Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Seneca Rocks, West Virginia

Seneca Rocks

May 20-22nd 2009


We had honeymooned at Seneca Rocks in June of 2004, and loved it.  For some reason we hadn't made it back though.  It's easy to drive 2-1/2 hrs. to Chattanooga to climb for a day, and 3-1/2 hrs to NC to climb for a weekend, and somehow not too hard to fly to Vegas to climb for five days, but driving 9-1/2 hrs to climb at Seneca had been difficult.


The Seneca Rocks formation is a giant fin of Tuscarora Quartzite, maybe 1/2 mile long, running north/south, several hundred feet high, and not very thick.  Sort of a giant potato chip jammed into the earth on edge, with a big notch taken out of the middle (referred to as the "Gunsight Notch").  It is divided into West Face and East Face routes, and due to the notch in the middle, North Peak and South Peak routes.  It yearns to be climbed upon.






The town of Seneca Rocks is basically a 3-way intersection with 4 buildings, and 2 of them are climbing related.  One of them is The Seneca Rocks Climbing School, and the other is the Gendarme climbing store, one of the oldest continually-open climbing stores in the country.  It's named after a giant pillar 

of rock that once stood at the center of the Seneca Rocks formation.  The Gendarme was first ascended in 1939.  It fell on October 22nd, 1987, a mere 2 days after the last ascent.








We arrived at Seneca Shadows Campground on the evening of the 19th.  Anne & Tom would arrive late that night.  Seneca Shadows is a beautiful Forest Service campground, with pretty, well-maintained sites and hot showers.  It was nearly empty, which rocked.


Day 1 - A quick jaunt to the Gendarme to buy another guidebook, since I'd managed to leave BOTH of ours on my desk at home.  Fortunately there is a new edition available, so I wasn't buying something we already owned.  The new one is definitely expanded and easier to use too.


The temps had hit mid-40's, and it was still chilly when we started out, so we elected to start on the East face, in the sun.  Mistake.  We were immediately hot.  We would start on the West face and finish on the East for the next two days.  We started with an excellent 5.8, Ye Gods and Little Fishes.  It's a beautiful corner, with cracks, flakes and jugs.  Everything 

here is nearly dead-vertical, and VERY sustained, so it all feels pretty sandbagged.  Starting the trip with Seneca 5.8 first thing in the morning was a nice wake-up call.  From here we traversed right a bit to Dufty's Popoff, 5.7.  Based on the photo in the guide, I directed Allison up a difficult face (right).  (Anyone who has read our previous posts would think that I would have learned my lesson by now. - Allison)  Had we read the description we would've realized that she was supposed to be a bit further right, in a dihedral that looked much easier.  Oh well...  







We hiked across Broadway Ledge to Frosted Flake (left), and climbed this with the second pitch variation, Kid Galahad, for 2 pitches of 5.9.  Although somewhat daunted by the concept, my (Will's) ultimate goal was to lead some Seneca 5.10, and we were just about there...



We scrambled up to the top and signed the summit register for the second time.  I'm pretty sure that this was the first place we'd ever been that requires 5th class climbing to achieve, 5 years before.






We rappelled back down to Broadway Ledge and hiked north to the fantastic cracks of Castor and Pollux, both 10a, and both highly recommended.  Will led Castor without incident.  A short piece of 5.6 which comprises the 2nd pitch of Conn's East landed us on Alcoa Ledge, from which several routes depart.  One of them is Orangeaid, a beautiful 10b.  Will led this, also without incident.  At this point it was getting late, and Anne & Tom had appeared below on Broadway, so we all decided to hike out.  We got a little lost on the descent, and separated, but found Anne's helmet, which someone had kicked off of Broadway Ledge earlier.  We never would've found it had we not been off-route.


We drove over to the swimming hole on the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River, and cooled off with beer.  Made burritos for dinner, with black beans, corn, and cabbage.  Methane and sulphur dioxide levels in our truck camper are rising...


