80-50-20

Regina, Alex, and Phil at the south end of the Summit Ledge

Preparations

The Pitt Outdoors Club had scheduled its spring-term graduation trip for the weekend of April 3-5. We have often been at Seneca Rocks the first weekend in April, and encountered everything from great climbing weather, to rain, and snow. For me this weekend was special. My guidebook indicated that it was the 5-year anniversary of my first ever lead at Seneca, the first pitch of “Old Ladies”. Indy had put me up to it then, and it was great to see him this weekend.

As usual, the week before the trip was filled with advance-planning emails and phone calls. With this being the first trad leading of the season for me, and considering the epic end of the past season, I thought it might be best if I did not take on too much, like lead two students. We concocted a plan by which I would climb with Indy. But Phil was concerned that this way, not enough students would experience a climb to the summit. So, although he had not planned to come on the trip at all, good sport that he is, he offered to join me as my experienced second. I thought this was a fantastic offer, since Phil is a fixture in the Pittsburgh climbing community and I had never had the opportunity to climb with him before. He is also a former colleague at Pitt. Having him on my team gave me enough confidence to lead with one student.

The day before the climb brought another big concern: winds were predicted to gust up to 44 mph on Saturday. I figured my main issues would be communication and the rappel. I am most familiar going down through the Traffic Jam and rappel with two ropes. It was clear that throwing the ropes would be an issue. Thankfully, my climbing sensei, Dr. Bob, was willing to give some phone advice, and we discussed possible solutions.

I drove down to Seneca Friday afternoon and met with Indy for dinner at the Front Porch. It rained heavily on and off on the ride from Pittsburgh; the rain stopped only just before I entered Seneca Valley. It was not yet windy, and as the evening progressed I was hoping that perhaps the weather system would pass us by. Indy and I had a pleasant dinner, going over more details of Saturday’s climbing plans. We also met up with a large and lively group of Baltimore climbers, and traded stories of past climbs and epics.

Indy had checked Princess Snowbird Campground earlier and reported no Pitt van sightings. This was odd since the first van, slated to leave the Pitt campus at around 2pm, should have been there. At around 9pm we returned to the campsite to check again. A few Pitt students were there; and we also learned that the University had changed its van policy for undergraduate students, no longer allowing them to use the larger passenger vans. Therefore, the large white vans we had been scouting for were not there! As we were chatting around the campfire, the other vehicles from Pitt pulled in, and we were able to find our team mates. I did a short briefing with my student, Alex Dale, an Engineering Physics major, and my second, Phil Sidel. From last term’s experience, Phil and I thought it was important that Alex check out all the gear that he needed from the club the night before our climb. So we mad sure he spoke to Garth Dellinger to get what he needed.

Ascending “Young Ladies”

When we got up Saturday morning there was frost on the cars, and it was clearly windy. The sky was blue and there was promise of a great day of climbing in the air. I was going to meet Indy for breakfast at the 4-U at 8am, but it turned out the restaurant was not yet open for the season. We swung by Tom Cecil’s, and while he was there and we had a nice chat, the chocolate muffins we hoped for were not. Since it was still quite cold, we decided to try the Valley View, which has good food but tends to be slow, oh well. Right after we had ordered, a good dozen of the Pitt students rolled in as well. Phil was with them and joined Indy and me for another discussion of the climbs ahead.

After breakfast, it was time to saddle up. Phil had brought his walkie-talkies; this would solve the communications issues. We put the rack together, loaded up Alex with as much weight as possible considering his youth and good physical condition, and made for the stairmaster. The first surprise was Roy Gap Run creek. It was gushing and the usual crossing stones were under water. We found a better place to cross, than scrambled back to the trail. The approach itself was dry; probably the high wind had dried things out.

Finally we reached the start of the first pitch and it was time to get serious. Phil and I decided to use the ropes in sequence – I would lead, Alex would follow me on the orange rope, unclip it from the pro, and clip in the purple rope for Phil. Phil would follow on purple and clean. After another short briefing on what I wanted to happen on our climb, I called the question “Do we want to do it?” On my mind was the high wind…and we did talk about that. My team felt we should give it a go, and off I went to lead the first pitch.


