Seneca Shadows Amphitheater Back in Use

For more than five years, the amphitheater in Seneca Shadows campground had fallen into disrepair, left to migrating weeds, mold, and mouse droppings. That changed this summer, when Seneca Rocks Discovery Center director Steve Kickert, aided by local business leaders such as Diane Kearns, co-owner of The Gendarme Climbing Shop, and other activists, rolled up their sleeves, rehabbed the facility, and put on weekly programming free and open to the public.

I attended Diane Kearns’s talk titled “History and How To’s of Climbing Seneca” on Saturday, August 1. Diane took us through an engaging narrative of the climbing history at Seneca, starting with the legend of Princess Snowbird, continuing with the first climbers who made documented ascents of the north and south peaks, onwards to the story of the piton pegging climbing soldiers of the 1940s, and an account of the last climb of the fallen Gendarme. Along the way, she also explained the origins of traditional climbing, which is now the dominant form of climbing at Seneca, and how it was adopted by Seneca climbers. Diane finished with a brief memorial of Seneca climber Paul Geyer, who died in a car accident, and whose wife, Gigi, had donated the funds for the amphitheater to honor Paul.

Diane’s presentation was attended by about 30 people, most of them visiting Seneca Rocks for camping, with a few climbers sprinkled in. Her talk really came to life through the many, decades-old pictures that she had digitized. If you have any pictures of Seneca Rocks from decades past, please, stop by the Gendarme next time you’re at Seneca and share them with Diane.

There are a couple more events coming up throughout the rest of the summer:

8/15 Geology of the Seneca Rocks and Spruce Knob Areas (by Jim van Gundy)
8/22 Beyond the Trailhead, a program about the Monongahela National Forest
8/29 Climbing – From Seneca to Yosemite (by Seneca Rocks Mt. Guides climbers)
9/05 Keith and Joan Pitzer in concert

If you happen to be at Seneca on one of these weekends, check them out!


(For the 8/2009 Explorer, the newsletter of the Explorers Club of Pittsburgh)