The obvious crack system in Traffic Jam notch. Since the notch is usally full of people rapping off this can be a difficult climb to get on, becasue you belayer will be creating a Traffic Jam on the rap.

The back wall is most certiainly off (no stemming) and going around the corner halfway is supposed to be cheating too.

You can walk off by continuing north along the small ridge. You may want a a belay though.

Traffic Jam

Prune

The Bite

Old Man's Route

West Pole

Right to the Left  (A Thought Forgotten )

Breakneck

Blackbird

Crusher Critter

Heartburn

Old Ladies Route

Back to the Front

Clarke's Climb

Seneca Daze

Thais

Easy Over

Sidewinder

Marshall's Madness

The Viper

Monkey See Monkey Do

Le Gourmet Direct

Agony

Casual In The Mind's Eye

Agony Til Dawn

Banana Peels

Neck Press

A Better Way

West Pole Direct Finish

Scrambled Leggs

Marshall's Madness - Crack of Dawn

So What

The Gendarme South Face

Thais - Variation Thais Escape

Hit the Silk

Banana

Gunsight to South Peak

Le Gourmet - Variation: Easy Over

Past & Pleasant

Le Gourmet

Gendarme Direct

Pleasant Overhangs - Variation: Direct Start

Pleasant Surprise

The Sorcerer

The Gendarme

Cast of Thousands

Pleasant Overhangs

Mongoose

NOVA

Pedro's Problem

Before the Fall

Cockscomb Overhang Direct

Arrested Mental Development 'AMD'

Debbie

Green Wall

Conn's West

Cockscomb Pine Tree - Variation: Cockscomb Overhang

Black Mamba

Cockfight

Pleasant Overhangs - Variation: Nowhere to Run

Manual Dexterity

Cottonmouth - Venom

Thais Direct

Conn's West Direct

Caught My Eye

Conn's West Corner Start

Breakneck Direct

Front C

Burning Tendons

Triple S

Humphrey's Head

Pleasant Exposure

Jankowitz-Kamm

Crispy Critter

By Pass

Critter Crack

Triple S - Variation: Direct Finish

Bring on the Nubiles

Pleasant Overhangs - Variation: Direct Finish

Cockscomb Pine Tree

Kosher Critter

Tomato

Gunsight to South Peak Direct

Kosher Critter is a good short line that's not climbed much.  It has a very challenging start(10d) which makes the rest of the route feel easy (9ish).

Crux is pulling the initial moves up to the bolt (and clipping it).  A reach gets you into a fun varied diagonal crack.

Pitch one is easier w/ only poor protection the first 40' then creative protection the rest of the way. Interesting movements. Pitch two has great protection the whole way w/ a well defined crux near the top.

The Prune Incident-  In '96 a climber set a #1 Camalot off the belay station then went up clipping pitons the whole way.  He fell at the crux and every piton failed with only the camalot catching.  Apparently he almost hit a woman starting the first pitch.  Gendarme climb shop displays some of those pitons.

Start just to the left of Le Gourmet Direct beneath an inside corner.

#1. Climb the corner to the ledge (75 ft.)

#2. Continue straight up the face to the large ledge. (35 ft.)

The easiest way to the top. Not a lot of climbing, but a few 5th class moves. Old Manss wanders across the west face of Seneca.

1st Pitch

Start at series of easy ledges that can be reached by going past Prune and other climbs along the trail. Climb up a couple of left facing corners. Climb the short chimney. Belay from tree and gear. 170 ft

2nd Pitch

Go south across the needle covered ledge.

3rd Pitch

Climb the short north facing corner that leads up to Traffic Jam Notch. Watch for a loose block and beware of people rappelling down from the notch.

One of the best routes at Seneca, period. West Pole follows a more-or-less continuous crack system through two roofs. It can probably be done in one pitch with a 70-meter rope.

P1: Climb up through the easy ledges to a pine tree. Belay either from rings (not advisable on a busy day) or gear.

P2: Follow the broken crack system until it runs into a corner at the bottom of the first roof. Go straight up through the roof and continue through the second. Follow a left-facing corner to a crack and then belay from rings.

Climb up the left trending ramp start for Back to the Front.  From the stance where BTTF traverses right, go straight up over the roof to a slab.  There is gear at the lip.  Go pretty much straight up to the steep rock above aiming for a bolt which is at the crux.  Above that, a small horizontal or two leads to a vertical crack finishing just left of BTTF.  Build a gear anchor and descend as per BTTF.