Day 2 - The weather is definitely on a warming trend, and even if it hadn't been, we'd still be starting on the shady West Face today.  Allison led Banana 5.6, and Debbie, 5.7 as a single pitch.  A short scramble leads us to the base of For Madmen Only, a 5.10, which Will leads.  This puts us on the summit ridge north of the Gunsight Notch.  We've never been to the North Summit, so we mountaineer over to it in a couple of pitches.  We rappel down and climb Tomato, an excellent 2-pitch 5.8, which lands us once again more or less on the South Summit.  We rappel down the East Face to Broadway Ledge.  Will leads Pollux, 10a.  We rappel back to Broadway and scramble up through the Gunsight Notch, and rappel the West Face again.  Then it's back to camp, where Tom a

nd Anne make excellent chili.



Day 3 - Tom and Anne had climbed Pleasant Overhangs, a 3-pitch 5.7, the day before, and it looked good, so we started on this today.  The position on this route is incredible.  The entire 2nd pitch is a rising traverse under a giant roof, which Allison led.  (left)  The route does, however, have a fair amount of rotten rock.  Anne pulled off a hand-hold the size of a softball the day before.  She carefully wrapped it in slings and lowered it to Tom.  They're taking it home as a souvenir (don't tell).










Anne & Tom were leaving to drive home today, and the plan was to finish climbing by 3 pm, and meet for pizza at Harper's (one of the 4 buildings that comprises the town of Seneca Rocks).  Allison & I figured that if we really cruised, we could complete one more route to the top in the hour and a half that remained.  We chose Thai's, a 5.6 with a number of variations up to 5.10b.  Allison led the first pitch, and Will ran the entire rest of the route together to the top.  We think the variation we did was 5.9ish.



                                                                                                             


We hiked out with Anne & Tom and had our pizza.  They headed home, and Allison & I turned toward Harper's Ferry, where we'd planned to go kayaking the next day, but when we got back into a cell coverage zone Will learned that his uncle Louis had died that morning.  We decided to cut the trip short and head down to Florida to hang out with Will's family.


It was an excellent trip, with a sad ending.  We'll have to try to make it back to Seneca in less than 5 years this time.


We just passed a church.  Its interchangeable sign read, "IN ORDER FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND GOD, YOU MUST STAND UNDER GOD". 



Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Be-lated New Year's Climbing Post

Cochise Stronghold

New Year's 2009


Right after Christmas 2008 we met Anne & Tom at Cochise Stronghold, a collection of Granite spires and blobs in the Dragoon Mountains of Arizona.  Allison & I drove the truck, since it's set up for camping.  Basically we're trading  the misery of flying with camping & climbing gear and renting a car for 2 12 hour days of driving each way.


We left my Grandmother's place in Northwest Florida on Allison's birthday, December 28th.  We think we stayed in a hotel in San Antonio, but can't quite remember, as we are writing this 6 months later.  Powered through the next day, arriving at the slightly snowy East Stronghold early that evening, with Anne & Tom waiting.  There is climbing all over the Stronghold, but it's generally divided into the East and West.  The East has a developed Forest Service campground, with tent pads, picnic tables, and vault toilets.  The West is wilderness camping, anywhere you like, with cattle grazing around.  We would spend a couple of days in the East and move over to the West.

