Emma Burr Mountain

Route: East ridge
Posted On: 7/7/2025, By: SionaRW35
Info: Since the erosion event that changed the east ridge & summit of this peak forever, I honestly would not recommend the east ridge route because it felt incredibly unstable to me and my partner. We did this peak first as part of the Emma Burr Slam and the final 200 feet to the summit was a mix of dangerously loose class 2 and rotten class 3. We picked our way carefully trying not to trigger another landslide and yet we heard rocks falling from underneath us even when we weren’t moving. I would highly recommend avoiding this east ridge. I’d rather do the out & back from Kruetzer three times in the same day before considering repeating the deteriorating east ridge again. 

Route: From St. Elmo via Tincup Peak
Posted On: 3/14/2025, By: Will_E
Info: Cold, windy and cloudy today, but relatively easy. A few inches of fresh snow on the road walk, I put snowshoes on around 4 miles in, easy trenching today. I found some nice snow to ascend just east of Tincup Pass, left my snowshoes halfway up the first ridge to Tincup. From there I had easy travel the rest of the way, no traction needed today. On the way back lots of snowmobiles out putting in tracks on the road. 

Route: From Tincup
Posted On: 10/26/2024, By: rachel
Info: Climbed from Tincup Peak. Minimal snow. No traction needed. The collapse of the upper mountain was really interesting to see in person. 

Route: Jones-Chalk Rock-Kreutzer-Emma Burr, CCW fr. FS344
Posted On: 7/21/2024, By: cloudkicker
Info: Started at 3:45am for a 7hr45min day tagging 4 peaks in this little ridge ramble, starting with Jones and ending with Emma Burr. We did it counter-clockwise so that we could get the first summit at sunrise, and so we could do the longer scramble section (Chalk Rock east ridge) on ascent instead of descent. Most beta out there is for going clockwise, but the whole route goes just as smoothly our way. Mini TR in CR form as follows: We found a dispersed site to park/camp at about 11,250 on FS344, roughly 0.5 miles past the 344/344A junction. Roughly 90% of the dispersed sites above Cottonwood Lake were taken on a Friday night at 7pm, but conveniently nobody had claimed the site right where we wanted to start the loop. The road is totally subaruable with no real obstacles. To start, we bushwhacked about 0.25 miles from 344 back up to 344A. We then hiked the road on up to Palette Lake. Took one of the scree chutes from the lake up to just above the Jones/Chalk Rock saddle, and then hiked the grassy slopes of Jones on up to the summit. Our summit breaks were 10-15 minutes, we were moving a little more quickly than normal due to a monsoonal forecast. Made summit of Jones at 5:30. Down to the saddle at 6. On summit of Chalk Rock at 6:50. Summit of Kreutzer at 7:55. Then the summit of Emma Burr at 9:45. Scramble descent off Emma Burr to the CT/CDT took roughly 30 minutes, and back to our campsite by 11:30am. The Chalk Rock east ridge scramble was probably the loosest part of the day but not too bad all things considered, and more fun and aesthetic than expecting. The hardest moves (class 4) can be avoided by skirting the base of the nubs (mini towers). I did have some rocks flake off in my hands and at my feet on top of the ridge so test everything. It felt more like Elk range rock than Sawatch in a couple places. Nothing to note outside of existing beta for the grassy ridge between Chalk Rock and Kreutzer, or the solid talus ridge between Kreutzer and Emma Burr. The route finding to descend the east ridge of Emma Burr was not hard. A few class 3 moves but mostly 2+. From there we picked up the CDT and hiked it for awhile before eventually bushwhacking through willows down to FS 344 which we took back to camp. Here are the counter-clockwise bail out points as the ridge is several miles long above 12k-13k and you may encounter poor weather or other issues. Plenty of places to bail on the Jones and Chalk Rock side, including the CT/CDT itself (just south of Chalk Rock). From the summit of Kreutzer on, there are fewer places to bail. Reg0928 GPX from 6/12/2022 outlines a clockwise route (without Emma Burr) indicating that his ascent up the north side of Kreutzers east arm worked (upper right in pic 2 of this CR). When my group eyeballed it both from the ridge and from below, we guessed it may be sketchy to descend in full summer, with some weaving through small cliffs on steep grass or scree. Probably way better with snow than dry. But if you are doing this route counter-clockwise and need to bail after Kreutzer I suppose it will work. Though it may be quicker to back track towards Chalk Rock. After that, between Kreutzer and Emma Burr there is really only one other place to bail off the ridge, a gully with loose scree and slabs on each side, at the base of the final slope up Emma Burr, which will lead you down to a small lake guarded by large talus (a few hundred feet above the CDT). Due to the slabs and terrain I would guess this gully is dangerous when its already raining or wet, and better used before a storm and not during. Long story short, the escape options off the ridge going CCW arent great after Kreutzer, but they are there if needed. Jones summit register needs new paper. No register on Chalk Rock. Kreutzer summit register is intact and well preserved with some neat entries dating back to 2010. A ton of legends have signed it over the years. Emma Burr register needs new paper, but it was really cool seeing my entry from my 2020 winter climb of Tincup/Emma Burr with Reg0928 and Tornadoman. 11mi and 4200ft for the loop from our dispersed site. 

