Trip Report -- A weekend at Seneca Rocks
si...@vms.cis.pitt.edu
by Phil Sidel
Planning trips for the Pitt Outdoors Club is frequently something of a
headache. The uncertainty of members about weekend plans and commitments,
and the relatively low proportion of the members who have their own cars
make planning difficult. For this trip to Seneca the date was set and
confirmed almost three weeks in advance. Nevertheless, for several days
of the last week I was envisioning carrying myself and four climbers and
all the gear in my VW Golf.
However, as usual, things worked out well. We ended up with myself and
Brian "Norm" Hannen and Joanna Kozubal going down in my car, and Brad
Stein driving down with Mike Mosser as a passenger. John Lewis would be
driving down Saturday night to climb with us on Sunday. Greg Opland, a
climber from Phoenix, rode down with his friend/hostess, Melissa.
I knew Greg from his trip reports and other postings on Rec.Climbing,
and (when I learned he was coming to Pittsburgh in July) invited him to
join us at Seneca. Melissa is not a climber, but she's a good hiker and
a good sport, so she came along and kept us company on the trail and
checked out the wildflowers while Greg and the rest of us climbed the
rocks.
As planned, we all met at the Visitors' Center Parking Lot between
9:30 and 10:00. Greg & Melissa were introduced all around, and we
decided how we would group up.
Brian and Joanna partnered up and headed for the west face to do Greenwall
or Pleasant Overhangs.
Greg and Melissa and I decided to hike the hiking trail up to the North
Peak and have a go at some of the climbs on the east face at that end.
It was an overcast, not too hot day, ideal for morning climbing on the
East Face in summer.
Brad got a flat tire on the way in, so he and Mike went to get a
replacement tire before heading for the rocks. (It ended up the friendly
West Virginia garage gave them a very good deal on the tire.) Greg and
I told them where we would be, so they could join us if they wanted.
They were equipped to climb as a party of two, but figured it might be
more fun to climb some harder routes than they felt comfortable leading.
After taking in the view from the north peak, we walked down and around
to the far north end east side climbs, a nice forty-fifty foot wall.
There were folks on a couple of the climbs, but Herpes (5.7 -- 50ft.)
was open and looked interesting. Greg thought he would enjoy leading it.
While Greg was getting ready to lead Herpes, Brad and Mike arrived, so
we decided to set up a second climb and have two people climbing at
once. After Greg made smooth work of Herpes, Brad cleaned the route,
and I went a little to the left and led Heffalump Trap (5.3). Heffalump
Trap is one of the old Army training routes from WWII days. It was
short (45 feet) and seemed pretty easy, maybe because I bypassed the
crux overhang flake, but it was fun to do.
We all switched around then so everyone had a shot at both climbs. Greg
found a harder variation at the top of Heffalump Trap to make it more
interesting. I again found an easier bypass around what was probably to
be the crux on Herpes, so I felt it was kind of easy for a 5.7 (when
you do it "my way"). Mike on the other hand started Herpes too far to
the right -- he was actually on False Labor (5.10c) -- so he was burnt
out by the time he got back on route; he had to back down on that one.
These are all short climbs, easy to top-rope. The other parties there
(one couple who were there when we arrived and a large group of
Philadelphians ages 3 to 30) were all top-roping. So we rigged the
classic Streptococcus (5.9) as a top-rope problem. Greg climbed it
smoothly and efficiently. Then he belayed me on it. First part went
pretty well, then it got tough. I fell, back on, a little progress,
some great beta from Greg -- "Use your legs more...Jam a toe on that
knob to the right...There's a handhold just a few inches higher up"
Another fall (maybe a couple more) -- shake the arms out while hanging
on the rope -- and try again -- and yeah up and up, sort of zig zag
and finally topped out. I felt great getting there on that one. I think
I might be able to come back and red-point it some day.
After we were all done on Streptococcus, Greg took up the offer of
one of the fellows from Philly -- he climbed the top rope setup on
Skoshi Go Ju (5.10c) and made it up very nicely. From my spectator's
viewpoint, it seems that the crux is avoiding the good handholds and
footholds of Isadora's Run on the right and Streptococcus on the left.
