Seneca Rocks, West Virginia - May 17 to 23, 1998
Climbs covered: Ecstasy, Gunsight to South Peak, West Face to Gunsight Notch, Tomato, Conn's East Direct, Alcoa Presents, Simple J. Malarkey, Le Gourmet, Front C, Old Man's Route, West Pole, Soler, Conn's East, Triple S, Broken Neck, Candy Corner, Ye Gods and Little Fishes, Drop Zone, Prune, Easy Over, Critter Crack, Kosher Kritter
After leaving school and entering the real (working) world, I immediately began looking forward to my first vacation. Alas, I had to wait a whole year, but May rolled around, and it was off to Seneca Rocks for a long anticipated return trip with Mark.
I cut out of work around noon on Friday the 15th. I spent that night in Scranton at my grandfather's house and drove home to West Chester on the 16th. Then, early on the morning of Sunday the 17th, I got on the road for Seneca. After a quick stop to pick Mark up in Bedford, we were soon heading through West Virginia. We arrived at the rocks about 3:00pm and decided to head on up right away and jump-start our vacation.
Right away actually lasted an hour or so, but soon enough Mark was racking up at the base of Ecstasy. We had done this climb a year ago, and it seemed like a good warm-up to the exposure characteristic of so many climbs at Seneca. Mark led off up the first pitch as I got comfortable at the base.
It was good to be back. Everything seemed the same, but there had been a lot of change. Tom Cecil had finished his climbing wall superstructure. Most noticeable, work was well underway on the new Visitor Center. The structure of the building itself seemed complete, as did the parking lots, roads, and walking bridge over the river to the old parking lot. Most of the work was taking place inside the building.
I was enjoying the day, and before I knew it Mark was off belay and it was my turn to climb. I soon joined him at the belay at the top of the first pitch. This ledge is in a section of rather rotten rock and setting up a satisfactory anchor is something of a chore. After adjusting Mark's anchor for the direction of the next pitch, I was off. I felt unclear at first about the direction to climb, but I soon found the path of least resistance (and most chalk), and I broke out across the wall. The climbing was easy, but I was definitely aware of the exposure. After I set the anchor, Mark soon joined me. He offered me the next lead, so I headed over and up again. I felt like I ran it out a bit through a bulge a little off the belay, but the holds are buckets and I felt really solid. Soon, we were both standing at the top of the climb.
From here, we headed up towards the West Face. Around the Face of 1000 Pitons, we ran into Mark's friend Sandy. She informed us of a stuck cam on Gunsight to South Peak. Off we headed on our mission... We settled on West Face to Gunsight Notch. We scrambled up to the base of No Dally Alley unroped. I trailed the rope from here up the exposed ledges to the main ledge. After I gave Mark a body belay up, he headed off towards the Gunsight. Soon I was racking up and heading off armed with both nut tools and the feeling that I would soon be the proud owner of a booty cam.
It turned out that the cam was stuck in a serious gear-eating crack. I could see a couple other nuts in addition to a tri-cam buried deep within. I placed a .75 Camalot and went on tension while I worked at the rigid friend with the bluish sling.
After a while, the sun was getting low. I figured that if I abandoned the cam, we would be able to watch the sun set from the summit, so I continued up. Soon I had Mark on belay and he started climbing. When he reached the two cams, he yelled something about a green cam, and I yelled something back like "Yes!" He quickly arrived at the belay. I soon realized that he left my .75 Camalot on the pitch! He also claimed to have not seen the other cam at all! Soon Mark was climbing back down to retrieve my Camalot. When he reached it, he fiddled for a bit, and yelled something about it being in there really far. I got scared that I was going to lose it, so I called down for Mark to leave it so that I could downclimb to it and try to retrieve it. At this point, the sun was nearly on the horizon.
When I reached my Camalot, I saw that it had walked into the crack so that the trigger was out of reach. The fixed cam's sling was hanging out of the crack about 12 inches below, so I was really baffled about how Mark could have missed it. I easily removed my cam by pulling on the trigger with my nut tool and quickly rejoined Mark. The sun had set, so we tagged the summit in the twilight and rapped down Conn's West in the growing darkness. Both of our headlamps performed admirably.
