A first-timer's visit to Seneca and learning by falling...and falling...and falling...

A recent trip to Seneca Rocks in West Virginia provided some really cool experiences.  First, I got to deal with a small piece of chain stuck in the tire of my Subaru.  There we were, 1230AM at the Sheetz in Petersburg, WV trying to figure out what to do.  We ended up driving on the spare and getting back up there to Petersburg to get it fixed early the next morning...and it was incredibly cheap too!

Second, I got to take my buddy Adam to Seneca for his first visit.  To say he was blown away would be an understatement.  He was incredibly psyched as we left the parking lot and started the approach.  He was much less enthusiastic about half-way up the stairmaster on the West Face.  Now, Adam sport climbs pretty hard at the New River Gorge and other places.  He's even done some pretty tough trad climbs at the New as well.  In the week prior to this trip he kept telling me he wanted to climb some hard stuff.  I said to him, "Let's just see how you feel on a couple moderates first."  This is Seneca.  And as anyone who's been there knows, it's just different.  You can call it "sandbagged" if you want, but really, you're just scared...and perhaps with good reason!  It's steep, exposed, sometimes very intimidating and always hard climbing.  It's what you come to Seneca to do.  There is no move on Prune, for example, harder than 5.7.  But the position may make it "feel" harder than 5.7.  The same goes for the route I put Adam on, West Pole.  This was the same route that I first followed on my very first trip to Seneca waaaay back in 1997.

Adam cruised the first two pitches (we did the direct start straight up the face to the two bolt anchor at the base of the original first pitch) and set up a great belay below the roof pitch.  Now I had a front row seat to watch the fun.  He pulled the first roof without much trouble, though I could tell the positioning was in his head a bit.  At the stance below the first roof though, he just couldn't find the good rest position.  He placed a good piece and tried to relax.  He must have made at least 5 moves up and down trying to figure out how to pull the second roof.  At one point he backed down again and I heard him mutter to himself, "come on man...there ain't no tape on these holds."  I cracked up laughing...it was hysterically funny to hear that and think back on my own first experience on this route.  And to think that back then I was just following!  He finally did pull it off and then had a quick romp up to the big ledge above.  He was blown away by the experience.  We finished up with me upping the anty a bit and doing Casual In The Mind's Eye, a line I'd been meaning to get back on since I sorta "put it up" a couple years back.

On Sunday, I further reminded Adam that he is not in great cardio shape by dragging him up the East Face to Upper Broadway Ledge.  We arrived there and found one guy rope soloing Castor...and no one else around.  Kinda nuts for such a beautiful day.  Since Adam kept his cool and did so well on West Pole, I figured I'd throw him another good challenge and sent him up Soler, using the original flake start of course.  I did let him use my #5 BD Cam however, so that made the flake somewhat more protectable.  He cruised the first pitch and then had a few "issues" on the 2nd pitch but nothing major.  He clipped a few pieces short instead of extending runners...he paid the price with rope-drag.  I think he learned the lesson.

Last, but definitely not least...after summiting we rapped off the East Face to the Alcoa Ledge.  I then sat for a few minutes pondering a route I'd been wanting to get on but that I felt was near my limit...Orangeaid.  I decided I needed to give it a go.  It's a beautiful line, but it definitely has a very well-defined crux.  The gear placements throughout are fantastic and the climbing is increasingly difficult.  The crux is on a few weird holds, consisting of some pinches, sidepulls and a crimp to get you up to a small crack you can hand-jam in.  As I neared this section, I knew it was the crux.  I managed to place a piece and got it clipped.  I was getting gassed, but I decided to push on, knowing that I could pull off the moves if I focused and relaxed.  Well, in retrospect I took the first fall not necessarily because I was completely pumped (that would come on the third fall).  I fell because I kept expecting or hoping for a bomber hold just up ahead.  Instead of focusing on what was immediately in front of me and maintaining good footwork, I blindly forged ahead, mostly on my arms/hands.  When a big hold didn't appear, I again tried to push through.  At some point, falling was inevitable.  Adam was stoked to catch a lead fall.  I was stoked my #0 (purple) Mastercam held a 10' fall...that little bugger is only rated to 5kN...glad I'm a relative lightweight.

The second fall I don't remember so well.  I know I tried a similar sequence with my hands, which was pretty spot on.  I got the handjam, but just couldn't hold it.  I think that I was too focused on getting that jam instead of getting my feet up into bigger and better holds...I seem to remember my left foot being on a dime edge, which is totally unnecessary on this climb.  My footwork was off and I knew it...I knew that was causing me to be out of position, wasting energy.

Prior to the third fall, I placed a #2 BD Cam in the lower part of the hand-crack.  I wasn't totally sold on that #0 Mastercam taking my falls, even though I'd now come down on it twice before.  On the third attempt I was much smarter.  I used my feet.  I got myself up into a much better position.  I was gassed from the two prior attempts and from placing that #2 Cam, but I wasn't going to "take".  This time, I actually got my hand on the final hold, the "Thank God hold" that's always up there somewhere on a climb.  Only this time I experienced something that happens every now and then...I was so pumped I couldn't do anything with the hold.  I could barely even close my hand on it, let alone pull up on it.  My legs were spent too.  The moment of realization hit me and I knew I couldn't go up...I could only go down.  "Well, here we go for another ride!", I told myself.  I yelled down to Adam that I was falling and then just let go. Weeeeeee....

Ok...fourth attempt.  As I'm shaking out my arms and hands I'm thinking to myself, "...what have I been doing and what can be improved?  Feet.  I'm missing feet somewhere.  Up until and at the hand-jam.  You know how to jam...that will come automatically.  The feet will not because you can't easily see them with the bulging rock.  Focus on your feet."  I did exactly what I set out to do and blasted through the crux.  I brought my feet up quickly and got them into good positions.  As soon as I had a foot above the bulge, I knew I was going to get through it. I was definitely pumped, but not to the point of failure like before.  The easy roof above provided a bomber hold I could chill out on and relax while I placed some gear.  A few more moves and I was at the belay.  Wow.  What a great ride and what a great lesson.  I learned so much more from falling (repeatedly) on that line than I would have if I'd have simply on-sighted it.  I actually climbed the crux four times I just couldn't finish it until the last attempt (talk about a glutton for punishment).  But I'm incredibly grateful for the experience.  Sometimes you just need to push yourself hard enough to get out of the comfort zone.  And the harder you climb the harder you have to push.  This was a good, hard push that made me focus on technique and form above all else.  I could blame a lot of things for the falls...I wasn't using my personal rack, I was tired, it was humid, I borrowed a friend's chalkbag, the color of the sky wasn't blue, etc...but none of those matter once you start climbing.  I actually did think about those things (except for the sky:-), but I felt it just upped the challenge level a bit.  It was some extra mental stuff I had to push aside and just work with what I had.  I knew that the climb would really be a technical challenge more than anything.  I got smacked around a bit, but I persevered and got it in the end.  I didn't "take" and I didn't hangdog...two things I usually can't stand.  It was a great ride the whole way.

I recently read an old story from Jesse Morehouse (an old Seneca FA'er) about his first time on Orangeaid.  I love what Arthur told him, "...if you want to convince yourself you can climb 5.10 go climb Orangeaid."  Indeed. And I'm sure sometime soon I'll find myself on the Alcoa Ledge again and look up at the line and say, "Alright...time to go rock climbing and get this clean." :-)