Guys dig chicks with crampons: LeConte T R

“Trip Report later. gonna go run real quick, clean up and upload the pics.

it wasn't bad!”

“Cramp on.

Cramp off.

Is there a typo in your subject line?”

“fritz!!”

“why fritz? do you dig chicks with tampons?
Now stop it...don't screw with my TR LOL

oh...and I got it...i just didn't go there. bad , bad!!!
last edited: 12/26/04 7:47:04 PM”

“who did u go with, gem? give us the damn TR already.”

“Sorry Scorch. Totally out of character humor from me.”

“fritz just this once you are excused.

Scorch, I went solo. I am uploading pics right now, it'll take a while...
trip report: oh gosh... later, much later!!!”

“pics! pics! pics! pics!”

“TR! TR! TR! TR!”

“uploading, uploading, uploading...”

“Faster !! Faster !! Faster !!”

“hey!! complain with webshots!!
well damn...it just froze on me. another try.”

“Did you choke from the pressure of the TT nagging?”

“I hope there was some snow when you went!! I can't wait to read the report and see the pics. WooHoo!!”

“still waiting!!!!”

“...and waiting”

“...and waiting”

“Okay...lemme get started on this darn report...

Christmas day I sat in front of the computer, just got off the phone with a client, when it hit me... I am all alone... I can go places! I can party...OR I can hike!!! Didn't take me long to make up my mind. I actually was already thinking about hiking LeConte, but wasn't thinking about leaving until a couple days later. I packed my #&%!$ together in no time...and hit the road. Nothing exciting to tell about the drive up there. I did take an early exit off the interstate. This way I was able to drive through Magic Valley, which means I would have about 30 or so miles to Gatlinburg on my favorite road. Lots of curves, I love that road. I always get out of automatic and start shifting... I LOVE that road.

I arrived near Gatlinburg and this is what I saw:


I got a room because..well it was cold and my sleeping bag is only good for up to 15 degrees. Anyhow...so I got me a room, took a shower and went walking through Gatlinburg. Talked to a couple of people, and after that I went back to my room. Tried to go to bed early, but #&%!$...that's not gonna happen. The phone woke me up the next morning at around 7:00. Took me a while to get ready and to get out of bed though. I ate a good breakfast and drove to the trail head.

Damn, I forgot the time when I arrived at the trail head. I think it was around 10:00 or so. In the parking lot I saw a couple cars, but that was about it. I got ready... (really slow today, not sure why...) and off I went. Didn't look so bad, but I had my crampons in my backpack just in case. Yeah...and then the trail got worse. Snow wouldn't be that bad, but ice...well...there is no way you can walk on it without crampons. At least I didn't think so. I put my crampons on and AGAIN....it took me a while to get them on and adjusted for my boots.

The trail was very icy, on some spots so ice that the rock almost looked magnified... Does that make sense?? Not sure how to explain it. The crampons made it very easy though to hike. I had the best view ever. The sky was blue and no fog or anything. Awesome view. On my way up to LeConte I saw one hiker without crampons. Dummy... he barely was able to hike. I offered him one crampon but he declined. He decided that it would be a better idea to hike back to the parking area. Yupp...I had to agree with him on that, but I still was worried. He had to hike about 4 miles back to the car (yes, he wasn't that far from the top, but the worst was still to come, and without crampons...well...I don't know)

Oh that's right, I saw another group of hikers. Two females that explained that a guy in the shelter is giving away free hot chocolate. yeah!!! that would be nice, it was pretty damn cold.

I hiked very slow as I took like a zillion pictures. Once I hit snow that reached my ass, no kidding... it was only one spot though. Close to that spot you also saw that some snow was pretty deep because the cables you normally grab to hold on, well those cables where close to your ankles. LOL So... that gives you an idea how deep that snow was. Most of the time though it was frozen solid, so you didn't had to step deep.

Made it to the top. Didn't see the hostel keeper with his free hot chocolate, so i went on to find that freaking peak that I missed the last time. And there it was...right before Marcys (??) Peak. Just a bunch of rocks, but that was it. LOL

I really didn't stay up there for long. I wasted enough time taking pictures. So I enjoyed the view a little bit longer and then continued my hike back down. That's when I saw a lot of hikers and tourists. I couldn't believe that most of them wasn't wearing crampons. I saw them slide all over the place and I know some of the trails are pretty damn close to the edge. Ridiculous, that's all I can say. I am really not sure if they every made it past the more icier spots... I hope the decided to turn around.

I got to the car pretty early, so I changed clothes and decided to drive home.
That was pretty much it. I had a great time. I know everyone told me not to go, but I really felt like doing this, so I did. It wasn't as bad, actually it wasn't bad at all if you had crampons.

Total milage: about 11.4 or so.

Prolly forgot to "report" alot, but that's why I always have a longer TR on my website.
pictures:
http://community.webshots.com/album/237852422aVsXNd
last edited: 12/26/04 10:20:15 PM”

“opps..."this is what I saw" need to be removed. I had a picture there.”

“That looks like an awesome hike. Damn I'm jealous. Angie & I are definatly doing LeConte in January.
What road did you take in to Gatlinburg? What kind of rate did you get at the hotel?
Who rents crampons? I'm not sure I want to shell out for two pair before that hike.”

“great TR and pics Gemini. Did you go up to Clifftops this time? I bet the view was awesome up there.