A little history on the multiple names.  We climbed it ground up after rapping it to see if it was worth doing.  I was too much of a chicken to commit to the crux on lead since there was no gear to prevent smacking the slab if you blew it so I made a runout traverse right, up 6 feet then back left to the horizontals above the crux.  My wife followed, climbing the crux.  That winter we went back to put in a bolt at the crux on lead but, I bit off more than I reckoned by trying a direct start up the face below the ramp start to BTTF.  15 or so feet up with no pro (after finding the first horizontal to be a shallow flare), I was just about to pull up to the second horizontal when a hold blew and I pitched, bouncing off of Old Man's traverse ledge, falling 30+ feet total and breaking my foot.  With no pro in the fall smashed my wife into her anchor, the tree at the top of P2 of Prune, with a side collision that drove the side of her helmet into her head splitting it open, filling her helmet with blood and dazing her.  She still held the fall super solid and is my hero.  After extracting ourselves from that mess which happened on a Monday in late winter with no one around, we drove to the Petersburg hospital where a foreign exchange doc/intern/whatever tried telling my wife she was suffering from an STD and not a mild concussion.  I got a pink cast.

Needless to say, the bolt never got put in.  Some time in the next year a guy who was guiding there bolted the crux on lead after cleaning off so much lichen you could see a streak down the wall from the parking lot and not knowing it had been climbed already gave it the name in parenthesis.  So...Im not sure who really got the FA and dont really care that much but (and Im obviously biased here) I totally like our name the best since the route is Right to the Left of Back to the Front.

P1: Climb up to the tree then diagonal right to the large corner and a big flake. (keep going right for Broken Neck, 10b). Climb above the flake to a good ledge and belay.

P2: Follow the big corner to its top and belay. If you cut left here to Windy Corner you're on Jankowitz-Kamm (5.5).

P3: Continue to the top of the Cockscomb.

Crux is getting off the ledge. Pro can be placed just off ledge. sporty

Start up the short, right facing corner to gain a small ledge below the crack.  Plug a few more pieces in the finger crack and then follow it up around the EXTREMELY loose, huge block (crux).  This block is so loose it moved when I barely grazed it with my shoulder.

You could very easily link Crusher and Crispy Critters into one long pitch without too much drag.

Start at the crack on the right margin of Cockscomb.

#1. Climb the crack to the top. (50 ft.)

#1 Climb up through the notch between Humphrey's Head and the Cockscomb. Belay on a flat ledge with a view to the east. Or initially belay on the west side of the notch for convenience, then move the belay prior to doing P2.(90 feet)

#2 Move out onto the East Face by climbing right and then down. After one exciting move, begin traversing right on an easy ledge to several large trees. This is also a high version that allows the leader to protect the second: traverse right from the belay and step over to a narrow left-facing corner and good handholds. Finish on the ledge traverse. (75 feet)

#3 Climb up and right to the north end of the ledge and climb the sloping flake/ chimney. (100 feet)

#4 Walk right on the large Summit Ledge for about 100 feet to the final Summit Ridge. Many people simply scramble up the exposed 4th class section to the summit. If you are unsure of your ability, belay the final exposed section to the actual summit.

This is one on the nicest face climbs at Seneca in my opinion.  Great moves, good gear, and great position and tops out on a very thin and exposed flake.  The crux is right around the first bolt, then fun face moves all the way to the top with an exciting finish.

P1: Start right of the base of West Pole, and climb the left-facing corner to a point that is at the climber's right side of the West Pole roofs (70 feet).

P2: Move up and right, over the corner (not through the roof), stepping onto the West Face. Move up easier moves to the small tree above (25 feet).

P3: Move up and left to join the last pitch of West Pole (25 feet).

Mixed route right of Prune. Start at the obvious small right facing flake/corner 10' right of Prune. Climb straight up to to the ledge, the first bolt is rather high but the holds are good. Since the West face of the South Peak has relatively few bolted routes near the ground, I didn't want to put the first bolt to close to the ground. This route was done on-site and bolted from hooks when stances were unavailable. In the middle of the route you may want to place a 1-1.5 inch piece.

This excellent climb ascends the corner just left of Conn's West.  It starts in the center of the wall and eventually traverses left into the top of the corner.

P1: climb up the center of this face with no particular line.  Aim for base of an obvious chimney.  80', 5.5.

P2: Climb the suprisingly enjoyable chimney.  Where it pinches off, step left and continue up the same crack system to a belay alcove.  80', 5.6.

P3: This is the business.  I suppose this is a Seneca 5.6 but it had me a lot more gripped than many harder routes.  Traverse left on the steep face to the big corner and climb up to a belay above the difficulties.  There's plenty of pro but hanging out on the steep face to put it in was definitely exciting.  The hardest part for me was finding the easiest line - there's chalk all over the place.  I wound up going straight left from the fixed pin above the belay to the corner, ignoring the temptation to climb up prematurely.  50', Seneca 5.6.