Local lore is that a lot of Seneca Climbs are "sandbagged;" that is
they are harder than the ratings would indicate (using national standards).
With little experience in other areas, I find it hard to judge the truth
of that. There seems to be some inconsistancy with every area. I do
not think we should put too much stock in the ratings. But I never know
if the Seneca ratings (or the Pittsburgh area crags ratings) are really
sandbagged or that is just our local collective ego. Greg, with experience
in a number of Western climbing areas, was in a position to evaluate
the ratings of some of our climbs. His comment on the north end climbs
was that the ratings were about right, but placing pro was somewhat more
awkward than at some of the other areas he had climbed.
Those North End East Side climbs met our requirements of the day. They
provided an opportunity for all of us, including Melissa, who did not
climb, to be together and share some experiences -- particularly to
share and climb with Greg who was in the area for only a brief time. It
is an ideal area for some purposes, but we can get the same kind of
climbing at some of our local crags. Greg also noted that maybe it is
an area to be avoided because it is such a mecca for hikers (at the top)
and beginner groups (on the climbs).
About midway through our climbing Melissa left us. I thought she had
gone off to check some of the wildflowers, but later learned she had
hiked back to the car to get the lunches and bring them back up. It
is a long trip and she was gone quite a while. We began to worry about
her, but just as we were thinking of forming an SAR, she came around
the bend with a big pack of lunches and a bigger smile. Evidently
she had enjoyed the hike.
It was well into the afternoon by now, and some of us had already been
munching on our trail mix. I had also discovered that the Smokey
Mountain Brand Beef Jerky from Goodmark Foods in Raleigh was especially
good -- less greasy and much cheaper per ounce than Slim Jims. We
chatted while coiling our ropes and packing our gear to hike down to
look at other east face climbs. We were particularly interested in
looking at the highly recommended Lichen or Leave It (5.8). I had seen
"Spider" and "Woj," from the Pittsburgh AYH Climbers, in the parking lot
that morning, and they had particularly cited Lichen or Leave it as a
great climb.
It was tough to identify many of the climbs; a few, like Unrelenting
Verticality were obvious. When I got down as far as the Gunsight Notch
I knew I had passed it. I put down my pack and rope and helmet and
hiked back up a ways, my new guidebook in hand. (I bought the new
guidebook last week, because the foto-topos are much better than in the
old one, but they still aren't perfect). A little way's up I met Greg,
his guide book in hand, looking at the face. "This looks like it might
be it ... Yeh, I think it must be ... Definitely, there's the two bolts
on Lichening Bolt just above it." We snapped some pictures to
supplement the guidebook topos. There was not time enough to climb it.
Back to where the rest of the party was waiting; I took a group photo,
and we started down the lower trail. After about a hundred hard-fought
yards, I became aware that something was missing... My Helmet. Where
did I leave my helmet? I had to go back to look. My companions were
kind enough to carry my rope and rack, so I could climb back up more
easily. I hiked back up -- looked high and low everywhere: from under
gunsight where I had set down my pack all the way back to the end of
North Peak. Couldn't find it! Was ready to scratch the search and go
down the easy west side trail. Instead retraced the east side path and
made one more search on the way down. Got to Lichen or Leave It and
still no helmet. Despair was upon me. My distinctive, bright yellow
helmet had been part of my climbing identity for nearly thirty years,
and now it was gone. Bright yellow? Check out that bright yellow
object down the ramp. There was my helmet below Gunsight Notch. How
had I missed it before? Oh, Joy!
Down the steep, eroding path to Roy Gap road. As I came to the switch-
back that leads to the west face, Stacy Stancil, Eric Bauer, John Popp,
and another climber were just crossing the log to the road. If I got
it straight, Stacy had led Westpole, and they had done some other climbs
as well. This was Stacy's last Seneca climb as a Pittsburgher; she is
about to move to Baltimore. Perhaps she'll team up for some climbing
with Mark Kochte up there sometime.
Back at the parking lot, the rest of our party were waiting for me.