Getting up the first couple of feet was no problem, although it took me quite some time to place that first piece of the season. Then the climb plateaus and I always sling a little tree there. So far, so good. After that comes a steep section that goes up on the Cockscomb. This is when I became troubled. As I headed up, it was so windy that I had to hang on to the climb for dear life. I wondered how I could free a hand to place pro. I was also thinking that if something were to go wrong, people would probably blame it on very poor judgment on behalf of a crazy woman. I called down to Phil to let him know that it was REALLY WINDY on the pitch. Phil confirmed my call, but didn’t seem overly concerned. Given his vast experience, I felt maybe I was not crazy, just too timid… I decided to wait for a lull in the wind, than I climbed as fast and as far as I possibly could. I got a bomber piece in, and decided to press on. It worked. And as soon as I got onto the East Face, there was no wind at all.

Alex came up next. He climbed very quickly. He seemed delighted when he came to the belay, because he was finally out of the cold wind and basking in the warm sunlight. He also was surprised by the drop-off, realizing that we were already quite high up. Phil arrived next and we did the usual sorting of bodies and gear and re-stacking of ropes to get ready for the second pitch. Phil commented on how little gear I had place on the first pitch, and I told him I had climbed fast when there seemed to be a lull in the wind, also, given last season’s POC climb, that I was trying to wean myself off of too much gear in general to increase speed and safety. I did ensure him that I would protect the 2nd pitch, which entails a traverse, with enough pieces to make everyone comfortable.

I lead the second pitch. All went well. I did one cam placement that I wasn’t sure about. And indeed, when Alex started the pitch, then had to go back to sort something out, that piece was not good for the backward force it took, and it came out. There was still enough pro in the traverse, however. When Phil came over he said he had never before taken the “high” version of the traverse and that he really enjoyed it. I was pleased that he could find a new experience on a climb that he has done so many times before. Now we also began to hear and see other teams who had started their day on the East Face. We crossed path with Carlos’ team.

The 3rd pitch went like a charm. Now we really started to see other teams. Carlos and his two teammates; Mike and his partner. Carlos’ team pressed on for the summit, while we relaxed and Phil got comfy to take a little nap on the Summit Ledge. They returned reporting too much wind to summit. Alex was very curious, however, to scramble up the 4th pitch and to check on conditions at the summit. So off we went to have a look see. Alex got a very good view of the valley below from above the Conn’s West rappel station. I tried to climb up to the summit, but as soon as I came out from behind the west-facing fin, the wind was once again of hang-on-for-dear-life strength. Since the climb to the summit cannot be protected, I decided to abort, and downclimbed. Alex was sad, but I promised him there would be other days and he would summit some other time this season.

When we came back, we were going to rappel off a tree that Carlos had left a sling on. But in the meantime, Vance’s team of three had climbed up and had the tree in use and Mitch’s team of three was lined up behind him. So we put in a stake to be next team after them. Another four climbers had come up on Windy Corner, and decided to use the West Face rappel routes through the Traffic Jam Chimney. However, they pretty soon returned deeming that way too windy.

The guidebook warns of a tree on top of Old Ladies that is no longer safe to rappel off of. But since 9 people had gone off the tree Carlos had picked, and it looked pretty good, plus Carlos had also put a rap ring on the sling, I thought we give that a go. Normally, I like for my second to go first, so s/he can give the student a fireman’s belay, while I make sure that the student starts on rappl correctly. Phil was, however, not familiar with the rappel route, yet very comfortable to supervise Alex on his descent. So we decided that I should go first.

