Opening Day

3/22/2010

Opening day brought a dusting of snow and more on the way. The conditions on the mountain are extremely slick. It rained all day yesterday and melted off some of the snow and then froze over night. The high yesterday was 38 with a low last night of 23. We are expecting more snow on the way today. The good news is we are open and ready for the first guest to arrive.

WARNING!!!! If you are hiking up the mountain today, it is very important you have some sort of crampons. Yak Tracks are fine. Any type of ice walker will do. IT IS VERY SLICK!!!!!!
Remember, Alum Cave Bluff trail is the only trail open. We did receive high winds yesterday, so there may be quite a few blow downs. Please be very careful and happy hiking.

Doug Y.

3/22/2010 04:01:30 am

Looks like I may need my clip-on ice cleats on April 4th afterall; I've hiked for a lot of years, a lot of years, but have never used cleats nor crampons; guess I may soon for I'm sure there'll be plenty of snow still on in two weeks; climbed Kilamanjaro in Africa in '85 but didn't use anything but boots; either way, I'll be prepared; hope all the first arrivals make it without incident today.

Richard

3/22/2010 04:34:56 am

We're due there 4/6. I've not done any winter hiking. Are we talking Yaktrax or something similarly lightweight, or more serious crampons?

Doug Y.

3/22/2010 04:50:21 am

For Richard: the clip-on cleats I obtained just couple of weeks ago are "Stabilicers Lite Ice Cleats" which slip on over my hiking boots; they're relatively cheap and are constructed of fairly thick rubber straps, but should give the added traction needed; I'm sure I'll get to try them soon enough; I realized this morning that the rear liftgate on my Jeep Cherokee won't lock at all so I might not come over the day before as that would mean I'd have to leave an old tent and sleeping bag in it for two days; I wonder if the Rainbow / Trillium parking lot is any safer than Alum trail lot ? Anywhere one leaves a vehicle is taking a chance I suppose; Looks like I'll have to leave around 3:00a my first day; thinking aloud again........

Pat N.

3/22/2010 05:31:24 am

Happy Opening Day to the entire crew and to all hikers/lodgers! How fortunate you are to enjoy the beauty of it all! Stay safe and warm!

Doug Y.

3/22/2010 08:13:29 am

I would imagine that you might have some guests by now, or at least shortly; looked at a weather site (Intellicast) a few minutes ago and it showed snow activity over the Smokies; that might be a pretty setting for opening day; depends on how you look at it ! Sure wish I was there !!

tom b.

3/22/2010 09:13:45 am

Things look exciting. I am coming up on April 1 as a guest of my friend Jerry C. along with my son and one other.From the looking at the photos it looks like there will be challenging conditions. Jerry C. has been coming up for years and remembers an 18 inch snow.

Charlie

3/22/2010 11:36:37 am

We have a party of 9 coming up this Saturday. This will be the 11 - 15th time for most of us. The 1st year my wife and I came up was 1999 and we hiked up in 18" of fresh snow. We look forward to this trip more every year.

dana

3/22/2010 04:03:28 pm

I'm enjoying seeing the beautiful photos on this site. My husband, Keith, headed out early this a.m. to be one of the first staying at LeConte tonight. The views are breathtaking and the staff is amazingly attentive. Best of luck for a wonderful 2010 season. Love the blog!

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