Brothers break record for the Tour de Le Conte

Elias Groft adds a stone to the cairn at High Top

 Congratulations to brothers Elias and Anthony Groft of Portland, Tenn., for posting the fastest known time for the Tour de Le Conte—completing all six trails on Mount Le Conte in just a shade over eight hours. 

 Here is a video tracking their day. 

 Running on Black Friday, Nov. 27, the brothers finished 45.3 miles in 8:03:38. That's 32 minutes faster than Luke Bollschweiler's time of 8:35 last Dec. 27. They followed the same route as Bollschweiller, up Rainbow, down Trillium, up Bullhead, down Alum, car shuttle to Newfound Gap, up the AT and Boulevard, and finishing via Brushy Mountain. They averaged 6.37 mph.

 Elias also ran the tour earlier this year. He is the fifth man to complete it more than once, and the first to do it twice in the same year.

 This has been the busiest year for the Tour, with 12 completions reported. Last year, there were 10. Since 1993, the Tour has been completed 43 times by 36 individuals. The list of completers is on the sidebar of this page. If you are reading on a mobile device, you'll need to switch to full-screen mode to see the sidebar.

Anthony and Elias charging up the Bullhead trail—their second ascent of the day

Circumnavigating Le Conte for the 2nd time

Nathaniel Klumb at the start line in Cherokee Orchard

 Congratulations to Nathaniel Klumb of Louisiana for repeating the Tour de Le Conte. on Columbus Day.  Click here to visualize his route. He sent this report: 

There are two kinds of fools—those who never climb Mount Fuji, and those who climb it twice. 

In October 2019, I hiked the Tour Le Conte, including all the side trails, and finished in 19:18. Not only did I throw in all the lagniappe, but I was hiking with a bad shoe. By the second time over, I was in considerable pain. I pushed through to the end and then hobbled to the car. Naturally, after healing up for a few weeks (or longer for my poor toes), I couldn't help but wonder how long it would have taken without the accumulated injuries or extra trails. Then 2020 arrived. After many months of Rachel and I working crazy hours in our essential jobs, we both desperately needed a break. I decided that yes, I'm the second kind of fool. Time for another tour.

I hit the trail at 10:07 a.m. EDT on Monday, October 12. I headed up the Trillium Gap Trail and continued out the Boulevard Trail. My first Tour, I had to bike down in the dark after two overs. Biking down from Newfound Gap in daylight after just one over worked much better, allowing me to ride as fast as I dared. I don't recall seeing anything above 35 mph on my speedometer. Then it was up Alum and down Bullhead. Rachel resupplied me with more Gatorade, and off I went on the last over. Hiking up the Rainbow Falls Trail in the dark gave beautiful views of Gatlinburg and the surrounding lights. Then it was down to Trillium Gap and the turn down the Brushy Mountain Trail for the last leg.

At 1:47 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, October 13, I officially wrapped up my second tour. This time it tallied right at 48 miles in 15:40. It was much more pleasant without so many injuries from a bad shoe. A slight slip during the very first leg had my ankle really hurting by the last 10 miles, but since it only hurt when I stopped, who knows—it might have made me faster.

 John Northrup, manager of Le Conte Lodge, has completed the Tour four times, and Brian Thomas and Shawn Carson also did it twice. "I suppose the question now is whether two Tours are enough," Nathaniel said. "I don't currently have plans for heading back in October 2021 for a third annual, but we'll just have to see."