Day 1 - 12.30.08

Today we'd set our sights on What's My Line, a relatively short but aesthetic 5.6.  The climbing here has a bold reputation, meaning not a lot of opportunities for placing protective gear, so we thought we'd ease into the difficulties. The regular start involves a rather exposed bit of what the book calls "fourth class" to gain a bolted anchor, from whence you rappel and then pendulum into the line.  Anne & Tom had chosen this start, but unfortunately thrashed around looking for the "fourth class" and didn't findit.  That's because the approach is clearly fifth class.  They would return tomorrow to climb it.  We, on the other hand, had chosen the 5.9 direct start, which includes some 5.8 R (runout, or not a lot of protective gear).  There was supposedly a short 5.8 pitch before any of the 5.9 and any of the 8 R, so Allison got first lead.  Of course we'd forgotten to bring any of the topos or route descriptions up the long approach with us, and I kept insisting that she needed to go further.  When she finally built a belay and I joined her, we realized that she'd led the first 2 pitches, including the 8 R. Great, that meant I didn't have to!  We cruised up the rest of the route, a sweeping face loaded with the biggest "chickenheads" we'd ever seen.  On southern sandstone a chickenhead would be just what you might imagine, a feature sticks out from the rock, about the size and shape of a chicken's head.  In this case, however, they are giant plates of granite.  You feel like you're climbing a massive reptile's back.  Most of the protection on this route consists of slinging these features, and many of them won't hold a sling.  Exciting.  Despite being well-known as an area classic, this was our least favorite route of the trip.


Day 2 - 12.31.08

Today Anne & Tom would hike back in to climb What's My Line, and we'd set our sights on Wasteland, 5.8, 6 pitches.  In the parking area we met a guide who knew Andrew Kornylak.  He and his client would be the only other people on this formation today.  Fun and varied climbing, with some great exposure and position, and of course an excellent view.  Apparently there are Africanized Bee colonies living near Wasteland, but they didn't visit us today.


Drove back to the campsite and walked over to the What's My Line trailhead to wait for Anne & Tom, who arrived shortly thereafter.  We were relieved to hear of their success this second time around.  We all made the adventurous drive over the Dragoons to the West side, via Middlemarch Pass, on the remote, unpaved Middlemarch Road.  We picked a place to camp near the trailhead to Sheepshead Dome, which had several objectives that we all wanted to climb.  The East side campground is nice, but being on this side in the middle of nowhere is nicer.


Day 3 - New Year's Day '09

We all wanted to climb Ewephoria today, 5 pitches, 5.7, with the 5.9 "Too Tough to Die" finish.  I found a pair of Ray-Bans at the base (score), but pledged to post them to the Arizona forum on Mountain Project when we got home.  Pitch 1 feels totally sandbagged first thing in the morning.  The rest of the route is fun but uneventful, until the final bit of the TTTD finish (Will below left), which is a spectacularly exposed and steep bolted slab to the top. 

 

Allison & I topped out, then scrambled down to a ledge over to the side of the last pitch to get photos of Anne & Tom climbing it (below right).  We all signed the Sheepshead summit register, took group summit photos, and hiked down.





















Day 4 - 01.02.09

Anne & Tom headed over to the sport climbing area "Isle of You", and Allison & I hiked back up to the Sheepshead to get on Absinthe of Mallet, a 5.9+, but with a bolted slab 2 pitch direct finish variation that goes at 10b.  This was excellent.  Our favorite route of the trip, and the finish was the hardest slab lead climbing I've ever done.  Really heady in a couple of places.  



We all drove into 

Tombstone tonight, a cheesy "Old West" town, and visited Big Nose Kate's, a saloon, with people in old west dress and six guns playing poker, etc. 







 







Day 5 - 01.03.09

After 4 splitter days, today was supposed to bring rain, but we awoke to perfect skies again, so we all hiked up to the Sheepshead one more time to climb Peacemaker, a 7 pitch bolted 10a.  More fun, mostly slabby climbing.  Cruised this and then took pictures of Anne & Tom topping out from the trail below. 


We all drove into BENSON? had dinner, got a hotel.  The next morning Allison & I started the long drive back to Atlanta, and Anne & Tom went to various oddball museums and things, like the airplane graveyard.  An excellent trip.






Upon arriving at home, I did my duty and posted a message about the found sunglasses to the Arizona forum on Mountain Project.  I didn't hear anything for the longest time, and was really enjoying "my" Ray-Bans, when finally, in April, the owner checked the message board and contacted me.  I mailed his glasses, and asked for the 5 bucks shipping to be refunded.  He sent me a check for 20 bucks.