Seneca Rocks, WV

I put this page together to share my experience at Seneca Rocks in the Spring of 2001. I hope it shows you some things you can do here. Remember though, the information expressed here is strictly my opinion and observation. Always pay attention to local conditions and warnings and climb within your ability.

The Explorers Club of Pittsburgh (ECP), of which I am a member, offers a Climbing School for those who want to participate in this fun and challenging sport. The following is a report from our Graduation Trip to Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. I've done my best to document the climb names, however without taking notes I was left to my memory which wasn't good. I'm sure those of you who know Seneca may be scratching your heads a some points but hopefully I got the general locations right!

View from Seneca Rocks, WV

Index:

June 1

June 2

June 3

Links

Friday June 1st.

I was busy concentrating on route 33 winding through the West Virginia mountains when a distinctly different ridge line came into view. Rising 900 feet above the valley floor this peak of Tuscarora sandstone stood out impressively. I had seen pictures of this place and knew immediately what I was looking at. As the mountain began to get larger in my view the road began to flatten out. I was coming into the valley. Eventually I made it to the intersection of "the" restaurant and general store. I say "the" because this place is just a small crossroads. It is not built up as I had expected. Kind of nice actually. Making a right staying on 33 East I soon came to the entrance of Seneca Shadows campground.

Winding up the road I passed several sites finally pulling into group sites D & E around 7:30pm. I saw a few people standing around a picnic table. The group included Ted, Rick, his wife and another person who I never met before and can't remember his name. We talked briefly and since I wanted to take advantage of the light, I went on to the task of erecting my tent. As I was setting this up the mountain was right in front of me. What a sight with the two peaks. The gunsight is the most notable feature and the steep drop to the right stands out too. As a rookie having, up until now, only top roped 30 to 50ft, my thoughts were that maybe I would climb a pitch or two. As you will read later, wrong!

Soon everyone started arriving and setting up. Ted had brought some wood and we went to the fire ring to try and get one started. We had no kindling but I brought an ax so we made some. After awhile it was burning at a rate Scott and Shawn would have been proud of! We were in groups site "D" at this point. I had my tent in site "E". As we sat around the fire we talked about what was to come the next day. After awhile, unfortunately, the weather decided not to cooperate and it started to rain. We all retreated to our tents. In a few minutes I realized my new tent was leaking (the directions as I found out later specifically said to seam seal these areas, duh) and that my (too large) ground cloth was channeling water underneath the floor. While this was happening I could hear the guy next to me scrambling to set his tent up in this now driving rain. Hmmm, this was not starting out good! Eventually, however it let up and I got everything under control. Sleep came easily.

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Saturday June 2nd.

The next morning the weather was a bit better. I could hear the birds and that was a good sign. Opening the tent I was greeted with a mixture of clouds and sun and of course the view . This made for a great day. A little cool in the shade but once in the sun I was glad it wasn't warmer. I made my way over to the car to get some food and cooking stuff. I fired up the Whisper Lite and made some coffee, downing the standard bagel and banana. Craig and Joy joined me and we talked about the day ahead. Near us Duke and Maggie made a real breakfast on a camp stove. I think they ate better out there than I do at home! Since town is between the camp site and the rocks, some folks just decided to eat breakfast there.

After we ate we drove down to the parking lot and broke into our groups. Bill lead my group with Amy seconding. I was in the middle of course. After loading up with our gear, we wished all a good day and headed up the approach. At first I was worried I didn't stretch and wouldn't be warmed up. Well, the approach took care of that! After crossing the North Fork River and walking up a maintained trail we came to a creek crossing. This is where the stair climbing began. It was quite a hike over boulders up to and past "Hillary's Steps?" then onto a trail. After a short hike up the trail we came to the route Bill wanted. It was called "Le Gourmet". This climb is right at the top of the trail so we just dropped our gear and started to set up.

In a little while Bill started up the first pitch. This required a bit of a traverse which quickly took him out of our view. I was belaying him. Hugh came by using the opportunity to instruct us about the good and bad points of my anchor positioning. This was my first leader belay. My only reference was the weight test at McConnells Mills a few weeks back. I had clipped in here using my belt loop in the back of my harness. This allowed me to be more in-line with the first piece of pro. Also, I felt reasonably sure that my anchor was tight enough so I wouldn't bite the rock stopping a fall.

