New route, record pace for the Tour de Le Conte

Ash Walsh after 51.2 miles

 Congratulations to ultra-marathoner Ash Walsh for pioneering a new route for the Tour de Le Conte that eliminates the shuttle between the Alum Cave trailhead and Newfound Gap.
 Starting at Newfound Gap at 5:02 a.m. on Friday, June 26, Ash went up the Boulevard, down and back up Alum Cave, down Bullhead, up Rainbow, down Trillium, and then returned to Trillium Gap to descend the Brushy Mountain trail. She finished at 7:32 p.m., completing 51.2 miles in 14:30:26. Even considering the extra mileage on Alum and Trillium, that's the fastest known time for a female and among the 10 fastest times by the 28 completers we have on record. Her route had a cumulative elevation gain of 10,705 feet.
 Ash said she has been running the trails of the Smokies for several years and calls Le Conte "my favorite mountain." A few years ago, she decided it would be "so fun to tackle all the trails on Le Conte in one day. I had no idea quite a few had already done it. I should have known!" She is the second to complete the Tour this year and the sixth female to accomplish all six trails in 24 hours.
 The way the six trails on Le Conte are laid out, most hikers who attempt the Tour use a car to get from Alum to Newfound Gap. In 2019, Nathaniel Klumb did it in reverse and rode a bike down from the gap to the Alum trailhead, which he said took just one turn of the pedal.
 Ash studied the possibilities and realized she could avoid the shuttle if she did Alum both ways. Her route still covered all the trails to the roadside trailheads and included three trips past the Lodge, which we count as a summit hike. The Tour does not have written rules, but by tradition, hikers are not expected to go to High Top on every ascent.
 Ash is 33, lives in Georgia with her husband and two children, and has completed nine 100-mile footraces. 
 She hasn't kept count of her LeConte climbs but estimates more than 30. "Being able to enjoy this mountain is truly a gift, and I thanked God for it the entire day. I really enjoyed Bullhead, as I had not visited the trail since the fires. Wow, what a change! But clear evidence that beauty can grow from the ashes."

Ash's route: Started at Newfound Gap, up the AT and Boulevard, down and up Alum, down Bullhead, up Rainbow, down Trillium to Cherokee Orchard, back up to Trillium Gap, and down Brushy Mountain.

Linton Kerr #33-34-35: All 6 trails in 1 long day

Linton Kerr with Melanie Salas as they reached the Lodge for the second time. 

 Congratulations to Linton Kerr of Kingsport, Tennessee, for completing the Tour de Le Conte on Saturday, June 13. 

Actual mileage was 48.5, subtracting
 the shuttle from Alum to Newfound  Gap

 Starting at 4:40 a.m. in Cherokee Orchard, he went up Rainbow and down Trillium in 4:48, up Bullhead and down Alum (two laps complete in 10:06), shuttled to Newfound Gap, and went up the Boulevard and down Brushy Mountain, finishing at 9:26 p.m. in Greenbrier.  He covered 48.5 miles in 16:46:27, sustaining a pace near 3 mph. He went out of his way to tag High Top on each climb and also went by Myrtle Point and Cliff Top, which made his route a little longer than others. Beyond the finish-line gate, he had to hike two more miles, because the Porters Creek road is closed because of a washout. 
 He now has 35 lifetime climbs of Mount Le Conte. With two exceptions, he's been to the mountaintop every year since 1994.  
 Linton had high praise for Melanie Salas, who ran 37 miles with him before stopping because of the heat. "I could not have completed this without the support of a wonderful friend," he said. "I am so proud of what this lady accomplished in her first day ever on Le Conte."
 Linton is the first Tour completer reported in 2020 and the 27th since it was first accomplished in 1993. We have a list of completers in the sidebar of this page. Mobile viewers will need to switch to fullscreen mode to see the sidebar.  

64 years ago: 'Junebug' snow on Mount Le Conte

* In the reference to Crossville, remember that in 1956, Alaska was not yet a state.

 LeConte Lodge posts weather records in the office that date back to 1978. The latest snow on those charts is flurries on June 1, 1983. While researching old-time hikers, I found this reference to snow on June 2, 1956, in the Knoxville-News Sentinel. This clipping was in a year-end wrap-up of wacky news.

Spring snow is not uncommon. May 9 was the seventh time since 1978 that Le Conte Lodge has had snow on the ground on Mothers Day weekend. The biggest snow ever in North Carolina was May 5-9, 1992: close to 50 inches on Mount Pisgah and 30 on Mount Mitchell. The same storm left 3 inches on Le Conte, 28 years ago on May 9. Le Conte also got 5 inches of snow on May 6, 2016.
 On June 15, 2020, the temperature dipped to 34 and the Lodge received close to an inch of hail. 

➤Here is a link for weather at 2,010 meters (6,593 feet) atop Mount Le Conte.