Route: From tincup pass
Posted On: 1/31/2024, By: Dobsons
Info: Had the good fortune to snag a day out in this crazy calm warm January week and did tincup, 13038, and Emma burr from St Elmo. It's a big day at 20.5 miles but I used skis for the road so the ski out from tincup pass goes so fast and there is no trail breaking with the groomed road so it's doable. It would be a long day with any wind or cold temps but today set up perfect. Traverse to Emma burr from tincup was easier than 13038 from tincup but both have a lot of grass and some talus and are overall very straight forward linkups with tincup. Just love that groomed road up to tincup pass! Just used hiking boots with gators from the pass and any snow on the traverses was minimal. Tincup pass is usually a zoo with snowmobiles but never saw another person all day other then my dad 4 miles up from the trailhead who came to join for a bit of the day which was wonderful! 

Route: From Tincup
Posted On: 9/23/2023, By: desertdog
Info: It snowed 3 inches the night before, so the rock sections were a slippery mess. Most of the snow melted by the end of the day. I parked lower on the road to add some extra miles for training, but the road is good to however high you want to drive with 4wd. 

Route: NE Couloir
Posted On: 6/16/2023, By: sdkeil
Info: Was able to drive to 11,200 on CR344. Sporadic snow for the first 0.5 mile'ish and then the road was pretty consistently covered in 2-4 foot deep snow. We put on crampons around 12.6k and found firm snow in the couloir. If anything the snow on this face still had some winter feel to it. The snow was supportive enough to not need snowshoes on the approach. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/21/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: I parked along Chaffee County Road 344 which is Easy 4WD to the end. The road eventually turns into a trail and passes under the Emma Burr/Point 12,900 saddle, which I ascended to on grass. I hiked to 12,900 first which is Class 2, then returned to the saddle and ascended Emma Burr. The ridge is somewhat rocky with minor scrambling and a few moves of Easy Class 3 at the top. No snow to deal with. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 6/17/2021, By: HikerGuy
Info: Summer conditions. County Road 344 is in great shape, very easy for a Subaru-type vehicle. A bit of snow remaining on the road just before the mine, but it is avoidable. I car camped at the intersection of 344 and 344A and hiked the Emma Burr, Kreutzer, Chalk Rock, Jones loop. 

Route: Via Tincup pass
Posted On: 4/3/2021, By: Sbenfield
Info: Hiked along with Tincup & PT 13050. Tincup pass is straightforward to access bc of the snowmobile tracks. From there, straightforward route finding to Tincup Pk & Emma Burr. Re-summitted Tincup & traversed to PT 13050 without problems. The decent of 13050 back to the road had plenty of post holing even with snowshoes. 

Route: from \\
Posted On: 3/19/2021, By: ScottLovesRMNP
Info: Following the ridge from "Tincup" just on the west side is best and avoids any avy danger. Stay away from the large cornices on the east side of the ridge. It gets a bit steeper and rocky near Emma Burr's summit, but I still just booted it and took care to maneuver and step carefully around the snow. Took me an hour each direction from "Tincup" to Emma Burr, stopping many times to take spectacular snow scenery photos. 

Route: From Tincup Peak
Posted On: 11/20/2020, By: WildWanderer
Info: I did the entire ridge with just microspikes, leaving them on because I was to lazy to take them off. There were some areas where I postholed, but it wasn't worth putting on snowshoes. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 8/25/2020, By: Flyingfish
Info: Straight forward hike/ easy scramble to the summit. 

Route: South Ridge via \\
Posted On: 12/21/2019, By: supranihilest
Info: The route off of "Tincup Peak" is obvious. The ridge isn't as scruffy as it looks. There's one move of Class 2+ descending towards the saddle, and a few ascending to Emma Burr. I wore snowshoes until the large, blocky Boulders about half way up from the saddle then booted it up. Snow near the rocks is pretty sugary but the exposure isn't high and the scrambling is very easy. I didn't use my axe or spikes. 

Route: From Tincup Pass
Posted On: 2/1/2018, By: tomcat32
Info: Started at St Elmo and was able to bareboot. Once above treeline on the road snow is inconsistent and bare patches. Pass is blown clear From the Pass up to the ridge and to Tincup Peak then followed ridge to Emma Burr. West slopes are mostly bare and continued bare boot. On the way back down, road was still solid enough to not need snowshoes. Fitzpatrick and 12,780 don't have too much on them right now. The meadow below Fitzpatrick would need snowshoes. If you don't mind the distance and cold, it's easy winter conditions.