After a few minutes we heard Bill shout that he had found some "booty" along the way (a #3 passive). Soon he was at the top and set up to belay. Now it was my turn. Hugh made sure I tied the trailer with the same knot and backup as a standard tie-in. Good habit to get into as we are all too aware. Before I started I needed to be sure I understood my job. This day that would be clipping in the trailing rope, clipping out my safety and occasionally pulling some pro. As I would find out this took a bit of getting used to and I often screwed it up. Sometimes I would go past the pro and have to down climb or I would clip in across my safety and be unable to ascend. The last being the worst (as you will see later) since I would have to call for slack and reverse everything. I need practice at this. This zaps arm strength hanging on the rock too long. I need to get it fluid.

Starting the first pitch I made the traverse. After that there was a slightly difficult move at the end, but I made it after some thought. Cresting, I clipped in and got off belay. This was a good first climb. I pulled a couple pieces of pro along the way, clipped and unclipped and didn't fall. It helped build my confidence and put to rest my earlier apprehension. I sat and waited while Bill belayed Amy. Soon she followed cleaning out the rest of the pro along the way. We had successfully made our first pitch.

We continued on to the next pitch and topped out on the next ledge. Following a rocky sloped footpath we then went through the "traffic jam" to get to the other side. This walking on a ledge can get a little interesting. I was not tied to anything so I kept telling myself don't slip! On the other side we hiked a trail over to the rocks below the summit. We scrambled up unroped to check out the view and sign in. This part really got to me. Most of this is only a few feet wide. I have to admit I was almost crawling at points! It was an amazing view of the valley however. Looking out at the mountains and the tree tops below. Seeing the hawks flying below you. I was thinking that people who believe we are crazy for doing this will never see the world quite the way we climbers do. I guess now that I'm graduated and stuff I can call myself a (rookie) climber!

Anyway after a short stay at the top we started our decent down the trail to get to the first rap station. Along the way we saw other folks from the ECP. I talked to Rudy for a bit (and mooched some water off her) before heading back into "traffic jam". At that moment it showed why it was named this. I had to slip into a crack on the first turn to let Steve, Rick and Denise by. I sat there watching Phil belaying people up at the end of the slot. After getting through this area we crossed over a ledge to do "Crispy Critter". That was a 5.7 crack climb (hence the name). Bill took us there because he was joking that Amy and I weren't getting challenged enough. We were climbing right up whatever he took us on. Anyway, crack climbs are challenging and I was up for anything at this point . My total disregard for my feet help me here. Sometimes I would toe lock at such weird angles I was surprised my ankle didn't snap! Not sure that was a good thing to do. I may have to rethink those moves.

After we were done we rapped down to the bottom and grabbed some lunch. Tom, Andrew and Lucy were there when we arrived. They decided to do "Le Gourmet" after we told them about our earlier ascent. While they were setting up Bob, Barb and Mary came by and we discussed our options to finish out the day.

After we ate we contemplated our next climb. We were thinking of taking it easy but plans changed. We moved over to do the first pitch of "Prune". The first Pitch is a 5.4 and was a nice quick climb. While hanging out near the rap station Bill started to contemplate doing the second pitch. I could tell Amy wanted to do it also. After thinking it over for a few minutes Bill announced he had decided to lead it. So much for taking it easy. We started on the second pitch which is a 5.7 with the crux near the top. I climbed on and proceeded up with no problem. At the crux however, I needed to ask Bill for help. I couldn't see the move. He shouted down what it was. It required finding a small 1 inch foot hold on my left. Once I saw it, I was able to reach up and snag the bucket. This took me past the hard part and onto the top. Amy followed once again cleaning pro and took the same instruction from Bill. It was getting late so we went over the ledge to the rap station and rappelled down.

It was time to get back so we hiked down the trail to the parking lot. Thanks to Bill for a great lead and Amy for seconding. He picked some great first day climbs.

In the lot everyone was full of stories talking as we were getting out of our harnesses and packing gear. Hunger soon became a topic of discussion so we headed over to the restaurant. We must have had 25 or more people taking up the whole deck. We shared more of the days experiences, over dinner, then headed back to camp.

At camp the fire was started and the beers and marshmallows came out. Smores seemed to be the food of choice. The night was clear and the moon was bright. Around 11:00pm we felt a drop of rain, then suddenly the sky opened up. Again everyone ran to the shelter of their tents. This was a hard rain with high wind gusts. My seam leak was dripping again and I wasn't too thrilled about it. My ground cloth worked it's way out from under my fly and channeled some water again into my floor. I was just glad I didn't have a down bag. Anyway it wasn't a long rain so I didn't get flooded out and I soon fell asleep.

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Sunday June 3rd.

