A nice trip to Seneca Rocks

Seneca was, as usual, excellent. Amy and I ended up going by ourselves which was nice and relaxed compared to the usual several score folks at a CCC event. Arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and got in a quick climb of Ecstasy Jr (5.4) before dinner. It's a fun two-pitcher warmup route that doesn't require much climbing of the Stairmaster and gave us a good view of the sunny valley from the Luncheon Ledges at the top. Nothing too challenging for either of us. Amy's at the level where she can usually climb a Seneca 5.6 (which tend to pretty stout for the rating) and I can lead the same level. Convenient!

The Southern Pillar as seen from the top of Ecstacy Jr. Roy Gap Chimney is
visible as the prominent chimney to the right of the largest fin.

Sunday we headed out and made the summit via Le Gourmet (a straight-forward 5.4), Front-C (a short 5.6 classic lead with an inverted crux, fun), a short-fourth-class scramble, and the intimidating Critter Crack (a daunting 5.6 crack climb with tons of exposure and desperate (for me) gear). I had seconded it before and found it very difficult. A year later with more climbing skills under my harness, it wasn't so bad except for the sharp-end-of-the-rope factor. Just terrifying. Both of us struggled fiercely on the last pitch and were VERY pleased to make it up. I lost a tricam along the way to a crack but the guy following us was skilled enough to extricate it and gave it back. (insert beer debt here) Made the summit and then rapped down the long West Pole rap past a couple of climbs that look very interesting and definitely bear more investigation.

My mood having just completed a hair-raising lead on Critter Crack. EXPOSURE!		Displaying the colors atop Seneca.

It wasn't too late so we headed north and explored the west face area directly below the Gunsight Notch. The trail gets a bit obscure, but we eventually found ourselves at the base of a likely looking diagonal flake which lead up to a wide ledge. (This was Banana (5.6), as it turns out, and is famous for having loose rock.) It looked leadable so I gamely set out placing gear. Unfortunately, the whole flake was loose and there were scant footholds. I ended up smearing mightily and gripping with one hand while placing gear with the other. My nightmare was that I would fall and my gear would serve to lever out the entire flake on top of me and my belayer. I finally slung a horn (being the only non-levering protection technique I could think of) and pulled the top being very glad to be there. Amy followed cleaning and, after a bit of creative movement got stuck at the site of my crazy reach move. Being 5'6" and thus having substantially less reach than I, I had to haul her up a few inches to make the same move. But we finally both made it, rapped down happily and staggered back to town for pizza and beer. It is a well-known fact that the Front Porch makes the best damn pizza in the universe.

Monday the campground and rocks were both deserted. We got a leisurely start definitely feeling the exertions of the day before. Decided to try exploring the Southern Pillar area and worked on the first pitch of Roy Gap Chimneys (5.6) for a while. Large crack on the left. Series of smaller cracks on the right. Overall, a large resemblance to Front-C but very dirty with a hip-width, inverted chimney at the top and a bunch of large bulges. Some hairy, style-free climbing ensued during which one of my peices of gear popped right out under a horizontal load. That gives you something to think about! Great views from the sheltered pair of cold shuts of the South End (Ecstacy through Candy Corner). The whole structure looks like a cathedral and the lighting was just perfect. We took photos, rapped down, watched two hard-bodies climbing Judgement Seat (5.10) and headed home. A very good weekend with some very scary climbs.

The Wilderness Journal

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