| Seneca Rocks | |
|---|---|
 The North and South Peaks viewed from the west | |
  | |
| Location | Pendleton County,West Virginia |
| Nearest city | Seneca Rocks, West Virginia |
| Range | Appalachians |
| Coordinates | 38°50′05″N79°21′58″W / 38.83472°N 79.36611°W /38.83472; -79.36611 |
| Climbing type | traditionalcrag |
| Height | 900 feet above stream level[1] |
| Pitches | 4 |
| Ratings | 5.0-5.13 with most routes in 5.7-5.11 range |
| Grades | I and II |
| Rock type | Tuscaroraquartzite |
| Quantity of rock | months worth (over 375 routes) |
| Development | well developed |
| Cliff aspect | east andwest |
| Season | spring to fall |
| Ownership | National Forest |
| Camping | Seneca Shadows[2] & 2 private campsites intown (all paid) |
| Classic climbs |
|
| Stars |   |
Seneca Rocks is a largecrag and local landmark inPendleton County in theEastern Panhandle ofWest Virginia, United States. The south peak is the only peak inaccessible except by technicalrock climbing techniques on the East Coast of the United States. One of the best-known scenic attractions in West Virginia, the sheer rock faces are a popular challenge forrock climbers.
Seneca Rocks is easily visible from, and accessible by way of,West Virginia Route 28,West Virginia Route 55 andU.S. Route 33 in theSpruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area of theMonongahela National Forest. The three highways converge in the hamlet ofSeneca Rocks, which is named for the cliffs nearby.
Seneca Rocks is at the north end of theRiver Knobs, which contain several other similar "razorback" ridges or "fins" such asJudy Rocks andNelson Rocks, all on the western flank ofNorth Fork Mountain. Seneca Rocks is a prominent and visually striking formation rising nearly 900 feet above the confluence ofSeneca Creek with theNorth Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River. It overlooks the community ofSeneca Rocks, formerly known as "Mouth of Seneca". The Rocks consist of a North and a South Peak, with a central notch between. Formerly, a prominent pinnacle – "the Gendarme" – occupied the notch.
The west flank of theWills Mountain Anticline in the area of Seneca Rocks consists of geological strata that have been upended and rotated 90 degrees to form the impressive crag as well as other prominent outcroppings of the erosion-resistant white/grayTuscaroraquartzite, including nearbyChampe Rocks. The Anticline is a gigantic upward bulge formed more than 200 million years ago at the end of thePaleozoic Era.[3] The quartzite is approximately 250 feet thick here, located primarily on exposed ridges as caprock or exposed crags. The rock is composed of fine grains of sand that were laid down in theSilurian Period some 440 million years ago, in an extensive sand shoal at the edge of the ancientIapetus Ocean. Eons of geologic activity followed, as the ocean slowly closed and the underlying rock uplifted and folded. Millions of years of erosion stripped away the overlying rock and left remnants of the arching folds in the form of these landmark outcrops.
Evidence suggests that theNative Americans of theArchaic Period may have camped frequently at the mouth of nearbySeneca Creek at the foot of the Rocks. The famousGreat Indian Warpath, known locally as the "Seneca Trail", followed thePotomac River, allowing theAlgonquian,Tuscarora, andSeneca nations to transit the area for purposes of trade and war. Excavation for the building of the present Seneca Rocks Visitor Center uncovered evidence of two villages,[4] the more recent of which thrived about 700 years ago. About a dozen dwellings were found.[citation needed]
The firstEuropean visitors to see the region were surveyors whopassed through around 1746, and the first settlers arrived at Mouth of Seneca fifteen years later. At that time, West Virginia (or westernVirginia as it was then) was the edge of the great wilderness. The Rocks were visited and sketched by the well-known writer andmagazineillustratorDavid Hunter Strother (known by his pseudonym "Porte Crayon") around 1853. His sketches were reworked and published two decades later as a popular wood engraving in an 1872 issue ofHarpers New Monthly Magazine. (see image left).
