October 30, 2023

Good Morning,

The clouds have moved in overnight and will continue to thicken throughout the day. It’s still quite toasty this morning, especially down below, but breezy conditions will stave off any warmth to be had up top. Storm bands are moving across the state heading this way. We could witness the first bit of rainfall we’ve had in over a week shortly after lunchtime today. Once the front pushes through, temps are going to drop like a rock. We’ll be feeling sub-freezing temps by tonight and frigid single digit windchills by tomorrow. Adequate warm layers will be a must for everybody coming to the mountain. Have those traction devices handy as well. Whether the precip lasts long enough to shift from rain to snow remains a mystery at this point. Check back in 24 hours!

Shoutouts to two wonderful and highly ambitious trail warriors who conquered some notable achievements on Mt. LeConte yesterday. First, our own Kade Dixon became the sixth lodge crewmember to successfully complete Le Tour de LeConte Challenge (or TLC). This 24-hour-or-less endurance endeavor, as originally intended, challenges one to scale all six Mt. LeConte trails in their entirety, in succession, making three full summits and three full descents. The math works out to about 45 miles of distance, and depending on the order of trails taken, averaging close to 11,000’ of total elevation change both directions. Kade, who has a knack for trail running on afternoons off or helping lug more shirts up the mountain for eager customers, completed the feat yesterday in just under 18 hours. He also did it in reverse, meaning he started and finished at the lodge instead of the base, becoming the second crewmember to do so. Way to go, Kade!

Secondly, longtime lodge friend Larry Russell has been serving as an inspiration to many a hiker this year. He set out with the goal of climbing the mountain a number of summits in a calendar year equal to his upcoming birthday. Well, Larry is about to turn 80 in a couple weeks around lodge close, but he’s so quick and nimble on his feet that he made quick work of that number weeks ago. So what did he do? He just kept hiking, and yesterday achieved his 100th summit of 2023, and did so in just a hair under ten months time. Not many folks on this earth have done that besides a few extra motivated retirees and some of our full time llama wranglers through the years. If any of us can do half of what Larry is doing at that same age, we’re all going to be doing pretty good. Way to go, Larry!

Have a great day.