 No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession… It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. Thoreau Morning y'all, It's another beautiful morning up high. The high yesterday reached 23 degrees. The overnight low was 7 degrees. It was 19 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new snow and our snowfall total is around 12 inches. Some of the trails are packed down, but I would encourage Microspikes and winter boots if you intend to reach the summit in comfort. Enjoy the day!  Don't bend; don't water it down; don't try to make it logical; don't edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly. Kafka Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning on LeConte. The high yesterday reached 27 degrees. The overnight low was 7 degrees. It was 7 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday. Our snowfall total is still at around a foot. The trails are still pretty deep, although Old Sugarlands to Bullhead is packed down due to 6 tough guys who came to stay in the shelter last night! I'd still recommend Microspikes, winter boots, wool socks and gaiters if you want to ascend in comfort.  Top photo: Sunlight above the kitchen. Above: Camp around dusk.  Heading towards the shelter. I spent an hour last night wandering around at dusk, marveling at the snow laden trees and darkening sky. I talked to the tough guys in the shelter. At first, I was concerned when I saw the tracks, but I could hear them laughing before I saw them and knew that I had nothing to worry about. If you're laughing at 15 degrees, you're fine. I noticed their Feathered friends jackets and Reactor stoves and was able to discover - (I'm basically a backcountry Sherlock Holmes) - that they'd been mountaineering all over the world for longer than I've been alive. It's always a pleasure to meet other crazies, it makes me feel more at place in the world. There are others who chase experiences like leaves in the wind, who risk everything in efforts to create more memories, who feel most alive challenging themselves in wild places. The deeper the cut, the better the scar. I am not just a lonesome outlier, but a part of a community that lives in moonshadow. My brothers and sisters are out there, for reasons just as difficult to pin down as my own. We will meet in the best of places.  trees in their snow coats.  darkness and perfection.  Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Aristotle Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, snowy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 36 degrees. The overnight low was 10 degrees. It was 19 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received 6 inches of additional snow, bringing our snowfall total to 12 inches. There are sure to be deeper drifts in windswept sections, so prepare for a tiring day if you intend to hit the trails. I would still recommend Microspikes, as there are some slick spots underneath the powdery goodness. Get out and enjoy this taste of winter!  I spent a nice chunk of yesterday wandering around in the afternoon, before settling in on my porch just as the snow started falling. It was perfect timing - the dusk hours had provided a slate gray backdrop to the highlight the fast falling flakes. There are few things that beat spending the final daylight hours huddled in a sleeping bag, sipping tea, enjoying the caretaker tv.  Lately, since love had seemed an impossibility, I had steeled myself against it. But I held Claire, and that was that forever. Something was sealed. Desire abides. It is all people have that stands proof against time. Everything else rots. Charles Frazier Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear morning up top. The high yesterday reached 22 degrees. The overnight low was 10 degrees. It was 22 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no additional precipitation. There is about 6 inches of varied snow on the ground. I would highly recommend traction devices and full winter gear if you intend to reach the summit. Get out and enjoy the wintry beauty!  I spent a great day wandering around camp yesterday, planning for my departure and enjoying some quiet time in my cabin. I was still pretty exhausted from my night hike, when we didn't get back up until an hour past my typical bed time. It was a great joy to be reading and planning in bed, watching the snow swirl and trees sway in my skylight. I relish these quiet days, knowing that the majority of my days in the coming year will be spent exhausting myself both physically and socially. It is an ideal opportunity to recharge mentally, recover physically and enter my next challenge with the proper mindset and appropriate confidence level. Just as I miss what is coming next right now, I will surely look back on these quiet, lazy cabin days with a certain nostalgia... the cycles of a life well lived.  I personally would rather do the existentially essential things in life on foot. If you live in England and your girlfriend is in Sicily, and it is clear you want to marry her, then you should walk to Sicily to propose. For these things travel by car or aeroplane is not the right thing. Werner Herzog Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, snowy morning up top. The high yesterday reached 29 degrees. The overnight low was 17 degrees. It was 19 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received 2 inches of new snow, bringing our snowfall total up to 6 inches. The trails are very slick, so be sure to pack Microspikes if you intend to reach the summit. It's a beautiful day, get out and enjoy it!  I had a great night hike up Rainbow last night. I took off at 6:30 with my buddy Pretzel and we walked up the road from Twin Creeks. We made it to the trailhead just as night was darkness was settling in between the snow laced trees. There were plenty of blowdowns, adding a new wrinkle to a trail I've done more times than I can count. The moon's crescent was bright enough as we turned near the Falls that I thought there was someone else night hiking down. The stream crossings were a bit of a gamble in the dark, the snow covered rocks gave no hints as to how sturdy they'd be as stepping surfaces. We plunged our feet in a few times and laughed it off because there was nothing to do but go onwards and upwards. The Falls roared, but our headlamps were not bright enough to see them from the bridge. The first flakes of last nights' snowfall greeted us as we trudged up the final .6 from the Bullhead junction, giving us a taste of what we'd have in store come morning.   