While I waited for Brian and Joanna who were still up on the rocks,
the rest of the group went to secure some tent sites and pitch their
tents. A while later Brad came back to tell me that Seneca Shadows
was filled; we would all be at Princess Snowbird Campground. (This
worried me somewhat, because I had told John Lewis we would be at
Seneca Shadows and he could come and sack out in my tent whenever he
arrived. -- Later Brian assured me that he had talked to John and
John would probably sleep in his car and join us at the parking lot
in the morning).
It was about 8 o'clock (still daylight) when Brian and Joanna came down.
They had encountered a lot of waiting lines for the climbs they wanted
to do, but had finally gotten on Pleasant Overhangs (5.7), and had had
a good day on it with Brian leading it. I gather it was a strenuous
climb and a rather wild, exposed belay at the end of the roof.
Brian, Joanna, and I drove over to Princess Snowbird and set up our
tents. The rest of the group had all taken showers and were shiny
clean. We stopped at the Gendarme to look over the climbing stuff and
chat. Most of the staff were eating, so there wasn't much chatting with
them, but lots of stuff to look at. Greg bought some Tee-Shirts.
I inferred from some overheard conversations that there is a second
climbing store or school opened across the highway from Harpers. (Mark
Kochte checked it out on his August 7 trip to Seneca, and reports that
it is a climbing school run by Tom Cecil; not a store, at least not
yet). Someone was showing slides of climbing in Yosemite over there, but
we hadn't eaten dinner, so we opted to eat instead. We ate at the
restaurant above Harper's store. The pizza was good, and we downed
three pitchers of soda and water.
I stopped in at Yokums to pay my camping fee. $5.00 plus tax ($.30) for
the first camper in the party; $3.00 for each additional camper. Seneca
Shaddows is cheaper, I believe; something like $8.00 for a site. You
can get one big tent and one small tent on a site -- enough space to
sleep 4 or 5 people pretty easily. However, the last two times I camped at
Seneca Shadows no one collected. Maybe they only bother to collect in the
summer. Of course, a lot of people camp at Princess Snowbird without
paying also. I always pay and encourage others to do so because it is
important to maintain good relations with the local people--really nice
folks mostly, and to let them know that climbers are good sorts and are
not trying to rip-em-off.
No campfire after dinner -- just some beers (Thanks Greg and Melissa)
and climbing talk in the light from the new lodge and showers that
has been built on the campground in the last couple of years. Then
to bed for a sound night's sleep. It used to invariably rain in the
predawn morning every time I camped at Seneca. This time there was
no rain, and only a moderate dew. Too bad! They really need the rain
down there.
In the morning we were up and breakfasting around 8 -- drying some of
the dew off our tent flys. John Lewis drove in looking amazingly fresh
and chipper after driving and sleeping in his car all night. It was ten
or 10:30 before we all got over to the parking lot and decided on our
agenda for the day. Knowing Greg likes crack climbing, I was sure that
he would enjoy leading Triple S (Shipley's Shivering Shimmy - 5.8) and
that Brian and Joanna would enjoy seconding on the route. We all would
have liked to make a try on it, but Greg and Melissa had to get down and
on the road by shortly after noon so Greg could catch his plane. When I
saw the seven of us at the base of the climb I knew it would not work
out.
I decided to lead Cockscomb Pine Tree Traverse (5.3) which like Triple S
ends at Windy Notch. Unfortunately, that climb starts at the same start
as Old Ladies' Route. A party was about to start that one and the
leader was instructing in rudiments, so I knew it would be a long time.
For a few moments I considered bypassing the start and climbing directly
to the entrance to cockscomb chimney. But then I saw the wall I'd have
to climb and decided no way Jose.
John looked around and said the middle route looked feasible. We
looked in the guidebook and realized he was looking at Breakneck (5.4)
We decided to do it with John leading the first pitch and me the second.
John went a little runout at the beginning of the first pitch -- I
was glad he didn't fall before his first piece. From there on he was
fine and really moved quickly. It is a zigzaggy route with a fair
amount of loose rock. Brad cleaned, but couldn't remove one #6 stopper.
