October 19,20,21 & 22 - 2001

FRIDAY
We're driving down through the West Virginia hills winding through the valleys, when we rolled around the bend and... There it was... Seneca Rocks.
In between the tree covered mountains, close to the West Branch of the Potomac stands a colossal fin of rock that rises 300 feet above the trees.
Mike had brought Jon, Jason, Ted and I all together to go to Seneca for a 4-day weekend. Mike had told me a lot about the place, and I had done some research myself. I read about the sandbag ratings, slick rock, the Stairmaster and some crazy, bad karma stuff that had happened to people over the years at Seneca. But, Seneca is just something you have to see for yourself.
We went to the Shadows Campground to secure a site and to pay the Camp Host a staggering $5.50 a bundle for firewood. Then off to the little town of Seneca Rocks to purchased assorted goodies. At The Gendarme (the local climbing shop) we saw a sign: "Seneca Chili-Cook-Off" Saturday Night, but I'll get to that later.

Once back at camp, you can just lean back in your chair by the fire and sip your beer while you stare the rock in the face. From camp you can literally see all the routes on the West Face of the North and South Peaks. The sun comes up behind it, giving it that heavenly glow. And then sun goes down, spreading all the golden color and warmth all over the West Face. Oh. You do want to be down of the rock before the sun goes down, but I'll get to that later.

A view from the Shadows Campground

SATURDAY
Mike parked the Jeep and pulled out the giant TUB-O-GEAR. It was time to suit up.
This approach was new to me. Everyone was talking about the Stairmaster. I had looked at some pictures of the Stairmaster before the trip. Mike said that the pictures didn't do it justice. And he was right.
I have been on gut busters in both the East and the West, but nothing is that bad. It might hurt for a little while, but the pain will eventually go away.
Well, let me tell ya. I'm sitting here writing this and my leg muscles still hurt.
In the parking lot, we donned all our gear, tied our ropes on, put our climbing shoes on and grabbed the necessary packs and water.
Upon leaving the parking lot we walked across the dam of the Potomac and headed up the wide gravel path towards the rock while everyone talked of the Stairmaster.
At one point on the path, we crossed the tributary that runs along side the path to gain access to main approach trail (read boulder hopping). As Mike went up, he turned around and said "Watch out for that rock, it's slick." pointing behind him. I put my foot on the rock to test it. The worn part of the rock was like glass. So every step taken on the ground or on the rock was a very, very careful one. To me, this Tuscarora Quartzite was as slick as glass (or was it snot?). If it's that slick to walk on in some spots, how in the hell am I supposed to climb on it?
As we trudge up the Stairmaster, hexes and cams clanging at our side, I see people everywhere.

Looking down into the Stairmaster

Mike wanted to climb Le Gourmet on West Face of the South Peak, but somebody was on that route. There was somebody on every route! We walked back a little way to check out Old Ladies Route, there were 3 people getting ready to climb. While we waited for those 3 to go up, we sat on Luncheon Ledge on the slick rock with about 20 other people waiting to do other routes. The West Face was very much in the shade, with a strong breeze blowing across the ledge. It was a bit nippy, despite the warmth from the contents of Ted's flask. Finally! It was our turn. But, when Mike leads up to the top of the 1st pitch (in the sun), he shouts on the radio that he can see more people coming up from the other side and we should let them 'play through'. "How long will that take?", I asked. "Oh, about 15 minutes", Mike said. Waiting, waiting, waiting in the shade, waiting, waiting, waiting in the cold wind, waiting. A guy belaying on Humphrey's Head asks us, "You goin' to the Chili Cook-Off tonight?" "I dunno", came my reply. "Aw man, free chili and free beer, live music, it's gonna be great!"

Free beer and live music, I think to myself. No wonder all the freaks are out today.
Waiting, waiting, waiting, sip some of Ted's Bacardi, waiting, waiting, waiting. What the hell?
"Just be cool", the radio crackles, "They're not as fast as I thought. It'll be about 15 minutes".
Much later, it's time to climb. Ted goes up next, then I follow. I belay up Jason, and he belays Jon.
As Jon comes up the 1st pitch, his pack scrapes a rock and the guide book falls from his pack into the gully, with loose pages flying all over God's green earth. We don't need no stinking books!
Ahhhh, glorious sunshine! The sun is my friend!
At the top of the first pitch, the route goes through a slot in the rock to the East Face to reach the traverse to the 3rd pitch.
I anchor in for belay as Mike gets ready to lead down to the traverse.

