Welcome to the Century Club, Linten Atkins

The Lodge is closed for winter, but that didn't stop Linten Atkins

 Linten Atkins of Newport, Tenn., climbed Mount Le Conte more than a dozen times in 2019, and on New Year's Eve he hiked up the Bullhead Trail and celebrated his 100th trip to the mountaintop.

 Linten is the 71st hiker with 100 lifetime hikes documented on the Le Conte Log honor roll. Others who reached the milestone in 2019 are Steve Odom, Gary White, Jeff Wadley, and Smoky Mountains Hiking Club president Brian Worley.
 Linten, 65, is the manager of the water system for the town of Newport.

Fastest known time for the Tour de Le Conte

Luke Bollschweiler averaged over 5 mph on a 47.5-mile route that climbed 11,086 feet

 Congratulations to Luke Bollschweiler of Maryville, Tennessee, who ran the six trails of Mount LeConte on Dec. 27 with the fastest known time for the Tour de Le Conte.
 Luke covered 47.5 miles in 8 hours, 35 minutes, and 34 seconds. Starting at 7 a.m., he went up Rainbow Falls, down Trillium Gap, up Bullhead, and down Alum Cave. After a car shuttle to Newfound Gap, he went up the Boulevard, and down Brushy Mountain to finish in mid-afternoon. The previous record was 10:03:41 by Dave Worth in 2011. 
 It was the second time Luke has broken one of Dave's records. This past March, he ran the 72 miles of the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 14:28:33, which was 22 minutes faster than Worth did it in 2011. That race is called the Smokies Challenge Adventure Run. A video crew followed his trek and produced a film called "Ultra Man."

 According to an interview last year in the Maryville Daily Times, Luke and his wife Sarah moved to Tennessee in 2000 when he took a job in Maryville. He grew up in Idaho and went to Brigham Young University in Utah.
 This was the 12th time in 2019 (and the 36th time since 1993) that the Tour de Le Conte has been successfully completed in 24 hours. Luke is also the first to complete the Tour in daylight. Most completers have done at least two of the trails in the dark. 
 The list of completers is on the sidebar of this blog, below the Le Conte Honor Roll. If you are reading on your phone, you will need to switch to "View Web Version" to see the sidebar. You can also click on the "Tour de Le Conte" tab on our masthead to read previous stories about the Tour.