P4: up to an obvious weakness, left along the ledge and then up through a tree to the top.  100', 5.4.

Start from the 2nd pitch of Le Gourmet. Traverse south following the La Gourmet traverse to the obvious S shaped crack. Climb to ledge above.

A nice route but the good climbing is really short.

Sidewinder is a phenomenal pitch located on the Snake Face - the wall just around the corner from the Face of a Thousand Pitons which is just left of Triple S.  Traditionally done in two pitches, but easily done as one.  Begin in the center of the face at a right-facing corner with a roof.  Climb this corner to the roof, and perform difficult moves above pro getting past the roof and then traversing left to a good belay ledge with a bolted anchor.  Belay here or continue straight up past another roof (difficult) to a leaning finger crack (tricky pro, tenuous).  Awesome!

(Marshall's didn't have a page separate from Crack of Dawn so this was created)

This is a classic!  Three excellent pitches, but some or all can be combined.  A lot of parties only do the first one, but all three offer great climbing.

1. Start at an obvious hand/fist crack on the left of the Face of a Thousand Pitons.  Climb through a small overhang to the first belay (visible from the ground).

2. Continue straight up through widening cracks, eventually traversing left on easier ground to a 3-bolt belay on a ledge on the left face (which won't be visible until you get there).

3. Move back to the right, climb straight up the face/cracks to a small chimney.  At the chimney move right to a very small ledge and cold shuts (this is also the top of Crack of Dawn).

This maybe the king trad line at Seneca. Long sustained, and technical in one of the best positions Seneca has to offer.

Climb Sidewinder through the overlap until it’s possible to move right to the flake system heading up the middle of the wall.  Climb the flake system until it ends at a very impressive face with an incipient crack running through it. Place a few small pieces of gear at the base of the face and get ready for some of the best technical climbing anywhere. Clip the only bolt on the route (previously a wiggly pin, but with permission from Topper, I replaced it with a bolt) and gun it to straight up to the small ledge. From here the climbing backs off significantly. Finish up the headwall to the upper Traffic Jam rappel anchors.

This is a great route to reach Back to the Front.  Although it's listed in the guidebook as 2 pitches, they are easily combined to make a nice long pitch.  P1:  5.7 face climbing.  P2:  Watch out for a few loose blocks at the start of the second pitch on the corner/arete.  Crux moves are around the bolt and up the shallow corner/crack.  Finish on Old Man's Traverse Ledge 10 Ft. left of Prune's finish.

Climb to the right of the pine tree. From here on look for the easiest climbing. Near the top work to the arête at left and move on to the west facing wall. Over 100 ft. Despite the name this route wanders back and forth across the south facing wall beside the traffic jam rappel. It feels like 5.8 climbing.

Agony is the appealing crack line sandwiched between Triple S and Crack of Dawn.  Commonly done in two pitches but best as a single rope-stretcher.  Climb the face up to the crack, follow this through the overhand and into the chimney.  Belay here or follow the easier chimney to the top.

P1: Climb the small crack to a good hold where the crack ends below the headwall.  Traverse left about 6-8 feet to another small, thin crack behind a small maple tree.  Climb the thin crack (crux) using finger locks and jams to the intersection with West Pole Direct Finish at the small roof and much wider crack.  Finish on WPDF. 50-55 ft.

While it is a short line, it is good, hard fun and very airy up there.  It's a little licheny down low, but the upper crack is brilliant and clean...harder than it looks.  Overall it's very much a great way to finish off West Pole.

Head up Agony until just above the crux bulge on Crack of Dawn, then traverse left to gain the beautiful hand crack to finish on the CoD anchors.

A great alternative to the upper chimney on Agony.

One 70m rope stretcher will get you down to ledge 5' up Triple S.

Atypical for Seneca in movement but not in the spirit of runout sandbagged gear routes! Starting roughly 20ft right of Banana below a series of horizontal cracks and just right of the birch tree, make powerful unprotected moves to the first horizontal. There was originally an old pin here that is no longer there, but you can fiddle in a few micro cams. The climbing is hard and insecure through here and a fall before getting a solid piece would end very poorly. Once you have a solid piece make a cruxy big move to the next horizontal, get another good piece and then continue up on small crimps until it is possible to head left to the shallow right facing flake. The hardest climbing is over but the route isn’t in the bag yet. Continue up the flake to the crack system where you can get good gear. From here follow the broken crack system up to the ledge.

Another fun Seneca 5.7

Pitch 1: Scramble to and up a low angle dihedral with a nice finger crack for pro.  At the top of the dihedral, make some interesting moves to achieve a small ledge with rap anchors.

