Finding great turns after bailing on the Emerson North Couloir
Californiaaaa ayy! Many aborted plans later, we skied a south facing bowl (12,000+ ft) into the draining beneath Mt. Emerson.
Last weekend I set off down to Bishop to meet up with Hank and Pete to ski Split Mountain but something didn't feel right about Split so we aborted and headed to our usual spot to either ski Mt. Emerson's North Couloir (an unreal 1,500ft 45 degree walled in crack in the mountain), or the Wahoo Gullies. We finally decided on Emerson.
Hank and Pete got into to camp about 10pm and we hit the hay fast. Alarms went off at 6am and I felt like a train wreck and Hank was thumpin with energy haha. We headed out of camp and up 168 to the trailhead where we would ascend out of. The snow was bulletproof so we boot packed our way up the ridge then slapped on the skins on more sun exposed snow and set off north to the canyon leading up to the base of Emerson. I was feeling totally out of it and off my game, not something to be stoked about but still, the mountains kind of just take over.
Pete went off on his own to ski the Bishop Bowl where many other locals were getting some turns. Hank and I continued on and up the canyon where we finally reached the base of the Emerson North Couloir. Here we saw two other skiers ascending there way up slowly. Then they stopped boot packing, put on the skis, and made some hard turns to check the snow pack. It didn't look good from where we were. Strong winds the night before had loaded the N NE faces with snow and wind loading looked to be a bit of an issue.
The skiers came down and we chatted with them. Funny enough, I'm actually skiing with Conor tomorrow, and Tyler was the other skier (from Idaho). They agreed that they were uncomfortable skiing the couloir, we chatted snow and how beautiful the views were for a bit then Hank and I skinned up to the base of a massive S facing bowl which at the top had a sweet SW facing 40-45 degree chute leading into the bowl below. After taking a much needed 15 minute break, I was feeling well again and ready to send. Right as we were about to leave, Conor and Tyler rolled up and now we had a crew of four heading up the final bit.
Tyler went first and set the track, me second, then Connor and Hank. I'm sure Hank was happy to have someone to talk to since I was such a mess that I couldn't utter a word all morning. But as we ascended the final 1,500vft, I felt great and was just purely stoked to be where I was sharing this insane experience with these guys.
In this photo: Conor Phelan reaches the top of the col with Mt. Emerson’s ridge in the background.
A bunch of zig-zags later and a few sketchy turns along the final couple hundred feet, we all made it to the top of the bowl and hung up against the rocks. Damn what a massive view of the Humphrey's Basin. It must have been 10+ miles long and nearly the same wide at some points. We enjoyed the stoke for about five minutes then we all clicked in. Me first! There is something special about going first. It's just great, can't really say much else haha. Anyway we were kind of perched on thin ridgeline so I clicked in and had to jump in for just a split second of full commit before the ski's were on the ground which was just enough for some added speed as I entered into the chute. From there Tyler dropped and made some nice turns down in front of me. We stopped and waited for Connor and then Hank who slashed some noiiicee turns down to the group.
In this photo: Hank Williams enjoys some turns with the Zebra Couloir off to skiers right in the photo. Tyler and Conor standing below just to the left of the moraine.
From here we skied down about another 2,500vft in awesome spring snow and were all pretty damn stoked on the day!
In this photo: Conor Phelan and Hank Williams express their stoke after a beautiful day in the mountains.