Curr, you could probably rent crampons at the outfitter in Gatlinburg, I can't think of the name of it at the moment. It's not far from the entrance into the park. If you do the Bullshead trail, you could get away with just insteps and perhaps even without crampons.”

“Are you talking about the Happy Hiker? I've done business with them in the past and they seem very enthusiastic about those trails.”

“that be the one!”

“I'll give them a call. A dayhike up LeConte with KK is my first hiking goal of '05.”

“there is happy hiker, and the other one..hmmm dayhiker. (in pigeon forge) there's also a outfitter in cherokee. not sure who rents crampons though.

Currahee, I took 441 and then turned onto..hmm..i forgot, but the road that brings you right through cherokee and by the newfound gap area. my favorite road. (if you like that sort of thing)”

“Newfound Gap Road (US 441).”

“Wow! Glad you had a great hike, great report and pics.”

“awesome Gemini!

I went snowshoeing tonight with the kids under the full moon - it was great!”

“Very good trail report....just in case some newbie didn't know what TR meant.

I've never used crampons yet.”

“hopefully i'll be able to use my crampons for the first time on the ricketts glen trip in february.

awesome TR! i'm so jealous of all the snow after seeing the pictures. that ice looks vicious and i can't believe you saw people hiking without crampons. it should be required that people hike that mt with crampons, especially this time of year.”

“Awesome, Gem. Sounds like you had a great solo hike and the pics are really cool! Regarding safety concerns-it seems like the bigger the group, the less careful they are. I guess there is a "safety in numbers" false sense of security and all that.

Solo hikers can't get away with that, right Gem? Winter solo is hardcore. You go, girl! Why don't you come up for FYAO? It would be great to hike with you again.”

“Very nice pictures. You didn't identify any of the overlooks but were some of the pictures from Myrtle Point?
>
Also it looks like they have built a new shelter since I was up there. Much nicer. The old one had a chain link fence with three strands of barbed-wire on top to keep the bears out. Lots of black bears up there back in the mid-70s. Didn't help though. Still have an aluminum pot with bear tooth marks on it from the time I stayed in that shelter.”

“I tried to remember each pictures, and each outlook. I can't :)
I didn't take any pics this time from em... Cave bluff. LOL I should've, stupid me, but I didn't.

anyway...next time I may just write everything down, so I can remember. Pictures do look completly different once you see them on the screen.

Hmm, when I wrote "marcy's peak" I did mean "Myrtle Point". Don't ask me where I got marcy's peak from. Told you I act strange on full moon nights.

yeah, that shelter is brand spankn' new. Very nice! It also looked like they've added more hostels in the hostel area.

Roam, snow shoeing on a full moon. How cool is that!! :) Awesome!

Amy...what's the FYAO?? I have no clue. :(

the ice really isn't bad if you have crampons, but I still don't understand anyone that would hike on it without crampons, especially because the trail is so darn close to the edge at times. I guess to each his own. I did see one couple that did wear crampons, and one group of hikers they had some sort of chain on their feet. He said it works, but he knows he should've brought his crampons. (not sure why he didn't)”

“Great hike, Gem. Whatcha doing at home alone on Christmas, girl? Were ya doing Macauley Caulkin impressions? lol!”

“LMAO at Liz. Liz that's too funny...while hiking I was thinking about that. I wanted to take a picture of myself with that expression, and now you are posting this. too funny!!!

Yeah...we had christmas the german way on christmas eve. Kids love to open up presents a day early... and I don't have to to my inlaws on christmas day. LOL I love em, but I hate it up there.

so....I went hiking instead.”

“Gemini - here's the link to the FYAO V hike : link”

“aha!!! thanks HOI!!
That would really mean I need a new sleeping bag though. Hmm...I'll sign up as a maybe and will check the bags dammit!! Money, money, money...”

“Nice report and pictures!

Had to pee huh?”

“Nice report, Gem. I think there's not much better than meeting winter "face-to-face" and winning.”

“You do not "Win" against nature.
Nature lets you live......this time.

Nice photos, thanks for sharing.”

“Nature doesn't "Let" you live.
You live because you're doing things right.....so far.
last edited: 12/27/04 9:02:52 AM”

“We generally agree BM, but it'll be a difference of semantics.


Dam Gem. Those are some pretty serious crampons.”

“I know, I'm just bored. ;)”

“Me too. I don't have much to bill my time to.
I think I'll leave early today.”

“lol... yeah, I am bored too. I think I go get my hair cut.

MPM...only crampons I have. hey...they worked.”

“Point taken, HPM. I guess I see it as a "win" when I see the sunrise each day, but that's probably just my sports-oriented side speaking.”

“So do you sit up in bed and do the touchdown sign each morning?

YES! SCORE!
lol.

Well Gem they worked didn't they? I would have been very happy to have those the last time I did Alum Cave trail. That thing gets slick as hell.
last edited: 12/27/04 9:51:25 AM”

“Half the company seems absent, including my boss. No way am I going to get anything done.

Maybe I'll go to Hooters for lunch?
last edited: 12/27/04 9:55:57 AM”

“I don't have anything to actually do.
Well, other than provide "coverage".
I guess that's in case someone needs an emergency image resize or a html mockup.
last edited: 12/27/04 9:58:16 AM”

“Right, those emergency image resizes can really impact a company's bottom line.

:)”