I awoke to an overcast day with not much promise. It appeared, as it lightly rained over breakfast, that we were out of luck today. Many of the leaders were gone and alot of people decided to hike to the North summit. I was here to climb and that's what I really wanted to do. I started asking around. Hugh already had 4 in his party and 5 would have made for a slow day. I saw Jeremiah talking to Jessica and walked over to ask him if I could join them. He asked me how I felt about attempting some 5.7's. I replied "no problem" since I had done some yesterday. That must have been the right answer and he welcomed me to join Jessica and John who would be our second. He explained that he wanted to take us to the summit. Great I thought, this day is looking up! After all, The summit I had done yesterday with no problem. Little did I know I was in for an entirely different experience. So as you will read, remember to be careful wish for. You just might get it and more! We packed up camp and headed over to the parking lot to start the approach.

Assembling our gear we realized we were short a rope. Having four people we needed 3 ropes. But alas, I just happened to bring my brand new (200ft) rope. It was static, but since I wasn't leading it would do. I tied this rope around my self over my backpack and we started out. Today we were going to the base of "Banana" which was farther down the face. As we hiked up we really began to work up a sweat. Lugging along the rope only added to toughness of the hike. It was hard to see the trail sometimes and we just made our own at points. With sore legs we finally arrived a bit tired and quite warm. With the cover of the trees and the activity, shedding some layers was in order (Mistake!).

We started gearing up and soon we were all prepared to climb. John set up the belay and Jeremiah started the lead. After making the first pitch, Jessica started up pulling along my new rope. I figured I should be the first one to use this in case that battery acid I dragged it through did anything to it (ha!). Actually I had paid attention in class and took very good care of it since it's purchase. The first being hiding it from my two cats who thought it was a really cool ball of yarn! Anyway my turn came and I made the first pitch followed by John cleaning up pro behind me. Breaking the tree line was when we realized our mistake. We were only at the top of the first pitch and it was cold! We looked up knowing that it was only going to get colder when we reached there. Everyone wished they had more clothing and I was thinking I shouldn't have shed my fleece warm-up below. Too late now.

Ignoring the cold as much as possible we started the second pitch just to the right, a 5.6 called "Debbie". Same drill and Jeremiah made it quickly. At the first piece of pro, however, Jessica began to have a problem. Her safety line was too tight for her to reach the pro. Seeing this I yelled for slack. This helped, as she got the clip-in. Now, however, there was slack left in the line. As I was thinking she needed to yell "up rope", she fell back to the ledge. Unscathed and recovering quickly she attempted the first move again. This move required climbing up and then to the left onto a ramp. Here she slipped on the foothold and fell back into branches of a tree. Anyone who has seen her climb knows how determined she is (she told me later that at this point she was mad). So, after a moment of hanging she just reached up and powered over the corner onto the ramp. Soon she was at the top.

Now it was my turn. I started my climb and made the corner. My problems, however, were yet to come. Climbing up the ramp I got to the crux move which was basically no holds (all friction). I determined I needed to lean into the rock and smear the rippled face of the bulging rock. At 10 feet off the ground this would have been a piece of cake, but at a couple hundred it was unnerving to say the least. After shouting to Jeremiah to see if he "had me" and his response of "you aren't going to fall", which was more of a command than an assurance, I made the move. Here's where my La Sportiva Mythos paid off with their sticky rubber. As I topped out I was glad to be past this crux but unhappy about the wind up there. We were near the top now and all shivering. I mentioned to them how I thought that the last move was the "definition of exposure". Well I should have waited because the gunsite to South peak traverse to the summit would surely define it. If you aren't scared there you are either crazy or lying!

After John came up, and got Jeremiah on belay, he started the lead across the traverse. It was only a 5.3 to 5.4 climb but the exposure and wind really complicated things. He did a great job placing the pro and was soon out of site. After watching him Jessica and I glanced at each other with a sort of mutual "are we sure about this?" look. The apprehension was creeping in. Yes, that healthy fear of heights combined with the self preservation thing. As we sat staring at the summit, waiting to here "on belay Jessica", another group of climbers came along and positioned near us. They wanted to follow us. After a few minutes of talking with them we heard the call and Jessica started across. We continued to talk as they helped feed the rope to Jessica. Mostly, however, we were all silent just watching her as the wind kicked up.

One thing about having four in a group is that it leaves time to gaze out into the valley and become lost in your thoughts. This can be good and bad. Seeing the hawks flying below us and the tree tops was inspiring but soon thoughts about what we were actually doing started to creep in. I joked earlier how other people must think we were nuts for doing this kind of thing. Now I started to think I was nuts for trying to do this kind of thing! As I watched a wind gust inflate Jessica's wind breaker like a parachute, almost blowing her off the mountain, I really got to thinking. How much of a swing would we take to the next piece of pro? I'm on a static line ...Ouch! Anyway I had to clear my head of these thoughts since they were not going to help me. I was here and there was no turning back now.