MONDAY:
We awoke Monday morning kind of late. I had a slow leak in my right front tire, so we had to deal with that for a little while. When we finally headed to the rocks, it was nearly lunchtime. We had our sights set on Tomato, a 5.8 climb that I had not done before. This climb intersects with Gunsight to South Peak towards the top, so that would be familiar territory, and we also thought we might get another shot at the fixed cam.
I didn't like the look of the first pitch - it is a large flake that looked a little difficult to protect with a lot to crash into in the event of a fall. I opted to lead up the corner to the right, which is the first pitch of Green Wall or a close variation. At the top of that corner I climbed easily to the next ledge up. This ledge spans from the Tomato corner past Debbie to the top of Banana. Mark quickly joined me, and soon I embarked up the corner that forms the second pitch.
My note in the summit register after this climb says simply "Tomato = choss." The climb is in a nice position, but that was about the only good thing I could say about it. It kind of wandered back and forth a bit and definitely requires some route finding skills. There wasn't any clear line. The protection is fine. There just wasn't anything about this pitch to distinguish it for some reason. The climbing is definitely 5.8, I'd call it a tricky 5.8 because I had to step horizontally between parallel corners on a couple occasions. Like I said, it requires some route finding skills.
I belayed from the notch at the north end of the south summit. Mark took one short fall while seconding, but otherwise made it up with efficiency. We traversed the summit, signed the register again, and rapped down the West Face.
Next on my list was Alcoa Presents, a 5.8 on the East Face of the South Peak. However, we would have to do another pitch to get to the bottom of this climb. Since it was a 5.8 day, we settled on Conn's East Direct. Mark and I had done this climb a year ago with Phil, so it was familiar to us.
This time around I was temporarily stymied by the start. It is kind of inobvious, and unprotected. I was starting too far to the left. When I started more to the right, I was able to get off the ground, which is always a major triumph on any 5.8. The rest of the climb was uneventful. For me, the crux is definitely the short corner above the bolt anchor about 40 feet up. A fall here would be rather uncomfortable, and the moves are strenuous.
The top of this pitch has a two-bolt anchor, which is right at the bottom of Alcoa Presents. Mark and I traded gear, and soon I was confidently heading up. This section of the cliff is in an incredible position. The ledge is spacious, and the climbing is high and exposed, and the summit is waiting at the top.
Soon I arrived at the apparent crux, just below the aluminum piton that is hammered into the shallow corner. I tried to clip the aluminum piton, but it seemed to be pounded too deep into the corner for me to get a biner through the hole. I clipped another piton, and backed it up with a nut. The moves seemed really inobvious to me. I started into them a couple times, but each time I downclimbed back to my good stance. The problem was that the feet kind of run out. I couldn't get myself to commit. At my stance I decided to kill a little time by backing up the piton and nut with another piece. Finally, I just decided to do it. I headed up, and after some intricate moves and body positioning I was through the crux. The wall steepens past the crux, and I had been on the climb for a while, so I was definitely feeling fatigued. I got a couple of pieces in as I moved to the top as efficiently as I could. Only later did I start to remember some of what I had heard about this climb... Alcoa Presents is a tough 5.8.
Anyway, after equalizing a 4 bolt anchor, I had Mark on belay and he was climbing. He climbed through the crux without a problem, but popped off up higher where the climb steepened. We tagged the summit again and headed down for the day.
TUESDAY:
One climb that I had done before, but not led, was Simple J. Malarkey. I was eager to lead this unique climb. Mark had never been on it before, so he was all for it. We arrived at the bottom of the first pitch, and noticed that water was dripping from way above and soaking the pitch. I elected to head up anyway. This pitch is rather inobvious and wandering. The fact that the protection is less than ideal coupled with the dripping water made this a climb I was eager to get past. I arrived in the alcove and set up a comfortable belay. A cam got stuck at the top of the pitch when Mark was seconding, so I downclimbed to retrieve it.
Soon I was ready to head up the ramp which gives this route its character. The climbing is easy, but the position is really wild. The wall overhangs above and underhangs below. At a couple points the ramp breaks away leaving a very exposed move to get back onto it. At the end of the ramp all that is left to do is set up a gear belay on a sloping ledge. I climbed and Mark seconded efficiently. After we traded gear I tried to modify the anchor to keep Mark from being pulled up into the roof and smashing his head in the event that I fall. Soon I was ready to climb.
