Seneca Rocks Beta

Howdy! I am looking to do a trip up to Seneca here in a month or so and was looking for some info on gear and such. Ive done a lot of climbing in ga/al/tn/nc but this will be my first hop into wv.
Question 1: is my current rack fine?
Camalots: .4-4
Mastercams:0,1
TCu's:1-4
BD Stoppers 4-13 with some wild country doubles
Tricams black-brown with doubles in pink and red
Question 2: What does the gear tend to be like on belays of popular routes? (ex gunsight to south peak)
and finally, where do yall like to camp and such? Thanks!

Thanks man! Looking forward to making it up there

Hey Nathan,

Your rack sounds fine. I think you'll find yourself placing a lot of tricams and nuts. Cams are used quite a bit also but the insides of the cracks are very irregular making them more difficult to place than normal. Many folks loose pink tricams there but the Gendarme has plenty of gear to choose from. If you choose to climb some of the more moderate cracks and don't like 30'-40' run outs you might want to bring a #5/6 with you that you can push up with you. I would start off with easy stuff to get a feel for things first. Seneca is old school sand bagged ratings.

As far as a place to stay, you've got two choices, Seneca Shadows and Princess Snowbird. Both very close to the crag and the two convience stores and one restaurant. I've stayed at both many times. Seneca Shadows is clean, quite, has nice showers/toilets, tent pads, picknick tables, fire pits, bbq pits, water, and runs about $12 a night. Princess Snowbird is on the ground camping, the showers/bathrooms are very basic but generally clean, there are less picknick tables than camp sites, has RV's that stay amongst the campers, and in general isn't as nice as Seneca Shadows but runs in the $9 range.

have a good time,
Eric

Nathan asked: Question 2: What does the gear tend to be like on belays of popular routes?

You'll be building gear anchors often, and often you'll find bolts. Example: Neck Press is a three pitch route that has bolts at the top of P1 and P2, if I recall correctly you'll build an anchor out of gear on top of P3. Then you'll have routes like Greenwall where you build all anchors out of your own gear. Every route is different for sure.

Usually solid gear at belays (relative to your rack and the rock of course). Just like everywhere else be prepared to improvise.

Enjoy dude! Seneca is a very fun place to climb and take in some exposure. You'll be there at a great time and it most likely wont be crowded.

OH yeah, forgot to address the anchors question. Thanks Master.

Yup +1 for the gear anchors comment. Lots of gear anchors, but also lots of nice ledges.

Rappels are great. Tom Cecil (Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides) and the Potomac Mountain Club do a great job providing bomber rap anchors and permanent first aid kits.

Eric

Eric said: Rappels are great. Tom Cecil (Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides) and the Potomac Mountain Club do a great job providing bomber rap anchors and permanent first aid kits.

+1.

Thanks a ton guys! Stoked to make my way north

Jake Jones wrote:A lot of the bolts- most, in fact, are used as rap stations. So if you're there, and it's busy, you may want to consider building a gear anchor, even if there are bolts close by. This is often why I bring the hexes. Yes, I know, the cow bells are for gumbys, but I've found myself glad that I brought them multiple times, and it frees up cams for multiple-direction use while building anchors.