My first time climbing at Seneca

Trip Report - ECP Mountaineering School. By Sid Wiesner.

I found this buried in my harddisk. This was my first time climbing at Seneca and my first multipitch or trad climbing. I was new to Pittsburgh, and decided to join an outdoors group, and somehow got myself involved with the crazy climbers. This is the trip report from the first outing, the ropes checkout, for the Mountaineering School at Seneca Rocks in October, 2003.

Now where are they? I rechecked the directions and my watch - almost 10pm. Another slow crawl around the Princess Snowbird campground, and I saw the same thing: fake teepees with glass windows, cabins, and one fun-loving group with a large outdoor bar. But no Mountaineering School.

I took a quick nap, and woke up as a couple trucks rumbled past. I met Mark and Brendan, two students in the school, and we set up camp as more people trickled in. More introductions and then we called it an early night. Of course I had trouble sleeping. Dogs howled to each other in the distance, and every time I neared the promised land of sleep, black walnuts smacked the ground with a loud PLOP that startled me just enough to wake me back up. I could do nothing but roll over and try again.