The previous time I was on this climb, a thunderstorm was moving in. As I started seconding the third pitch there was a bright flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder, and then it started to drizzle. As a direct consequence, the adrenaline was really flowing, and I cranked through the pitch very easily. Thus, I didn't remember just how strenuous this pitch is. Maybe it is the way I led it (straight up from the belay, and then angled up to the right), but there was several very strenuous moves in a row. The pitch never really lets up at all. I was pleased to reach the two bolt anchor and put Mark on belay. He fell on the initial move, but soon afterward powered through it and quickly joined me.
SJM is a great climb for an epic. The first pitch is inobvious, wandering, awkward, runout, and often wet. The second pitch places the climbers in an incredible position and requires a gear belay, thus adding another level of complication to escape. The third pitch is hard 5.7 in a very exposed position where a fall by anyone can easily lead to the climber hanging in space with no easy way to get back on the rock. Not a climb to break into 5.7 on, in my opinion.
After that, I was eager for Mark to lead for a while. He settled on Le Gourmet. After we arrived at the top of the first pitch, he chose to ascend Front C, and then the last pitch of Old Man's. He was leading well, and all his placements were bomber. We walked up the Summit Ledge, tagged the summit, and called it a day.
WEDNESDAY:
I woke up psyched to get on Triple S. I was almost afraid of this climb, I had heard so much about it through the years. Most of what I heard was about how the 5.8+ grade is a total sandbag, and how anywhere other than Seneca it would be solid 5.9. We arrived at the base of the climb to find the second in a party of two cleaning the pitch. We figured we would wait and jump on the climb when they were done. Wrong! The second informed us that he was going to lead the climb next. This struck me as rather rude, but there wasn't much we could do about it without a confrontation, so we moved on to Plan B: West Pole. Not a bad alternative.
This was a new climb for both of us. The first pitch is just the first pitch of Old Man's. I basically soloed it until I broke to the left and headed up a short crack to the belay/rappel tree. Mark quickly joined me. We rearranged the anchor, and I was soon heading up the left leaning crack towards the huge roof which holds the 5.7+ crux of the climb. I took my time on the pitch, as the cracks were a little wide. Soon I arrived at the horrendous belay station below the roofs. It consists of a bunch of ratty slings around a couple loose chock stones. If ever there was a good place to put a two-bolt belay, this is it. Especially with the traffic that this route sees. I tried to back up the slings, and after a seeming eternity I put Mark on belay. He joined me, and we tried to get comfortable and rerack. Finally I was ready to head into the crux roofs!
I arrived at the first roof and clipped the fixed nut that is hanging there before slotting my own. I pulled to the side, kicked my feet up on the left wall, and liebacked for a couple moves before I reached up to the biggest hold I have ever grabbed on any climb of any grade anywhere. Yeah! I stemmed out to a good stance, placed some gear, and then pulled through the second roof just as easily as the first. Good fun! At the top I placed a Camalot as a directional and belayed from the Conn's West rappel tree. Mark easily pulled the moves and soon joined me. Definitely an excellent climb (except for that horrendous belay station.) We tagged the summit once again, and rapped down Conn's West.
After lunch, we decided to chase the shade, so we headed around to Broadway Ledge. I wanted to lead Soler, but I also wanted to avoid the first pitch. I had seen a guy fly off of this pitch a couple years ago, pull all his gear, bounce a few times, hit Broadway, shatter his arm, and nearly fall off of Broadway. This pitch can be bypassed most easily by climbing the first pitch of Conn's East. I had done this pitch with Phil a few years ago. I remembered it as awkward and difficult for a 5.5. I craftily convinced Mark that he should lead it.
Mark led up, and risked a nasty fall when he was unable to get a sling around the large chockstone and climbed past it with no pro. He then climbed a short corner and stepped right and belayed at the first tree. I grunted my way up to his position, and set a belay at the second tree. Mark continued the lead up the chimney, out onto the face, and up to the bolt anchor. These two pitches are described as one in the guidebook - rope drag would not be bad if a directional is placed on the second tree.
