I hiked in planning on climbing Emerson and Humphries. When I was getting my permit, the young ranger said "you can probably hike in tonight if you hurry".
I grabbed some food at the Mobil Mart and drove down 395 to Bishop and up 168 to North Lake.

I got out of the car in shorts and tshirt and was immediately devoured by mosquitos. I jumped back in and changed to long pants and long sleeves. I hiked quickly, no reason to dawdle with the ravenous hordes. The light was fading when I got to a campsite at the base of Emerson.


In the morning I made Oatmeal with Mosquitos. I looked at the beta from MountainProject and decided I was camped right below the approach up the scree.

The lower face was supposed to be the start of the chimney, but I couldnt tell from down below.


As I got closer, the two cracks became obvious. My goal was the left crack on the lower face.


The crux was supposed to be the 5.4 moves at the beginning of the chimney. Everything was dry at the bottom, apparently the route can be slippery after a wet winter.




Here is the water crux, this is often wet based on other reports I read.




The rock in the next picture is actually pretty sound. It looks like loose plates in this shot.

Getting close to the ridgeline now. Looking back down.

There are some really wild formations up there.


You can see down past Piute Crags all the way to North Lake

Looking up at the peak and along the ridge. The beta from MtnProject said to go around the Gendarmes, and I wasted time trying right and left, and sometimes just went over the top.

Looking up canyon to where I was hoping to camp, Piute Lake.

I found the descent, went down and packed up my camp and hiked up to Piute Lake. I was hoping to cross Piute Pass and camp in Humphries basin, but I was tired when I got to Piute Lake, so I stopped, setup camp and made dinner.

Moonrise over a nearby peak:
Sunset shot, trying to get the moon and Alpenglow on a nearby peak.