While getting set up and while waiting to climb we watched Greg and
Brian and Joanna on Triple S. Greg was clearly enjoying it. The corner
climb is one pitch. From there you can continue up a crack to the south
end of the south peak, or you can go up and over to the east side of
Windy Notch. However, these continuations are really separate climbs,
and there is a rappel ring at the top of the corner for those who want
to stop there and return to their starting point. That is what Greg
and Brian and Joanna did. They wanted to get an early start for
Pittsburgh, and they had lost some time trying to recover (unsuccessfully)
a piece that Greg had placed all too well about ten or fifteen feet from
the top of Triple-S. As it was, Greg was down already before I started
my climb, and I even had time to photograph Joanna on her way up.
I was going to go up last, then continue on leading to the top, but
John proposed that there wasn't enough room for more than two people
anchored and one moving on the belay station, so I went third. I was
glad I was not leading at the time, because when I was maneuvering in
a little recess near the start of the climb I somehow slipped off and
would have had a bad fall were it not for the top belay. I started
again and went a more direct route that avoided traversing through
that recess altogether.
I was determined to get that #6 stopper. It took me quite a while to
get myself positioned to work, tied off on tension so I would have
both arms free, and get my tools secured but with long enough lines
to use them effectively. I set my nutpick in on the stopper and
pounded it hard with the number 11 hex. It took several tries to
get everything aligned properly, but when I did two solid whacks
did the trick, the stopper came out fine. It took me another while
to get things put away on my rack, and even so, things were somewhat
jumbled on the rack. I am going to work on attaching a set of
gear loops on my harness.
When I reached the belay station we had some discussion about which
way the second pitch went. John had set up for it to go left to
Windy Notch; I planned to lead right over the large flake to the
big crack that went to the top. Later we clarified -- the route
John had in mind was an alternate climb, Jankowitz-Kamm (5.4).
My lead was fairly easy -- big pieces to stand on or hold onto all
over the place. Scary part was the prevalent loose stuff and the
zig-zag, draggy direction of the route. Finding good places for
pro and getting it in was fairly slow, but the stances for working
it out were like little step stools, I could use both hands for
placing pro most of the time.
I was glad I had taken my lime water and camera with me on the climb.
We were all thirsty when we reached the top of cockscomb, and I think
I got some nice pictures of my climbing partners. There was a bunch of
slings with a rappeling ring hanging from a sturdy tree. It was nice to
be able to rappel to the west side. (I thought that on my previous
climbs on cockscomb I had ended down climbing to Windy Notch). We
added a sling and biner as backup, and John (the heaviest) rapped down
first. John is fast. He climbed fast on both pitches, and we heard
his booming "Off Rappel" almost as soon as we saw him go over the lip
below us.
Brad went next and time just went by -- after a while we hollered; no
answer. We tugged up on the rope and no weight on it. We just hadn't
heard Brad's "Off Rappel." Mike went next and yelled "Off Rappel"
loud enough for me to hear him (just barely), and finally I followed.
There had been no problem with the old slings from the other three
going down, so I took down the sling and biner backup and rapped down
with all the remaining gear.
We coiled our ropes, stowed our gear (to be sorted later), changed our
shoes, and took the switch trail down. I am usually very slow down
that trail, but on Sunday I was less tired than usual, and I got
down right behind Brad and Mike.
Strange situation at the end of the trip. Four climbers to get home and
three cars. Usually we can barely figure where to cram everyone in for
the trip home. I was able to just dump everything in the trunk and
back seat and not worry about saving any space.
Almost every time we hit the parking lot this trip we saw some other
familiar faces. Not only did we see the AYH group (Stacy & Spider, Eric
and John and Woj), but we also saw Connie from The Climbing Wall, Hal from
Exkursion (He and his petite partner, Chris, had climbed Thais and something
else) and TJ Cunningham, one of our club alumni.
The drive home was fairly easy. One stop at a pullout for a quick rest
and a quick meal of trail lunch type stuff, and I made it home just
before dark. But I was tired. As I started pulling stuff out of the car
and carrying it upstairs, I realized how tired I was. A quick supper
and shower and I hit the sack for a sound full night's sleep. I
finished unpacking Monday morning and still have to repack the tents (I
spread the flys and ground cloths to dry) and sort the gear.
But at least the report is written!