I joined Mark at the bolts. The second pitch of Soler proper begins about 15 feet to the left of the bolts on a narrow ramp. The guidebook mentions unprotected 5.7+ face climbing straight up from the bolts to join the ramp. I elected to traverse the flake left before stepping up to the ramp. I clipped a pin and placed a nut or two on the ramp. I was a little concerned about rope drag, but I climbed on despite the fact that the rope shot off to the left from the belay before heading back to the right. I sort of hand traversed the ramp, got some good gear in, and headed up. I was soon out of sight of Mark.
This is a great pitch. It doesn't really have a definite line, but it is pretty obvious the whole way as to which direction to go. Rusty fixed pins generally mark the path. The pitch ends at the very summit of the South Peak - it appeared all of a sudden as I was concentrating on the climb. I pulled onto the summit all alone, and had it to myself until Mark appeared at the edge after seconding the climb. Truly an excellent experience.
THURSDAY:
This was to be the day for Triple S... I wasn't as psyched for it as I was the day before, but it had to be done. As we set up at the bottom, I tried to remember everything I had heard about it... Stem it out. Jam the crack. Bomber pro. Total sandbag. No harder than 5.7. Sustained. Lots of rests. Thinking about it, the only thing clear about the climb was that it ate pro. I would have to find the rest out for myself.
I started up. I slung the first chockstone as a directional and continued up. So far so good. After a short ways I had to pull past a bulge in the corner. Supposedly one of the cruxes, but it felt easy. I got a great stance above it, and was able to get my heels down to fully rest my calves. I was really worried about my calves giving out if the stemming was too sustained, so I rested for a while. Finally I headed up again. I really concentrated on using all the features on the two walls. I picked out stances well in advance. The left wall consistently had good handholds, the right wall was considerably smoother. On several occasions I was able to get my heels down to rest my calves. Before I knew it, I was at the overhanging final section. Huge jugs appeared everywhere. I placed a couple pieces close together and headed up. Before I knew it, I was staring at the bolts a few feet above me. I realized that at least 15 feet of space was between me and my last piece - the climbing was so solid I didn't bother to place pro. I quickly placed my #3 Camalot at knee level, and hopped up to the bolts, *extremely* pleased with my lead. I had found Triple S, dare I say?, EASY. Alcoa Presents is much tougher, IMO.
Mark seconded it without a fall, liberally using the chimney technique and other contortions. We both agreed that this is one of the best climbs that we had done at Seneca. We rapped to the ground, utterly content.
I was pleased at this point, and didn't really feel the desire to lead anything else at that moment. We settled on finding some harder climbs to toprope. Broken Neck (5.10b) was close by, so we settled on that. I soloed up the first pitch of Old Ladies, and climbed up into the Cockscomb Chimney. At the opening onto the face at a tree, I slung a chockstone as an anchor, and climbed out onto the ledge. Off to the side are two bolts - right at the top of Broken Neck. After a minor epic, I got the rope through the bolts, and rapped down to Mark.
Mark headed up first, and made it to the top except for one small fall where the crack kind of peters out up high. I was impressed. Next, it was my turn. I climbed to the anchors without a fall. I found it strenuous, but not too unreasonable. After Mark lowered me down, we relaxed for a bit. Soon I asked Mark if he was ready to give it another shot. He said no, so I said I was ready to go. This time I did the climb without using the crack at all. I found it harder, but the face to the right has small holds all over it. Fun fun. After lowering me to the ground, Mark was ready. He once again fell at the same point - but once again got right back on the rock and completed the climb.
I was feeling strong, so I suggested that we head down to the South End and drop a toprope down Drop Zone, an 11b to the right of Ye God's and Little Fishes. I ended up leading Candy Corner to get to the bolts (and placed all 14 of my runners in the process!) Mark joined me, and we spent a couple minutes talking about how much we dislike that climb. It was windy, and I dropped a locking biner, so my motivation sort of disappeared. I offered to belay Mark from the top so he could do Ye God's. He rapped down and climbed back up. He rapped down again, and I followed him. Once at the bottom, I decided that I really wanted to do Drop Zone after all. I'm so wishy-washy. I figured that the rope through the bolts was an ok, though not ideal anchor. I tied in and climbed up Ye God's. At the top I pulled the rope up and put myself on rappel. As I rapped down, I placed a few pieces of gear on Drop Zone as directionals for the rope.
