Old-timers hiked Le Conte up to 15 days in a row

 In 2020, we have had a few hikers make back-to-back climbs of Mount Le Conte: Linten Atkins Oct. 3-4, Bill Yeadon July 2-3-4, Timothy Massey March 8-9, and Adam Gravett Feb. 28-29. 
 So what's the record for consecutive days climbing the mountain? 

Paul Dinwiddie on Little Duckhawk Ridge
(Photo by Dr. Ed Jones)

 In Ed Wright's journals, he said in October 2002 that his friend Tillroe Smith from Moody, Ala., had hiked to the Lodge for 15 consecutive days. Wright gave no other details. Smith ranks 17th on our honor roll with at least 345 summit hikes through 2006.
 Smith often made the hike more than once a day. Wright records that Smith twice made seven trips in seven days in the fall of 1999, plus eight trips in a week in the spring of 1999.
 Paul Dinwiddie hiked up the Alum Cave Bluff trail 11 straight days in 1991, July 16-26. In his journal, he doesn't tell us much about the experience, except to say that he went dancing at the O'Connor Center the night after the final hike.

 Dinwiddie was 75 at the time. He climbed Le Conte 102 times in 1991 on his way to his lifetime total of 750, which ranks 9th all-time.
 Wright met Dinwiddie during the 11th hike and told him: "Heavy exercise every day is not good for you. Should have a day of rest every other day."

 1991 was an epic year for climbing Le Conte. That was also when Wright, at age 66, set his one-year record of 230 climbs. (He also had 90 ascents in 1992, 107 in 1993, 104 in 1994, 103 in 1995, 90 in 1996, 130 in 1997, and 111 in 1998). Wright often climbed two or three times in a single day, but heeding his own advice, he rarely hiked on consecutive days.

 Also in 1991: Shirley Henry hiked the mountain seven straight days Sept. 5-11, according to Dinwiddie's journal. Shirley was hurrying toward her 100th hike that October. We have her on the honor roll with at least 173 lifetime climbs.
 Margaret Stevenson, at age 79, climbed five consecutive days Sept. 19-23, 1991. She hiked her age in 1991 with 88 summit hikes, including #500 on Oct. 15.

 More recently, in July of 2012, Mick Meister climbed the Rainbow Falls trail five consecutive days while training for a trip to Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro.