Milestones by the hundreds

The Mount Rushmore of Mount Le Conte: Sebnem Pervar (32 ascents), Dewey Slusher (500), Tim Massey (134), Dana Schroeder (42), Gavin Woodward (1), Bert "Wildcat" Emerson (Lodge winter caretaker), Ann Farrar, Richard Ketelle (est. 500), and Kelsie McNutt. Not pictured are Larry Russell (600) and Dr. Ed Jones (550)

March 1 marked a milestone day for three of Mount Le Conte's leading hikers, as Larry Russell made his 600th climb, Dr. Ed Jones his 550th, and Dewey Slusher his 500th. Watch WBIR for a report on Larry's accomplishment.

In the first 60 days of 2025, Dewey has 27 ascents and Larry 7.

Larry needs another 119 climbs to move into the Top 10 on the LeContest Honor Roll, ahead of Margaret Stevenson. He made 122 trips last year, when he turned 81.

LeContest.com recently raised Herrick Brown's estimated total to 700, based on a comment by Paul Dinwiddie that Brown had more climbs than he did. Dinwiddie documented 750 ascents, so we have conservatively estimated at least 700 for Brown in his 51 years hiking LeConte.

As far as we know, the last time Le Conte saw a day like this was Oct. 19, 1991, when Stevenson made her 500th hike and Ed Wright his 400th. It's rare to see two hikers cross a 100-hike plateau in the same year. Last year, we had two join the 500 club (Russell and John Northrup) and in 1993 Wright and Stevenson hit 600. In 1996, Wright reached 800 and Stevenson 700.

The 500 Club

#	Hiker	Lifetime	Active
1	Ron Valentine	Est. 3,000	1946-2015
2	Jack Huff	Est. 2,500	1918-1960
3	Tim Line	Est. 1,500
4	Ed Wright	1,310	1983-2008
5	Alan Householder	Est. 1,250	1980-2021
6	Graham "Cracker" Cooper	Est. 1,000	through 2002
7	Dave Scanlon	982	1964-2014
8	David Dinwiddie	Est. 800	1958-2018
9	Paul Dinwiddie	750	1931-1993
10	Margaret Stevenson	718	1960-1997
11	Herrick Brown	Est. 700	1927-1977
12	Larry Russell	600	2012-current
13	Stan Wullschleger	570
14	John Northrup	562	current
15	Henry Neel	Est. 550
16	Ed Jones	542	1980-current
17	Al Bedinger	533
18	Paul Adams	523	1918-1975
	Dewey Slusher	500	current
	Richard Ketelle	Est. 500
	Wiley Oakley	Est. 500

500th ascent

Date	Hiker	Age
1963	Paul Adams	62
1989-07	Paul Dinwiddie	74
1991-10-19	Margaret Stevenson	79
1992-05-06	Ed Wright	66
2023-05-06	Dr. Ed Jones
2024-04-27	Larry Russell	80
2024-08-01	John Northrup
2025-03-01	Dewey Slusher

600th ascent

Date	Hiker	Age
1990-10-13	Paul Dinwiddie	75
1993-07-05	Margaret Stevenson	80
1993-07-28	Ed Wright	67
2025-03-01	Larry Russell	81

Doug McFalls baked a special cake for Larry Russell.

Dewey Slusher and Sebnem Pervar celebrate their climb, his 500th and her 32nd