When we established the LeContest honor roll, we started with the longtime managers of LeConte Lodge. Paul Adams climbed Mount Le Conte 523 times, and Jack Huff had more than a thousand when he lost count. We have estimates of 2,500 ascents by Jack, 500 by Herrick Brown, more than 100 by Jim Huff Jr., and 1,500 by Tim Line in his 41 years as manager.
Now comes John Northrup, who is in his 16th season at the lodge and has served as manager since 2018. On Aug. 1, 2024, John made his 500th lifetime climb (48th this year). He was accompanied on the Alum Cave Bluff Trail by his wife Bonnie, 36 this year and 359 lifetime; and Larry Russell, who hit 500 in April and was making his 547th ascent.
Five hundred climbs on the same mountain is the threshold for the International Peakbaggers Hall of Fame. John and Larry will be added to that list in 2025. Also in line for the Hall of Fame is Dewey Slusher, with 34 this year and 452 lifetime.
Here's a story about the Northrups from the forthcoming book, LeConte Lodge, A Centennial History of a Smoky Mountain Landmark. You can pre-order the book at McFarlandBooks.com.
John Northrup climbed Mount Le Conte before he was born—his mom was five months pregnant—and made the trip on his own feet at age eight, so it’s no surprise he fell in love with the Smokies. Then in 2010, he took a job at the lodge and fell in love in the Smokies.
Fresh out of the University of Michigan—where he majored in history and marched with the band in the 2007 Rose Bowl parade—John was shoveling snow on the Alum Cave Trail when he met his bride-to-be, Bonnie Scott from Atlanta, who was hiking up to interview for the last vacancy on the crew.
The winter of 2009-10 was one of the snowiest seasons the lodge has ever seen, with accumulations up to 55 inches. As the crew prepared for opening day, they had to shovel paths day after day. “The first week, we knew we had families coming up, and the cables on Alum were still buried in snow. They asked the crew to go down there with a shovel or pick-ax. I grabbed a shovel and headed down to a corner where the snow had drifted nine feet high.
“The first few hikers were starting to make their way up, and one was this girl. She wasn’t dressed for the conditions—wearing cotton blue jeans. But she had a smile on her face.” John recalls it as his “struck-by-lightning moment.”
Not only did Bonnie and John turn out to be soulmates, but they were also well-matched as hikers. Friends said that Bonnie was the only one fast enough to keep up with John on the trail. She became one of the first women to complete the Tour de Le Conte, hiking all six trails in 24 hours. Bonnie has also served as llama wrangler.
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