Jessica climbed really well and after a short time she reached the summit. In a few minutes I heard the "on belay Tom" above the noise of the wind. It just sounded eerie, like a ghostly shout in the distance. I got kind of strange feeling. It was showtime. The folks we had been talking to turned to me and told me to be careful and wished me a safe climb. They said they may or may not follow me. I said thanks and thought, well at least I'm not alone in questioning the saneness of trying this!

As I left the shelter of the North wall the wind was strong, making my first steps into the gunsight shaky. I was trying to reduce my profile because of the wind, literally trying to become "one with the rock". I wasn't crawling but close to it. In addition the trailer rope was tangled and not feeding to me correctly. I shouted back to John and he said he was trying to untangle it. It kept catching between my legs which was not the most comfortable thing. In spite of this I reached the first piece of pro ready to do the clip/unclip. My hands were cold and didn't want to work. The rope was cold in my teeth. I had to work hard to unclip with one hand. I still wasn't good at this. After fumbling a bit I had success. I have to get better at this I thought.

Finally, straddling the traverse with it's steep drop offs on each side, I came to the South wall. I'd just crossed something that could be classified as a catwalk (no wider than a sidewalk). Shivering from the cold wind and, quite possibly, fear I pressed on. I don't think I have ever been so focused in my life.

After getting my holds in sight I continued the ascent. My intensity was such that when I reached the next piece of pro I almost went past it. Grabbing it, this time, I clipped/unclipped with a fluid motion. Satisfied, I placed my next foot hold as the wind kicked up. I stretched out for a horn and was about to grab it when something yanked me back. Oh @%&#! I had inadvertently clipped the sling onto the trailing rope but around my safety line! As I started up I got pulled back because I was caught between the rock and the trailer. Just great! Ok, so lets see, the wind is howling and rain is threatening. I'm hanging on by one hand hundreds of feet off the ground and trying to unclip everything. Is it me or did I miss this part of the book/class about what to do here? Something to the affect of "when one is presented with the problem of fear/cold and exposure the proper way to clip/unclip pro is ...." Ahhhhhg! Anyway so I have the trailer in my teeth and I'm trying not loose the pro in a swing when I unclip. Hmmm...it's June shouldn't I be on a beach somewhere? So there I was stareing straight down, with the tree tops in view, contemplating how to do this. I must say that I told everyone before I left that they may hear me talking to myself on this pitch. I can't be sure but I think the conversation was something to the affect of "Tom whatever possessed you to do this?". To which I may have answered "because I'm getting old and loosing my brains!". After this brief conversation between my cautious, common sense, rational side and my adventurous, no sense, irrational side, I eventually managed to untangle this mess and get heading on my way.

Making it past this moment of excitement I got to the crack on the wall. Jeremiah had placed the pro on the outside but I stayed to the inside. The sling was long enough so I could clip/unclip from the safety of the crack. However I had to be sure that I definitely clipped the trailing line in first before I clipped my safety out. This was because, if it slipped out of my hand, I would have to retrieve it out there. I didn't want to do that! I wanted to stay with the crack which provided some shelter from the exposure. I managed to execute this smoothly and using a sort of chimney foot jam climbed up this thing, clipping and unclipping along the way.

Once I got over the crack I scaled the step like rock and started to hear Jeremiah and Jessica. Welcome voices for sure. I knew I was close. As I stepped onto a 1 foot square ledge I saw them. At that moment the adrenaline and intensity had zoned me to the point that I couldn't think. Jeremiah asked me if I knew how to belay and I think I said yes like a zombie. I turned around to back myself into the corner of the ledge to be in position. This is where I made a mental error. In class I listened to all the things you should and shouldn't do. Often I thought that it was a no brainer, like of course you wouldn't do that! Well executing in a real situation is a different thing. It's like watching a game show from the comfort of your living room and wondering why the contestant can't answer a simple question. Well, they're under stress and now I was too. As I tried to position myself I felt a 2 inch square rock beneath my heal. I attempted to move it out of the corner with my toe. In my stoned adrenaline rushed brain I kicked it off the ledge. I immediately realized my mistake and yelled "rock!". I watched it disappear in an almost slow motion like descent. It hit a ledge and chipped into even more tiny projectiles. I heard a few shouts from below and really was concerned I may have injured someone(As we later found out no one was hurt, just upset and it was partly their problem for not wearing helmets). As I beat myself up over this Jeremiah assured me that "it happens" and asked me to clip in to a "friend" he had placed behind me to the left. I put this in my loop in the back of my harness and asked to be checked to make sure I didn't put it through a gear loop. No room for error here. Once this was set, he anchored my safety line onto the belay anchor so I was held from two points. While I was confident it would surely hold me I knew if John fell I would be yanked off the ledge into the air. All I was thinking was please don't fall!

