MT. EMMA
(13,581')August 22, 2008
By Tim Briese
5 miles, 2500' elevation gain, 5:30 roundtrip time
Brian and I wanted to do a relatively short climb in the morning before backpacking up Elk Creek in the afternoon for our climb of the Trinity peaks the next day. Mt. Emma was just what we were looking for. We had found an excellent trip report by Ryan Schilling that describes a reasonable route up the peak from the east via Governor Basin.
We left Ridgway at 5:30 a.m. and drove to Ouray and then up the road toward Yankee Boy Basin. We left Brian=s car at a pull-off along the way and continued up the increasingly rough road in my truck. At about 10,800 feet elevation we went left at a junction and four-wheeled up a steep road that climbed toward Governor Basin. The road became too rough to suit me at about 11,400 feet so we parked there and continued up the road on foot. The time was 6:45, and the early rays of the sun cast a beautiful glow upon the surrounding landscape. Before long the road leveled off somewhat and we caught our first glimpse of Mt. Emma about a mile away. We continued hiking up the road into spectacular Governor Basin, toward the striking spires of the rugged St. Sophia Ridge. At about 12,100 feet we left the road and headed northwest up grassy slopes through prolific stands of colorful wildflowers. We traversed to the right around cliff bands and made our way up into a basin directly below Emma, staying on grass most of the way. At this point the easy part was over. Above us lay a 600 foot climb up a loose scree and talus slope to a small saddle just south of Emma=s summit block. We picked out the best route we could up this nasty slope and were relieved to arrive at the saddle at 9:05. There was a striking view of Telluride thousands of feet below on the other side of the ridge.
After a short break we headed north up the ridge toward Emma=s summit block. We made quick work of a Class 3 climb up an obvious route through the rocks and then made a short traverse across the top of a steep gully and made our way to a small saddle. After studying the more difficult terrain ahead we elected to climb up a short crack around a large chockstone. This climb was probably upper fourth class, and the exposure at one point was significant. At the top of the crack we stepped onto a large flat rock and were pleased to see the summit hardly more than a hundred feet away to the west. To get over to the summit, however, we found it necessary to make an unwelcome six foot downclimb to get across a notch. While sliding down the rock face to this notch my GPS came loose from my shoulder strap and began tumbling down the steep gully to the north. Fortunately it came to rest after 20 or 30 feet and I carefully scrambled down to retrieve it. We scampered the last few feet on solid rock up to the summit, where we arrived at 9:40.
It was a beautiful morning to sit atop a summit, with perfectly clear and calm conditions. The surrounding scenery was spectacular from this vantage point, with incredible views of Mt. Sneffels and Gilpin Peak off to the north, and Teakettle and Potosi across the basin to the northeast. What a treat to enjoy such grandeur on this splendid morning!
After 30 minutes we left the top and began our descent. Taking a cue from Ryan=s trip report, we walked back to the notch and then went to the right down a steep, narrow Class 3 gully about 50 feet. From there we turned left and went 30 feet up another steep dirt gully and found ourselves back at the small saddle below the crack with the chockstone. This nifty route avoided that crack and was certainly easier. From the saddle we made our way back along the ridge to the top of the scree slope and carefully made our way down that nasty horror. This slope was definitely my least favorite part of the climb. The rest of the climb was a lot of fun. We hiked back down the flowery slopes below the St. Sophia Ridge and continued down the road back to the truck, where we arrived at 12:15. The climb took a little longer than we anticipated, but there was still plenty of time to drive to the Molas trailhead and begin our backpack up Elk Creek that afternoon.
