Saturday, October 17, 2020

The tour of all Tours: 5 ascents, 78 miles!

Zach Andrews

 Give me a minute, and then go read this blog by Zach Andrews.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, Zach conquered Mount Le Conte in a way that defies imagination. In less than 24 hours, he climbed the mountain five times, covering 78.2 miles and climbing 20,740 feet.

In my research, I've identified 34 individuals who have completed the Tour de Le Conte, which requires hiking all six trails (up or down) in the span of a day. None of them attempted anything nearly as ambitious as Zach did. 

An ultramarathoner from Montevallo, Alabama, Zach respects Le Conte so much that he has the summit elevation—6,593—tattooed on his chest. After seeing how his friend Ash Walsh completed the tour in 51 miles without using a car shuttle between trail heads, he came up with a planhe called it The Great Ascensionto attempt every trail both ways in 24 hours.

After stashing supplies at several trailheads and a quick nap at the Alum Cave Bluff trailhead, Zach hit the trail at 1:10 a.m. Oct. 14. Then he went down and up the Boulevard/AT to Newfound Gap, returning to Myrtle Point before sunrise. At daybreak, he descended Brushy Mountain to the Porter's Creek trailhead and retraced his steps up to Trillium Gap and down to the Trillium trailhead. He climbed Trillium to the Lodge, with apologies to a trail crew he interrupted. (Trillium is closed Monday through Thursday for construction.) He went down and up Rainbow Falls, navigating through sightseers, down and up Bullhead, and then hiked down Alum to finish after midnight, with an elapsed time of 23 hours and 38 minutes. Along the way, he encountered a bear, a fox, and a coyote.

Zack counts 36 lifetime ascents of Le Conte. 

There is one record Zach didn't break—most summit hikes in one day. John Northrup, the manager of Le Conte Lodge, climbed the Alum Cave Bluff Trail seven times on Sept. 28, 2012. The first lap he carried a 40-pound pack through a rainstorm. After that, he said he felt like he was walking on air. "I was pretty much averaging 3 hours per roundtrip the rest of the day," he said.

John has completed the Tour de Le Conte four times, more than anyone on record.

 Now go read all about it in Zach's own words.

Zach's route: Up Alum, down and up Boulevard, down and up Brushy, down and up Trillium, down and up Rainbow, down and up Bullhead, and down Alum.

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