Nov. 9, 2013

Beau sits on his porch on LeConte during our March snowstorm to open this season.

I hope everyone's weekend is off to a fine start.  We expect a lot of visitors during the holiday weekend eyeing a favorable forecast through Monday.  I'm going to continue introducing crew members today.  Saturday's update belongs to Beau Belmont.

However, I'll update you on trails and weather first.  Last night proved much warmer than I expected, which should be beneficial for the slick spots on the trails.   The overnight temperatures contradicted the forecast.  We enjoyed one of our occasional temperature inversions, in which the "warmer" air clings to the top of the mountain while the good folks in the valley shiver.

After spending most of Friday in the 20s, the temperature rose overnight to 40 degrees when I called in the weather report at 6:30 a.m.  The ranger was a little taken aback when I reported the current temperature as 40 and asked me to repeat myself.  He told me that they were sitting at a chilly 27 degrees about one vertical mile below at Park Headquarters.  Officially, we ended up with a Friday high of 42, low of 16 and no precipitation. 

Now, I'll turn the introduction over to Beau.

----------

Hello folks!  I am from the western suburbs of Chicago.  I moved to East Tennessee in 2007 to become the brewmaster at Smoky Mountain Brewery in Gatlinburg.

I fell in love with the Smoky Mountains before actually moving here.  Through my experience living and working in the area, I met Allyson and Chris Virden and made many visits to LeConte.

After five years of brewing I decided to try something new and began my first season here at LeConte Lodge.  It has been a remarkable experience, and I have been lucky enough to share it with my wife, Courtney.

P.S.  I miss my dog, Roy!

----------

Thanks to Beau for providing his profile.  It's a beautiful day on the mountain.  Come on up and see us.  Happy trails.