Mount Emerson is a relatively accessible mountain on the Sierra Peak Section list located off to the north of Loch Leven as you climb Piute Pass. I climbed it years ago via the standard 2nd / 3rd class route on my way to climb Pilot Knob and Four Gables and I remember at the time looking at the description of the 5.4 technical route and looking down at what looked like a very gnarly ridge. Since I generally prefer the overall experience of backpacking in the Sierra over shorter day hikes it's sat there on my list of things to do eventually.

Then this weekend rolled around and Jen and I were looking for something interesting to do after coming off the San Juan Islands paddle trip on Wednesday. I'd flown back into town Thursday morning to work for two days while Jen was driving back from Seattle and would be passing by the Eastern Sierra. We didn't feel up to planning anything too involved and hit upon the idea of knocking out two easier technical alpine climbs which turned into Crystal Crag Saturday and this on Sunday.

The route description for Emmerson lists it as a 5.4 but I would caution against underestimating the difficulty. This is an alpine route and while the pitches aren't incredibly difficult they are awkward in places and the anchor options are very limited. I know of one bailout and one major accident that happened up there and after having done it myself now I can understand a little better what might have happened. In addition once you reach the ridge there is an intense 4th class scramble that requires some not insignificant route finding. But the reward is an intense route up a peak that's fairly pedestrian by other routes.