All went well, but instead of the Lower Broadway Ledge, which I had hoped to reach and which Carlos had also thought we would reach with two ropes (note to self, there are bolted anchors on Frosted Flake straight below this tree one can reach with a single rope rappel), we were on Upper Broadway. From Lower Broadway we could have easily hiked off going around the South End. But getting off the Upper Broadway Ledge would be more of a hike. Vance’s team had slung a tree, and offered us to rap down on their ropes. We were pleased with the offer. But the rappel itself, as it turned out, stink!, stank!!, stunk!!! We had to go around trees and through branches and got very scratched up. Working the rope out of some branches, I got a splinter in my hand. And Phil was bleeding quite a bit by the time he was on the ground.

We still had to hike off. It turned out the leaves were about hip high in places, and it was hard to get good footing. I thought I recognized the start of Worrell’s Thicket, where there is a trail, and Alex and I made off in that direction. On hiking over, I saw a plaque that I had not seen before, of a fellow climber who fell to his death off the East Face in 2003.

My team made it out onto the trail in good spirits. A group hug on Roy Gap road sealed our experience for the day.

While waiting for other climbers to show up for dinner, I relaxed in front of the Gendarme with a sixpack. I learned from Ack that the wind had actually reached 50mph! Phil showed up first, and then Indy, and we had a good dinner at the Front Porch trading stories about the day’s climbs.

Because 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, Indy had brought his telescope with him. The sky was dark and crisp. He set up a short distance from the campfire, and the students got a chance to see Saturn, and the open cluster h and chi Persei. Fatigue soon set in, and we decided it was time to call it a day.

Sunday on Totem

Last term, there were no POC students who wanted to climb on Sunday, so Indy and I had made plans to possible climb at the Narrows, closer to home for both of us. But our students were quite ready to head out again in the morning. Nick wanted to lead Candy Corner if Indy belayed him. Phil wanted to visit with Tom and hang out. I felt that Alex and I had had enough climbing time together that I was comfortable for him to belay me on lead. I decided to do the first pitch of Totem, so we could stay together with Indy’s team and see how the day would go.

When we caught up with Indy and Nick, Nick had just started his lead of Candy Corner, and they planned to toprope Ye Gods and Little Fishes when they were done, so Alex and I thought we could jump on that too after Totem. All went very well on our climb of Totem, and we both enjoyed watching Indy and Nick and the Southern Pillar from our vantage point. By the time we got down and done, another three Pitt students had shown up, however, and they were in line for Ye Gods.

I decided it would be fun for Alex to place some gear, and handed him the rack. We made our way over from Totem all the way to Ecstasy. There were 4 teams on Ecstasy, one at the first belay, one starting up, one in line, and one toproping it off to the east side. We had a pleasant chat and I got some beta on Ecstasy from them. By the time Alex and I made it back to Ye Gods, some complicated rope swapping with another team in the Candy Corner anchors was in progress. It did not seem likely that we could get on it.

Indy and I sent Nick and Alex on their way to meet another group that was toproping off the North Peak. We gathered our gear and hiked out. By then, it had grown much later than we had planned. Phil was in the parking lot, waiting for the first van to leave for Pittsburgh. Indy was ready to do some more geocaching, rather than climb at the Narrows. So I offered Phil a ride home to the ‘burgh. Since it was still early in the afternoon, we took a scenic road home that Phil knew very well, rather than take the highways, as I always do. We had a relaxing and very pretty spring drive home, with plenty of good conversation.



Reflections

As I think about this weekend, I cannot help but pit physical ability against experience. Alex, the youngest, was definitely physically the fittest member of our team. But he had no experience with multi-pitch trad climbing. Phil, on the other hand, brought his vast leadership experience to our venture, while the ascent of the stairmaster was clearly a physical strain for him. I was somewhere in the middle, huffing and puffing on the stairmaster to keep up with Alex, not as experienced in leading teams as Phil.
Leading our team from this position made me think of a bowtie, where the leader is the “knot”, the place where a good amount of physical ability connects with a good amount of experience. I do wish very much I had come to climbing earlier in life, so that I could be trad leading for a longer time. But, there is no time like the presence!

Photo credits: Phil Sidel and Mark “Indy” Kochte

Also see Phil's report.