The Seneca
Rocks area is part of the Monongahela National Forest. The rocks there, once
seashore sediments, have been upended to 900 feet of vertical quartz arenite.
It is said to be the best climbing east of the Rocky Mountains.
Our campsite was beautifully located and the first view of Seneca Rocks was awesome.
Our campsite was along the Seneca Creek; Anna said it was very cold.
The rural village of Seneca Rocks (600 residents) seemed to be owned by two families which had been there for hundreds of years: the Harpers and the Yokums. They owned the RV park, the general stores and the rock climbing companies. The only thing they didn't own was the church.
The day we arrived we set up camp and hiked the 1.5 mile trail to the observation overlook.
On our trek we learned that the army had trained here before WWII and that 15 climbers had perished climbing the routes since 1971.
The next day we met our instructor, Daniel. He explained that we needed to hike in (and up!) one hour to reach the base of the climbing routes. Also, that there are almost no bolted routes for sport climbing; all our routes would be "trad" (traditional routes which require placing cams in the rock cracks to hold our weight). We told Daniel that neither of us had any experience climbing trad.
Daniel told us that the rocks here are sheer, vertical, and unforgiving (they feel very hard when your body bangs into them!).
Daniel said we would summit the peak by climbing in four stages ("pitches") and then descend by rappelling down in four stages. He carried two 60 meter ropes.
After the hike in, the process was the following. Daniel tied his harness to one red rope. I tied into the second half of the same red rope AND the first half of the green rope. Anna tied her harness to the second half of the green rope.
Next, Anna would belay Daniel as he leads the climb and sets the cams and clips the red rope through the carabiners. When Daniel reached the first ledge he would tether himself to the rock and Anna would take Daniel off belay. Now Daniel belays me from the ledge above and I climb up and as I reach the clips I unclip the red rope and clip in the green rope. When I reach the ledge, I tether myself to the rock. Next, Daniel belays Anna with the green rope from above and she climbs up and "cleans" the route (i.e., she removes the cams and their attached carabiners and "racks" them - puts them on her harness). When she reaches and tethers herself on the first ledge, we're ready to repeat the process for the second pitch.
Me climbing and Anna waiting below:
Anna climbing:
And up the pitches we go!
To get down from the summit we did four rappels. The longest rappel was 195 feet.
A good day for me (with two titanium hips) and Anna with a knee brace. So that night was filet mignon for dinner.
On the last day, Anna went alone with Daniel; four pitches and four rapps.
She said there was a strong wind at the "window".
And the view was awesome!
And Anna's knee brace was scarred and much worse for wear.
The next day we left Seneca Rocks and our first trad climbing adventure.
To break up our journey home, we spent a night at a campsite in Fayetteville, West Virginia we'd stayed in last year, when we climbed and went white water rafting at New River Gorge.
