Anyone who had a streak of consecutive months climbing Mount Le Conte was thwarted in April, when the national park was closed because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
From my research, the record for consecutive months climbing Le Conte seems to be 160 by Ed Wright, from 1986 to 2000, when he was sidelined by knee replacement surgery. Significantly, Wright didn't even miss a month when he had open-heart surgery in 1999. He made his April hike before surgery and was back on the mountaintop in late May.
Aside from the streak, Wright had an incentive to hike monthly. "One hike per month is required for maintaining my status with the park's VIP program," he wrote in his book. VIP stands for Volunteers-In-Parks, a program that uses volunteers to patrol trails and provide other services. The monthly requirement refers to any hike in the park, not necessarily climbing Le Conte.
Paul Dinwiddie (750 lifetime climbs) counted 135 consecutive months with his 735th climb on June 1, 1992. Two weeks later, he had surgery for an aneurysm and double kidney bypass. He didn't return to the summit until May 1993.
Margaret Stevenson (718) rarely climbed Le Conte in winter, so she never had a long streak of months.
Dewey Slusher once had a six-year streak with at least one climb per month.
If you know of similar streaks worth mentioning, tell us: LeConteLog@gmail.com.
The Le Conte hiking community lost one of our giants on April 20 with the death of Shirley Henry of Maryville, Tennessee.
Shirley, 84, a native of Greenville, S.C., was one of the Wednesday Hikers who frequently accompanied Margaret Stevenson on her 718 trips up the mountain. The last time she was listed in Ed Wright's hiking journals was in 1998, when she had 173 summit hikes and her husband Clifford "Bo" Henry, had 107. Shirley and Bo were married for 63 years.
Shirley is also is remembered for climbing Le Conte seven consecutive days in September of 1991, as she prepared for 100th hike Oct. 5, 1991.
As a couple, the Henrys made a total of 280 climbs. Excluding Lodge staff, I think the most climbs by a couple is 416 by Mae and Roger Snyder.