Once out on the traverse, I could see Mike at times, other times I could just see his shoes or some cams hanging off his rack. Once across the traverse, Mike sets up a belay for Ted. I follow Ted and clean everything but the 1st piece on an exposed downclimb move. As I come to the end of the pitch, a man is slinging horns for a toperope anchor. We exchanged the usual hellos and I tried not to step on his slings too much. There sure were lots of people there that day. Jason and Jon follow on the traverse as Mike starts up the 3rd pitch. Mike is up in pretty good time, as is Ted after him. The 3rd pitch of Old Ladies Route give a expansive view of East side, which is hidden by the rock when you look at it from the town of Seneca Rocks. This is a beautiful place, even if it is full-o-freaks today. I finish the 3rd pitch on to Summit Ledge and anchor in. After looking around and taking in all the natural beauty, I am promptly stung by a bee on the back of the neck. It had went down the inside my turtle neck and let me have it while I was still strapped into my pack and many slings around my shoulder. So, I freaked out and did a little bee dance, but then I told myself, it was already over and to stop looking like a joker. I was only reminded about the sting once in awhile when I flaked the rope across my shoulders at each pitch. All 5 of us had reached Summit Ledge...and so had everybody else. There were people in line to get on the Summit Block, we would tip toe around our perches when other climber would need by. After looking about for a rap station, we found one, aptly named Traffic Jam.

1st pitch of Old Ladies Route 5.2

Some people were coming up a route, with a couple of old dudes waiting to go down. So we would sit and wait a little while longer.
As we sat and waited, a young oriental girl and her boyfriend walked up wanting to rap.
"This is the line to rap?!", she exclaims
"Yes, and these 5 are in front of you", one of the old dudes point out.
Her boyfriend makes his way through the line "Let me see", he says.
This guys walks past us, drops down into the chimney and is out of site. I hate cutters.
When the old dudes get ready to rap, they tie there rope to Oriental girls rope. I really hate cutters.

Climb outside, clip in and rap down

Team Geritol takes forever to rap. MUCH LATER, the girl jumps out with her boyfriend and they rappel out of site. Our turn came and Ted had an appiffiny: Ted: "O.K. Now that we are up here, how do we get down?" Lance: "We rappel!" You have done that before right? Mike: Yeah man, he has done it before. Ted: No I haven't mike! Last time we were here you lowered me down. Mike: (giving a blank stare) Ahhhh you'll be alright. Lance: Alright man, you ready to do this? Ted: Do I have a choice? Lance: No! Ted: Well then, I guess so! Mike raps down so Ted can have a fireman's belay when he goes down. Since Ted had never rappelled before, he must climb through a horizontal chimney facing outward to 1000 feet of exposure down to the Potomac. Ted gets down just fine and I chimney up, lean out into the world and start to clip in. "Is it possible to untie the double ropes and drop the red rope?", Mike's voice cracked over the radio. Now, I'm not sure what the translation was down on the ground, but 200 feet up the answer was "Fuck NO!!" (I hate cutters!) As I leaned out to start to rap, I look back in the chimney and see 7 guys lined up like paratroopers ready for their jump, hoping to make it down before the sun sets. I zipped down, followed by Jon and Jason. As we pull the ropes, they start coming down by themselves. Some one is dropping them from the top. Man! Too many people here today! Deciding that there is not enough daylight for another climb, we rack all our gear and head down the Stairmaster while a group on the above us is singing a Kid Rock song...."Where you at Kid, where you at?...".

We got down to the parking lot, stowed the gear, bought some firewood, and trucked on back over to camp to start the evenings festivities, staying well away from the Chili Cook-Off.
As we sat and ate bread and cheese with some pork roast and Oliver wine that Mike had thrown together, somebody across the camp was lighting off fireworks. Big ones. After about the 3rd one, the camp host came over and threatened to call police if the fireworks did not stop.
After dinner, we were all sitting around the fire and...."Where you at kid, where you at?...Over here with girls and 40's of beer!". Little did we know, the group singing at the Stairmaster were the large group of about 30 in the group campground. These people ran through their renditions of all the Kid Rock songs they knew up until about 10:00 PM and the camp finally fell silent.