Mark headed up first. He got about a third of the way up before he was stymied by a thin move. After a few tries, he decided to save the climb for another day. I lowered him down, and eagerly tied in. Soon I was climbing up. The climbing was great! Really nice face climbing. The holds were all there. All of a sudden I found myself with nowhere to go. I couldn't downclimb, so I just decided to try to hang on. I just couldn't do the move, and I soon popped off. I got back on right away, and I immediately realized that I had stepped too far to the left. I matched hands on a jug and was soon on my way again, and arrived at the top quickly.
This climb is fantastic! It is just 80 feet of sustained face climbing. It felt so solid the whole way. At the top, I pulled the rope up and rapped to the ground. We called it a day and headed back to camp.
FRIDAY:
I wasn't feeling motivated to lead anything difficult, so we headed up with the plan of swinging leads on easier terrain. We arrived at the base of the first pitch of Prune. Lucky me, it was my lead. This pitch is just a gem. (Note sarcasm.) Mark cruised up it, and after some negotiations with one of Tom Cecil's guides, we settled on Easy Over. We were both climbing with packs today, and it was cold and windy. I offered to carry Mark's pack so that he could concentrate on the climbing. Off he went. Everything looked well, and I snapped a few photos as he ascended the crack after the traverse. Soon I was on belay. I broke down the anchor, and hung Mark's pack from my own, and headed off into the wind. Pretty much every one of Mark's pieces of pro was barely supporting its own weight. A fall at any point on the lead would have been a disaster. This climb is a technical 5.5 - there are lots of issues to deal with because of the traverse. The climb is in a great position, and makes a great photo op though. I soon joined Mark and we headed up to the bottom of Critter Crack. After freeing a stuck Camalot for the guide, I was soon leading up the climb.
Critter Crack felt great. I was climbing with a pack, and it was cold and windy, but the climbing just felt so solid. Much different than I remembered it. In the past, I found the climb very difficult up high where the foot holds ran out. This time I found foot holds everywhere. Sinker jams in the crack, clipped the fixed Wallnut, and I was at the top and in the sun. Finally! Mark soon joined me, and greeted me with the Quote of the Trip: "I owe you a new water bottle." He then proceeded to run off and pour something out. Hhhmmm.... Strange stuff was going on that day.
Anyway, we ran up to the summit, and then headed back down to the top of Critter Crack. We traversed the top of the wall, and set up a top rope on Kosher Kritter, a 10d face climb. We rapped down, and continued down to the bottom of Kosher Kritter Direct, the face just to the left of the last pitch of Old Man's.
Mark was up first. KK Direct is rated 5.9+. The guide from earlier mentioned that Kosher Kritter is "laughingly called 10d." Maybe we were in for a sandbag. Mark found the lower direct start very difficult. No chalk trail here. After a few falls, he reached the ledge at the bottom of Kosher Kritter proper. Lesson for the day: 5.9+ is a traditional sandbag grade. Mark made it up the rest of the way with a hang at the crux. After I lowered him down, I tied in, not really knowing what to expect.
I headed up, and found the 9+ climbing very tough and inobvious. I managed to pull through it without a fall, but just barely. Next it was into the 10d climbing. There is a decent stance right before the crux where I rested for a bit. Mark kept the belay really tight, it supported my weight some. Finally I decided that better holds were not going to appear all of a sudden, so I grabbed the almost non-existent crimpers, kicked my feet up onto the blank wall, and somehow let go with one hand and reached up to a decent hold. Total one move wonder. The rest of the climb was still hard, probably hard 5.9 or easy 5.10. I arrived at the anchors and called it an onsight.
I rapped down over Traffic Jam (not without forgetting a locking D up on the rap anchor.) I forgot to mention (I wonder how it slipped my mind) that we had attempted Traffic Jam earlier in the week. I couldn't get past the wide crack at the bottom. That's right, I found a 5.7 *impossible* to lead. So then I went and led Triple S. This is why climbing is so much fun.
Mark and I rapped the rest of the way to the ground and called it a day. We spent Friday night laughing at mostly inept and largely ridiculous car campers arriving and trying to pitch their tents and inflate their air mattresses by the light of 10 million candlepower spotlights and artificial suns they call tried to pass off as lanterns. Funny stuff. The one site had a tent that I could have parked my truck inside.
Saturday arrived, along with ton's of tourists, and also rain. We called it a trip, broke camp, and headed out. Till next time...