September has been beautiful so far and the sun smiles on us as Dan and I wind through the hills of West Virginia on our way to Seneca. Forecast rain decided us to stay home and leave Saturday morning. We'll arrive at 11 a.m. As we will soon discover, a LOT of climbers have got to the rocks way earlier than that.
By the time we have hiked up the West Face trail we can see that it is traffic jam day at Seneca. Our objective is Le Gourmet, but when we arrive at the base a party of four is just starting up. We decide to give them some time and head round past Luncheon Ledge to the East Face. My plan is to climb A Christian Delight (5.3) to the notch between the Cockscomb and Humphrey's Head, then descend back to the West Face and - perhaps - jump onto our original objective. Anyhow, ACD has been on my tick list for some time as the only starred Seneca 5.3 I have not climbed. The only trouble is that the start is reputedly impossible to find. At any rate, two requests for beta are met only by "I can never find it either".
Not to worry on this crowded day. The last of a party of three is just setting off up ACD as we arrive. Or maybe it is "Up and Coming" (5.4) just to the right? To be honest it is hard to say - the face seems climbable pretty much anywhere. There is a pretty little corner to start - I think this is definitely part of "Up and Coming", but what I think is the start of ACD is blocked by a hanging dead tree. I don't want to go anywhere near that! Higher up there are some mantel-y moves and then a slightly loose section before topping out just below Humphrey's Head. I sling a huge horn and place the #10 hex (yay!) to build an anchor. Over the top I belay Dan down, then solo to Luncheon Ledge. Time to head over to Le Gourmet again.
No luck. Another party is starting up - and most of the other classics are taken too. But there's nobody at the base of Old Man's and, to have something to climb, I head off up the first pitch. My plan is to head for Conn's West but seeing the traffic on the rappel route makes me feel that is not going to be a good idea. Instead, we head up the familiar ledges on Old Man's itself. New territory to Dan, though not to me. I've climbed this route so often that I can enjoy feeling relaxed and in control, not overprotecting or worrying about the situation. It would be good to be able to bottle that sensation and put it in an inhaler for dicier moments!
The hardest part of the day is getting down. As we arrive at the Traffic Jam chimney a party of 9 is getting ready to rappel! They include several beginners, so it is obvious they will take a while. The Conn's West descent is better - only six in line - but there is still an apparently endless wait before we can begin the rappels. At least sharing ropes with a couple of other parties means that we can go faster when we finally get moving. Note: There are shiny new rappel bolts at the final station (start of West Pole), which is a good thing because the old tree is looking pretty sickly. I heard that there are also new bolts at the intermediate station (Conn's West pitch 3) but I didn't verify this for myself as we bypassed this station using two ropes. To Seneca Shadows to set up camp and then to the Front Porch, where pizza is being consumed as fast as it can be served and every table is taken. As the moon rises over the rocks we see headlamps on the West Face. Someone is climbing late.
Sunday morning we are up early and at the base before 9. This time Le Gourmet is ours. It definitely deserves its star rating. The climb starts with an easy corner, then a walk along a comfortable ledge to the base of a larger and steeper corner. Remember to protect the second! I put a piece in at the top of the easy corner. The big corner goes smoothly with stemming and one long reach to a jug. The official belay is further to the left again but by slinging a big block I can establish a safe position at the top of the corner to watch Dan come up and avoid rope drag. Dan heads over to the regular belay station where there are more new bolts.
The second pitch is a long traverse right to the arete. It looks intimidating from the belay - it feels as though you are going to be marooned on pure balance moves in the middle of a blank face, without visible pro and facing a nasty pendulum into the first pitch corner if you fall. Of course it is not as bad as that. There are positive incuts for the hands nearly all the way which also take good gear. What had looked to me like an insecure foot traverse turns out to be a comfortable hand traverse. At the end where you bust out onto the arete, a fixed pin - of uncertain age and dubious character, but still a pin - protects the moves. Still, I am sloooooow! Where is that Old Man's Inhaler when you need it?! As one turns the corner onto the arete, the climbing changes character completely. It's now airy but easy up a groove in the arete to fourth class ground. I belay from a tree and a rock horn a few feet below Old Man's Traverse Ledge. Amazingly, I don't at first recognize where I am. The small change of perspective has thrown me off, even though the location is very familiar.
Once Dan comes up it is close to our scheduled departure time. Time to head down! We head over to the Neck Press bolts and two rappels take us to the ground. Four hours back to State College. I had thought this was a long drive, but nearly everyone we talked to over the weekend had come further to climb. The lure of Seneca...