Ed  thanks for your inquiry; regrettably, Pop got iced in in his Huntington, WV driveway of all things--so Bob Jones sent him this report, which I am sharing with you  and I expect  Bob wouldn't mind if you post it on your web site; I had a meeting in Asheville Saturday so I only made it to below Arch Rock but my wife Dana  and two daughters,  Anna who is 23 and lives in  Boston and who brought a friend, Brian, who has climbed in the Wind Rivers and is now in awe of the Smokies (see below) , and Deane who is 14, all made it to the summit via Alum Cave thanks  Larry

 

 

Dear Pop:

 

Mt. LeConte was pretty on Saturday. Pretty cold, too, that morning and on Friday night. As you know, I planned to hike up on Friday night, but due to a late departure Ann & I didn’t reach the ACB parking area until after 7:30, by which time it was pitch black, about 17 degrees, windy and snowing. You wouldn’t have been deterred by such conditions, but at that point I wimped out and went to town with Ann. It was a lot warmer in the Riverhouse at the Park, and the gas log fire was nice.

 

Karl, McKenzie, Craige, Jim and I met at the lobby at 7:15 a.m. on Saturday. The five of us, plus Anna Pless’ friend Brian from school, then rode up in Karl’s vehicle to the ACB parking area. The top of LeConte was in the clouds, but it was apparent the sky was clearing. The storm had covered the trees with snow down to at least the 5,000 ft. level, and the clouds as they lifted revealed a winter wonderland.

 

It was chilly at the trailhead - low to mid-20s, I’d guess. We said goodbye to Jim (he’d be moving the vehicle to the Rainbow Falls parking area) and started hiking at 7:45 a.m. Trail conditions were good. There was only a dusting of snow down low and not much accumulation (less than one inch) higher up. Ice was easily bypassed until we reached the Grassy Slide area. We put on crampons there and used them the rest of the way up. Got to the Lodge area at 10:45 and decided to go first to the shelter.

 

We enjoyed visiting the hardy mountaineers at the shelter, in particular Tom Honeycutt, Locke Clifford and Peter Sprague. They said it had gotten down to about 6 degrees on Friday night – so cold that everyone had retreated into their sleeping bags by about 8:00 p.m. No late night party scene there!

 

We went next to High Top and took a few mountain conquest photos. Much of the trail up was clear of snow and ice, so I decided crampons were no longer necessary and took them off. A short time later, I got spanked by the mountain as punishment for that bad judgment. My right hip is still sore. Mountain conquest, eh?

 

We continued to Cliff Top, where we enjoyed spectacular views, then down to the office porch for lunch. We were joined there by Larry’s wife and daughters. They had a good hike up and were looking as fresh as daisies. The Lodge caretaker, Gary Craft, must have seen them because he came right over and invited everyone into the kitchen for coffee and hot chocolate. It was cozy in there, as I’m sure you can imagine.

 

It was soon 1:00 p.m., our scheduled time to begin descent, and the five of us then headed down the Rainbow Falls trail. The trail conditions were good and we made it down to Rocky Spur fairly quickly. There were some icy patches lower down, but all could be avoided by rock hopping. Karl led the way, demonstrating footwork that might even have impressed the great figure skater, Brian Boitano.

 

By 4:22 p.m., we were all down at Karl’s vehicle, reflecting upon the fine hike we’d had and looking forward to dinner with everyone that evening.

 

Thanks again for your efforts in organizing this trip. You did such a good job in advance that your unexpected absence had no adverse effect - everything went smoothly anyway, as if controlled remotely by the hand of Hollandsworth from Huntington .

 

That’s my report. I’m sure you’ll get more from others and will soon have more details than if you’d been there the whole weekend.

 

I look forward to seeing you in April. Until then, keep making that Parson Brown. I didn’t get any over the weekend and I’m mighty thirsty now.

 

Best regards,

 

- Bob