protection. Arguably prettier scenery.

Ken

Brad in the bay wrote:Awesome! Just don't underestimate it. From your description I would recommend starting the approach before dawn. Headlamps. Be very careful in the vast middle bowling alley. The rope will kick stuff off, don't kill anyone. The awesome ridge can take forever if you want to have your follower with the rope above them as much as possible as they'll be downleading many down climbing sections. The descent is not trivial either and you might want your second downleading many pitches. The supertopo description is really only relevant to experienced and confident alpine climbers - it's a big climb if you pitch it out! My wife and I crawled and ended up taking 21 hours car to car. It's great tho!

Down-leading the descent, are you kidding me? Not to sound elitist, but if you need to down-lead class 3, you really should not be on this route.

This is likely one of the fastest, easiest 5th class High Sierra peaks one can bag. You can easily hike/scramble through the middle third of the route with almost zero exposure. Again, not trying to talk down anyone's experience but rather just put it in proper perspective.

Aerili wrote: Down-leading the descent, are you kidding me? Not to sound elitist, but if you need to down-lead class 3, you really should not be on this route. This is likely one of the fastest, easiest 5th class High Sierra peaks one can bag. You can easily hike/scramble through the middle third of the route with almost zero exposure. Again, not trying to talk down anyone's experience but rather just put it in proper perspective.

Well, "proper perspective" depends on your point of view. Compared to other Sierra 5th class routes you are right, but from the OP's perspective (roping up for 3rd and 4th class) Brad has some good food for thought. If a party wants to down-lead class 3 and is prepared for the extra time that will take what's the big deal?

I haven't done this route but am looking forward to it. I appreciate everyone's comments on these Sierra climbs!

Have fun and stay safe Jeremy.

I did this route for the first time over Labor Day weekend. I think where you rope is up is really dependent on where your mind is at relative to your ability. For example, we climbed it, and descended the south chute/slope thing, and didn't rope up at all (approach shoes).

That being said, we thought it necessary to rope up at the bathroom near the trailhead, and didn't put the rope away until we left the trail for the scree slope below the start of the climb. To each his own.

Kevin K wrote: Well, "proper perspective" depends on your point of view. Compared to other Sierra 5th class routes you are right, but from the OP's perspective (roping up for 3rd and 4th class) Brad has some good food for thought. If a party wants to down-lead class 3 and is prepared for the extra time that will take what's the big deal?

If they use my descent beta on the route page, I think they will find no need to rope up for any part of the walk-off once the actual route is under their belt. Most of it is scree and loose talus and very tame (although not without hazard) and trying to belay over such terrain could be a recipe for trouble.

Aerili wrote: If they use my descent beta on the route page, I think they will find no need to rope up for any part of the walk-off once the actual route is under their belt. Most of it is scree and loose talus and very tame (although not without hazard) and trying to belay over such terrain could be a recipe for trouble.

People seem to like your descent beta, thanks for posting it. OP is headed down the west ridge though.

Fair point that using a rope on loose terrain may be more dangerous than being unroped.

I've climbed this route twice and like others, both times we wore approach shoes and left the rope at home. Personally, I think there are better moderate technical climbs in the sierra to rope up on, since this climb is mostly 3rd and 4th class and many people who have tried to pitch it out have ended up getting benighted.

Having said that, the only places that a rope would really be helpful are probably the very start, then a short, steep bit about 1/3 of the way up, and finally the 4th class knife edge to the summit. Anywhere else on the climb, I don't think you'd go anywhere even if you did slip. Be aware that adequate cracks for protection and anchors may be difficult to find on this route, increasing the time involved and decreasing the actual protection afforded by bringing a rope.

The first time I climbed this we did the ridge traverse you are talking about. Staying on the crest of the ridge is probably 5th class, but it can easily be bypassed by 3rd class ledges on the south (left) side of the ridge, approx 50ft below the crest. We didn't go all the way to Humphrey's Basin, but dropped down to Piute Lake in order to reconnect with the trail. Beware that the route finding descending the slabs from the west summit is not really straightforward and we had to search around a bit to piece together a 3rd class descent as we kept getting cliffed out.

My advice would be to do the standard South Slope descent if you plan on roping up, unless you're looking for an epic overnight adventure. Don't make my friends on Inyo SAR have to come and get you. They've already had to rescue one climber off of that route who was injured when her rap anchor failed.

Have fun and be safe.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Based on what I've heard, we're going to plan on descending the South Slope instead of the West Ridge. We'll likely scrap the simul-climbing idea as well.

Thanks again for the feedback. Although it was a long day, our summit of Mt. Emerson via the Southeast Face was a success! We did end up pitching out a few more spots than just the first section. We also did quite a bit of simul-climbing.

The only additional beta I'd toss out is that the notch to get over the rib into the second gully is at the very top/back of the first gully. When you reach the obvious wall that impedes further progress, look to the left for a small notch and go there.

Aerili's beta on the decent was spot on. We found the use-trail starting at the top and going all the way to Loch Leven. Although it was spotty at times, it was always possible to get back on with a little route finding. Near the bottom, it's a full on trail.

Well done Dude. Glad to hear you did it and had a good time!