Jason leading le Gourmet 5.4

SUNDAY Everyone but a few seemed to be on their way home Sunday morning. We were one of the lucky few to stay. Same drill as yesterday. Hit the parking lot, gear up, Stairmaster, and..voila. Hardly any people at all were at the crag today. It was almost spooky quiet today, as yesterday there were climbers squaking on every channel of the radio. Mike still wanted to get on Le Gourmet, the party already on the route had only one more person to bring up the 1st pitch. So we thought we would hang out and wait our turn. When our time came, Jason lead up the 1st pitch, climbing through the slick crux, followed by Ted, then me and Mike brought up the rear. Jon's knee was giving him some problems, so he opted out of the climb and decided to take a rest day. At the top of the 1st pitch of Le Gourmet, you can see far off into town and the road winding through the valley. You can also see straight up into the 2nd pitch, called Front C. The moves seemed good, and the pro usually does look good from below. But it also looked smoooooth, so one must be sure of hand, foot, and pro placements. Mike looked at the 2nd pitch for a long time before he finally decided to JUST SAY NO. Jason also declined the lead. From my perch on the ledge, things didn't look so bad. I asked if I could give it a go, they said sure. I tied in and took a step up, ok. I took another step up, ok. And another, NOT OK. The smoothness of the quartzite was really freaking me out, smooth holds with no friction. If you were leading, you had to be sure you can finish what you started, and I was not so sure. After a unanimous decision to rap down, we slung a tree and dropped to the deck.

Picking the next climb, Mike chooses Old Man's Route down by the gunsight.
Mike lead up the 1st pitch beginning on big blocks while I belayed. As I stood there, two guys behind me, one 40 years old and one 20 years old were trying to 'one up' each other, while others were rapping off the face to the left of Old Man's Route.
I saw Mike close to the top of the 1st pitch, when a big crack swallowed him whole. A few minutes later, he was short of the top of the pitch by about 12 feet. There was a bigger shelf to belay from and get all 4 of us up there.
Ted went next and I followed, with Jason coming up last. Mike started to finish the 1st pitch in a splitter crack with some booty gear already hanging from it. Soon, with a little effort, Mike was done.
He brought Ted up, but said Jason would have to climb up and rap down because the ledge was not big enough for more than 2 people.
"Just be cool a minute", said Mike.

I sat on my perch on the ledge as Jason finished the climb. I turned around to face the sun and held up my hand up to the sun. "5 fingers left", I said Everyone agreed it was time to get down. I sat there on the ledge as they set up the rope for rappel. I held my hand up again. "3 fingers", I said. Jason rapped off and it was my turn to climb. I climbed up the smoooooooth rock and started clean gear. I couldn't get that first booty nut, but Mike said he would get it on rappel. I got the second booty nut out and could barely reach the cam placed up high. I finished up the pitch and the sun had just crested down over the hills bringing everything into the twilight. Mike, Ted and I racked all the gear and rapped down to the floor with a little good light left. Once down, we packed it all up to hiked down the Stairmaster just as all the light was leaving the valley. Tossing off all the gear in the parking lot seemed like tossing off the weight of 100 years. I was thankful Nikki let me borrow her shoes for the trip, because if I had worn my lil' slippers, I would have never made it through half the day. Once in the Jeep, we proceeded to repeat the firewood & beer routine before returning to camp.

Upon returning to camp, we noticed a couple just setting up camp not too far away. We said our hellos and went to start the fire for the night.
Mike had fixed some chicken and dumplings that evening that tasted fantastic to the tastebuds.
After eating a lot and drinking a little, we noticed activity at the campsite nearby.
"Did she just take her shirt off, Ted", I asked.
"Aw yeah, sweeeet!", came his reply.
Apparently, our neighbors a few sites away, were going to have the 'wilderness experience' with an audience.
"Where's Ted?", I inquired.
I shined my light around the campground to see the reflective logos on Ted shoes melt into the woods.
I return to my beer and the talk of the days climb until Ted returns to confirm our suspicions about the nearby campsite.
"Aw yeah, sweeeet!", I say
All of us sit by the fire, reliving the day until beer is gone and I am too sleepy to say 'you da man' anymore.

MONDAY Time to go home. But first, Mike fixes scrambled eggs as we sit by the itty bitty morning fire and slug down coffee. Next, off to the showers to get rid of 3 days of grime and filth. Last stop, the climbing shop to return the rented helmet and get Mike's driver's license back....CLOSED. Huh? "Looks like you boys will hafta sit here and drink beer until he gets back", said a man on the front porch. After inquiring the owners where abouts at the store next door, we found out he had gone to Franklin to go to the bank. So we sat at the climbing shop for about an hour when the owner returned. Mike got his license back, we all bought some stickers and a t-shirt, and perhaps a poster or two. Then we all piled back into the Jeep for the long ride home. I HAD A BLAST!

The Gendarme

Another good day