Eastern Sierra Backcountry Report: 13,225′ Mt. Emerson

words, photos, and video by Pee1000

13,225′ Mt. Emerson

May 12, 2014

10 years down the road, which days in the backcountry will you remember as though they were yesterday?  The fun days party lapping your favorite stash, or the bizarre days trying to do something ridiculous?  The days when everything goes perfectly, or the days when everything is a struggle?

Every day is great in its own way, but the day that Ryan, Ben, and I went up Emerson in mid-May of a year with record-low snow fall will stand out in my mind for a while.  We had an incredible adventure, and yes, even made some great turns in an amazing place.  My legs may be sore from the boulder hopping, my arms may be scratched from the bushwhacking, and my lips may be sunburned from the intense sun, but strangely, I feel pretty good.

The Eastern Sierra has its fair share of giant couloirs, and Emerson has some of the biggest.  It had snowed a little bit two days prior, and that’s usually enough to refresh protected, North-facing chutes in the High Sierra.  This year, the hard part is getting to them.  After a long, mostly snow-free approach, we were already pretty tired by the time we started booting up the couloir.  The heat was getting to us, but up we went.

The very top of the chute wasn’t really filled in and I knew that I wasn’t up for a sketchy down-climb to get back onto the snow, so I stomped out a nice platform where I could relax a bit and transition.  Ben and Ryan wanted to top out, so I rode down as they finished the climb.  The snow was a little variable, but powdery and great for making hard turns.  There was some sluff, but not enough to worry about.  Perfect!

Eventually, after a mini-epic on the down-climb back into the couloir, the boys made it down safely.  We got some amazing corn turns riding out of the valley, and then it was time to shoulder the boards and start the long hike out.  It was best to just keep moving, because once you stopped it was hard to get going again.  We had to dig deep, but thoughts of picking up some Gatorade and junk food at the Manor Market in Bishop got us back to the cars.

This was a memorable day, but at this point in the spring only recommended if you’re a masochist with a high degree of self-loathing.  Would I do it again?  Ask me in a week.