It is unknown who the first person was to climb Seneca Rocks. Undoubtedly Native Americans scaled the rocks prior to European settlers reaching the area, but there is no record of their ascents. The historic ascent ofPaul Bradt,Don Hubbard, andSam Moore in 1939 found an inscription of "D.B. September 16, 1908." This has been attributed to a surveyor named Bittenger who was known to be working in the area.[5]
The documented climbing history of the Rocks begins in 1935 with a roped descent - the ascent was a steep hike – of the North Peak by Paul Bradt and Florence Perry.[5] In the 1930s and 1940s only a few climbers, mostly from theWashington, D.C., andPittsburgh areas, attempted to climb Seneca Rocks.
In 1943 and 1944, as part of theWest Virginia Maneuver Area,10th Mountain Division[6] of the U.S. Army used Seneca,Nelson andChampe Rocks to train mountain troops inassault climbing in preparation for action in theApennines of Italy.[7] They left behind an estimated 75,000 soft ironpitons, some of which can still be found on the rocks,[6] and which inspired one of the faces to be named "The Face of a Thousand Pitons". Many of those pitons were retrieved and reused by local climbers in the following years,[8] but many remained in the rock for decades.
TheSpruce Knob–Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area (NRA) was established within the Monongahela National Forest by an act of theU.S. Congress on September 28, 1965. The Rocks themselves were purchased by the federal government in 1969[9] from the heirs of D. C. Harper.[citation needed]
The original visitor center was opened in 1978, constructed on a grant of $297,000.[10] A 1985 flood severely damaged the facility. On October 22, 1987, "theGendarme", an isolated and prominent pinnacle of the Rocks, fell to the ground.[11][12] On May 26, 1992, the visitor center was destroyed by arson.[13][14] The current visitor center — known as the Seneca Rocks Discovery Center — was completed in the fall of 1998 on a 5 million dollar grant.[15]
The "Seneca Rock" turnpoint at38°50′03″N79°22′04″W / 38.83417°N 79.36778°W /38.83417; -79.36778 has been used byglider pilots forgliding competitions andsoaring awards because its distinctive appearance in aerial photographs made it suitable for photo documentation of the flight performance.[16] This turnpoint was used on many 500 kilometer out-and-return course flights fromRidge Soaring Gliderport inJulian, Pennsylvania, including an October 15, 1995, flight byCanadian pilot Walter Weir that was recognized as a world record at the time.[17]
Seneca Rocks is a popular location for recreationalrock climbing. There are 375 major mapped climbing routes, varying indegree from 5.0 (the easiest) to 5.14b (the hardest). There are two climbing schools located in Seneca Rocks that train prospective climbers in beginning and advanced rock climbing: Seneca Rocks Climbing School and Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides. Other climbing guide services, particularly those located in the surrounding states, also guide and instruct rock climbing at Seneca Rocks.
Both the East and West faces of the North and South Peak offer single and multi-pitch routes up to 300 ft in length. Technical routes also exist on the Lower Slabs, located on the slopes below the west face of the North Peak, and on the Southern Pillar, directly across Roy Gap from the South Peak. Because of the way the rock was uplifted, there are many vertical cracks that offer excellent jamming and good protection. Routes range from 5.0-5.14, nearly all of which require the leader placing protection (traditional climbing). The South Peak is the tallest peak east ofDevils Tower in Wyoming that is only accessible by 5th class climbing.[18]
A popularromance of the Rocks — "The Betrothal of Snow Bird, Princess of the Seneca Indians" — was written in 1932 byHarry Malcolm Wade.[19] West Virginia writer J. Lawrence Smith provides the following short summary of the story:
Princess Snow Bird, who had grown to maidenhood in the shadow of the rocks and scaled their heights many times, proposed a contest to her father, [Chief] Bald Eagle. She would climb to the crest of the rocks as prospective suitors followed. The first to take her hand would become her mate. Bald Eagle agreed, and at the end of the climb, of seven suitors, only one remained, the others having turned back from fear or fallen to their deaths. From their lofty perch, Snow Bird and her future mate surveyed the surrounding realm of the Seneca that would be theirs to rule one day.[20]
In reality, the Seneca homeland was in what is now westernNew York state, and what Seneca tribesmen passed this way were strictly transients. (The historical "Chief Bald Eagle" [d. 1779], also known as ChiefWoapalanne, was aLenape leader of central Pennsylvania, not a Seneca of [West] Virginia.)