The pain is a toll I willingly pay on my way to the top, for here, amid these mountains, I restore myself and lose myself, knit together my ego and then surrender it, detach myself from the mass of humanity so I may learn to love them again, all while coexisting with creatures whose kind have lived here for millenia. Phillip Connors Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, cloudy morning up high. The high temperature yesterday reached 37 degrees. The overnight low was 25 degrees. It was 26 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation. There is still about 4 inches of drifty, hard packed snow remaining up top. The drifts are especially high along certain sections of trail, so be prepared for an adventure if you intend to reach the summit. I would still recommend Microspikes if you intend to reach the summit. There are some very icy sections of trail. Enjoy the day!  I had a fantastic hike up Alum yesterday afternoon. The mountain was tucked into its friendly cloud blanket and it was as still as it's been for days. It was a great day to wander around and see what the past few days of serious wind did to the trails. There are a few blowdowns, a lot of icy branches strewn across the trail and a seemingly infinite number of little fir tree clusters. There is a snow drift on Alum just below Cliff Tops that is larger than any I've seen in the Smokies. It almost seemed like a practical joke when I first discovered it. The slushy snow conditions made for some difficult trudging, but it was all worth it, as always. I forgot just how quickly some warm, wet conditions can accelerate the melt around here. I am looking forward to seeing the sun again and welcoming my old friend Spring any day now!   Men come and go, cities rise and fall, whole civilizations appear and disappear - the earth remains, slightly modified. The earth remains, and the heartbreaking beauty where there are no hearts to break....I sometimes choose to think, no doubt perversely, that man is a dream, thought an illusion, and only rock is real. Rock and sun. Edward Abbey  Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, blustery day up top. The high yesterday reached 34 degrees. The overnight low was 16 degrees, recorded shortly after observation yesterday morning. It was 34 degrees and cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received .22" of rain yesterday. There is still about 8 inches of snow up top, with a crunchy, ice layer atop some softer drifts. I would definitely recommend MicroSpikes and full winter gear if you intend to reach the summit. Enjoy the day!   because i'm doing this for the thrill of it, killing it. never not chasing a million things i want.2/21/2015
 Youth - nothing else worth having in this world... and I had youth, the transitory, the fugitive, now, completely and abundantly. Yet what was I going to do with it? Certainly not squander its gold on the commonplace quest for riches and respectability, and then secretly lament the price that had to be paid for these futile ideals. Let those who wish have their respectability - I wanted freedom, freedom to indulge in whatever caprice struck my fancy, freedom to search in the farthermost corners of the earth for the beautiful. the joyous and the romantic. Richard Halliburton  Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, blustery day up top. The high yesterday reached 26 degrees. The overnight low was 0 degrees, recorded early yesterday morning. It was 23 degrees and mostly cloudy at 7am observation. The mountain received an inch of additional snow last night, bringing our snowfall total to 11 inches. There are a lot of drifts, more than I've seen yet this season. Last evening's wind really re-arranged things. The snow is deep in areas, I would highly recommend winter boots, wool socks, gaiters and Microspikes if you intend to reach the summit. The trails are still mostly hardpack snow underfoot with a powdery layer on top. None of the trails to the mountain are entirely broken. A few folks have hiked up and down, but last night's winds got rid of my tracks to the kitchen in about 5 minutes. The snow is bound to be pretty deep no matter which trail you intend to take up. Enjoy the snowy madness and stay within your limits!    I was young and I thought I was tough and I knew it was beautiful and I was a little bit crazy but I hadn’t noticed it yet. Norman Maclean  Morning y'all, It's another beautiful, clear, COLD morning. The high yesterday reached 0 degrees. The overnight low was negative 21 degrees, recorded shortly after observation yesterday. It was 0 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received no new precipitation yesterday. Our snowfall total is still around 10 inches. There are some deeper drifts along the trail. I would highly recommend MicroSpikes and a full winter kit if you intend to hike up. Enjoy the day! A friendly reminder: THE LODGE IS CLOSED! There are no goods or services available. No cabins to warm up in, no place to buy tea or coffee, etc. Please be prepared to be self-sufficient if you intend to reach the summit. You will find every building except for one privy locked for the season.    When it's over, I want to say: all my life I was a bride married to amazement. I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms. When it's over, I don't want to wonder if I have made of my life something particular, and real. I don't want to find myself sighing and frightened, or full of argument. I don't want to end up simply having visited this world. Mary Oliver Morning y'all, It's a beautiful, clear, COLD day up top. The high temperature yesterday reached 10 degrees. The overnight low reached negative 23 degrees. It was negative 21 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The mountain received 7 inches of new snow yesterday, bringing our snowfall total to 10 inches. The trails are still pretty slick, the 7 fresh powder inches are easy to walk through but there is still an icy baselayer beneath that. I would highly recommend Microspikes if you intend to reach the summit. Needless to say, it is extremely cold out. If you intend to reach the summit, be prepared for arctic temperatures. Windchills are expected to dip into the negative 40's on the summit. Be careful & have fun out there!  The snow was absolutely marvelous yesterday. The flurries started at 7:30am and really picked up around 11am. I waited until 3pm, then started skiing around the mountain. Boot deep snow, absolutely nobody else in the park (bless the snowy roads!), powder still swirling, trees laden with the heavy happiness of winter and self-propelled motion! What else could a young man wish for?! I carved a nice little run down from the office to the bear trap, 3 solid turns and about 10 seconds of snowy adrenaline. It was too much fun. I didn't realize I lost feeling in my hands until I tried to open the door. My smile clearly mattered more than the numbness. Sometimes, I can't believe this is my life.  |
LeConte LodgeWelcome to the official blog of LeConte Lodge. We hope you find the information provided here both helpful and enjoyable. Thank you for visiting the site, and we hope to see you on the mountain! Archives
February 2023
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