Seneca Rocks, West Virgina

The Climb with Holly, September 1998

Bert's version: Holly and I road tripped out one Friday Night for a 4-hour drive to sleep at the campground. In the morning, we had a good breakfast, stopped at the Visitor's Center, and headed up the awesome 500-foot trail to the base of Old Man's Route, a very nice climb for beginners (rated 5.3).

Starting about the center of the face shown above (just right of the big shadow), we headed up and right to the trees 1/2-way up, traversed right 140 feet past three trees and up to a 4th, where you do one final 35 ft. climb and through a passage to the other side. <whew!> Then it's a hike back across to the peak, with a final fun scramble to the South Summit, where you can sign the Summit Book in the green lock box. Then, a leisurely 300-foot rapel back down to where we started! It was getting dark and starting to sprinkle, so we had to hurry down the path. Afterwards, it was pizza with other climbers at the local food joint. There were some Swales workmates there that day (Steve Schumacher, Neil, etc.) and we had a great time talking about the day - they were all very impressed at Holly's first climb of Seneca!

Holly's version: Steve is right...

Top Ten Reasons Holly Should Pummel Bert in His Sleep:

10. "This place will serve a great breakfast."
9. "I thought you liked sleeping outside - Even if it's in our car."
8. "Oh, I didn't tell you about the 500-foot, 45° hike?"
7. Using Seneca Rocks to teach me "Intro to Multi-Pitching"
6. "5.3 - It's nothing!"
5. Using Seneca Rocks to teach me "Intro to Climbing"
4. "There's no more climbing, Oh, except for the exposed scramble to the summit, 350 feet down on both sides..."
3. "It's OK, we can just follow these guys down the trail - they have a head lamp. Careful, it might be getting slippery!"
2. Using the tree 300 feet up a cliff to teach me "Intro to Rapelling"

And the #1 reason Holly Should Pummel Bert in His Sleep:

1. "Encouraging" me to lean back over the edge to get the rapel started...with his arm.

Next time, we just take the hiking trail to the north Summit! [We'll see! -ed.]

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