I set up the belay device and quickly realized I was in an tough position to belay. As I would pull the rope through, my right arm would only have a foot wide crack to rotate through. On top of this it was possible but hard for me to rotate my left arm over to grab the rope in a nice fluid motion. I shouted to John "on belay" and he shouted ok. Belaying up to this point had been simple and straight forward. I could see my climber and had lots of room to move freely and comfortably. Here I had almost no room and could not see my climber who was down and around a corner. As I was pulling in the line my elbow got caught and I couldn't reach over to grab the rope with my left hand in time. Jeremiah, (being the watchful leader) caught that, told me to reverse my grip and asked Jessica to back me up to insure Johns safety (like the instructors did during our belay training). Reversing the grip (to underhand) was the ticket but it came at the expense of my knuckles. As I belayed John they started hitting the wall of the crack and began to bleed. Ok, so here I was on a ledge in an awkward position bleeding all over the rocks. And I drove 4 hours to sleep in a tent and do this? Fun stuff huh! Anyway John pulled the pro and made his way over quickly. Sometimes he went so fast, however, I couldn't pull all the slack fast enough which had me concerned. It all worked out in any event and climbing over top me, he went up to the summit. Jeremiah then lead across the summit and set up another belay. Jessica soon followed him over. As I stood on the ledge a lead climber came up to me. Seeing that he was blocked, he clipped into a piece of pro and we hung out (ha!) and talked. He said his group had come from Ann Arbor, Michigan (9/10 hours). So you think we came far? Anyway, we're hanging by pro hundreds of feet up, talking about whatever, as a few drops of rain began to fall. Seemed normal at the time but quite bizarre now.

Eventually it was my time to go over and I came up from the ledge and proceeded across the summit. As I was doing so I admit I was humbled. The wind was blowing and I was closed to crawling again. I had to traverse a couple foot wide crack and I actually sat and did a butt slide down into it. On normal ground I wouldn't have thought twice about straddling it. I made it across ok and , since I had already signed the book the day before, was happy to continue down onto the trail. There I sat and waited for the others.

John came down next, then Jessica, followed by Jeremiah. While the view was great at this point we were ready to feel the ground beneath our feet. There was a rappel station right below the trail so we proceeded down to that ledge, on belay, and tied in. As we were setting up the rappel a climber (singing to himself) popped up right in front of us. He was a rather animated character from the DC area. He worked at a sporting goods store and I got the impression he was guiding a client to the summit. Lest you think only rookies make errors (as evidenced earlier) he untied himself and was setting up her belay (an indirect off the tree) when he looked at me an said "guess I should clip in". He was standing on the edge unattached. He kept saying to himself "that could have been it right there, yep that ...". Just goes to show how we always have to be diligent about safety.

We proceeded to rap down to the next station. This was an experience in itself. I recalled rapping at Krahlick thinking how far it was.... right. Rapping 50 feet is one thing but 150 is another. Add to that you are stopping on a ledge and not the ground and it's a rush. Do ya think I did the BARK check here? More than once! Especially the K (knots). Up until now we had always used one rope. Here two were tied together. While I implicitly trusted Jeremiahs skills I wanted to make sure that square knot with fishermen's was not loosened by his and Jessica's raps. Since if that unravels I'm sailing! Satisfied and double checked by John, I shouted "on rappel" and jumped off. I kept looking to make sure I'd hit the ledge and not go off the end of the rope. That meant, however, looking down more than I wanted to. The necessary of two evils I guess. Anyway I made it to the shelf and tied in to await my turn to rap to the ground. John soon followed and we set up the next station. When it was time I eagerly went down, ready to be back on solid ground.

Duke was in touch on the radio and we knew he was waiting for us. With this in mind we wasted no time in hiking back down to the parking lot. Wendy met us part way with beers. We shared our experience and then I headed for home arriving back around 9:00pm. What started out as possibly being a bust ended up being a long full day of climbing. I definitely had no trouble sleeping that night.

Thanks to Jeremiah for the great lead, John for the second (and the checks to make sure I didn't kill myself) and to Jessica for just being there to share the exhilaration, apprehension and fear with.

I remember my first climb at Krahlick thinking wow that's high! Seneca forever changed my perspective. Now when we go to Krahlick, Lost Crag or McConnells I'll look at them quite differently.

So would I do it again?... in a heartbeat.

Tom