Pitch 2: Move left into the corner, to another rappel station.

Pitch 3: Follows a corner just right of Old Man's last pitch.

Start about 40 feet left of the Thais Corner near a large tree.

#1. Scramble up and left to a ledge. Continue up and left to the top of the ledge system and setup a belay by a small pine.

#2. Climb the lichen covered face to a dished out area. Move up a crack systemthru a bulge. After the bulge climb the face to a belay near the start of the big pitch of Greenwall. (50 ft.) Finish on Greenwall.

Left-facing finger crack arches into a sustained fist and off-width crack. Loose block about half-way up that would be a great hold. Move right onto a balancy position to avoid (the hands are good, just find them),then back into the crack. Even the topout is fun!

Start to the left of NOVA on the same wall.

#1. Climb the wall to a to a series of right facing flakes which start about 25 ft. up the wall. (40 ft.)

While Marshall's Madness and Crack of Dawn are two separate routes, by far and away the most classic way to climb them is to link one into the other and that is how they are described here.

Begin near the arete left of

Triple S.

P1: Climb steep rock to a belay stance (a short pitch).

P2: Continue up the cracks and step right to the overhang.  Pull this overhang via a handcrack (steep, obvious from the ground) and continue to the top.  Bolted anchor.

Climb the flake and move right for about 20 feet. Move back left and then up a ramp. Follow the ramp to a tree about 25 feet below the Gunsight. Unless it suddenly gets more traffic, likely to remain very dirty.

Spectacular climb that is no longer there. See The Gendarme for more information.

Climb the south face of the Gendarme. 25 feet

From the belay at the end of the 3rd pitch, it is possible to escape off to the right. (40 ft.)

Starting in the middle of the wall. Climb the face to the right of Breakneck direct starting on the lower terrace shared with Partial Canopy and Old Lady’s. Make your way up past a few rusty pitons 15-20ft up (be aware this is a similar start to Partial Canopy, 5.11a X which is to the right of Hit the Silk) and some reachy moves getting gear in wherever you can. Continue up and left to an obvious thin seam. Get some good gear in the seam and follow it to the small ledge above (crux) with a small tree and a bolt anchor shared with Breakneck Direct.

Climb a blocky, right facing set of flakes with an exciting finish to a ledge.  The flakes form an arc, hence the route name.  There are typically some loose flakes or blocks on this route, so be cautious.

From Banana, you can climb

Debbie

and gain the Gunsight Notch, or angle left, then right up some ledge systems on easy ground to the Gunsight Notch.

Classic.  From Gunsight Notch, head up the arete towards the South Peak, moving onto airy but easy ground on the west face.  Belay after gaining the summit ridge.  The second "pitch" is the summit ridge to the summit block.

From the middle of the second pitch, it is possible to climb straight up through an "S" shaped crack to the vegetated platform. (100 ft.)

Follow the rightward trending boltline. Pull over the bulge (crux) to insecure face moves above. Eventually step back left to the ledge with bolt anchors. Ground anchor recommended

Pitch 1:  Climb ramp up and left to the right facing corner and continue up the corner to a ledge.  There are bolts just to the left on the ledge below Front C.  (70 ft)

Pitch 2:Traverse RIGHT (diagonally up) to an arete and climb the arete up to Old Man's Traverse Ledge.  (100 ft, pg-13)

Pitch 3:  From the southern end of Old Man's Traverse Ledge climb up to the left side of the Critter Wall to a flake below southern facing chimneys (beginning of Critter Crack).

Pitch 4:  Climb the right most chimney to the spectacular top (85ft)

Climb no longer exists, it was a beautiful climb up the west face of the Gendarme.

Start same as The Gendarme (see more info).

Climb the poorly protected West Face of the Gendarme via a flake.

Was crazy in windy conditions..

Climb up the obvious flake that leads to the roof near its midpoint. There is a bolt that may or may not be there. (60 ft.)

Fun and mostly sustained climbing. Start on the flake protruding from the ledge. Follow bolts up through a bulge (crux). make more face moves till you can easily traverse up and rigt to a ledge with bolt anchors.

For what it's worth, the route was done with the blessing of Mike Whitman, who was on the FA team for the nearby climb, A Better Way.

Climb the first pitch of Pleasant Overhangs to the belay. Pull the the Pleasant Overhangs roof on the far right side, right above the belay. Climb cruxy moves past 3 bolts to easier but sustained runout terrain. You can get small gear in a few incipient cracks through this section. This will lead you to the last bolt and a good rest. Make one final hard traverse left to a good crack that takes you to a ledge and a bolt anchor.

The Gendarme was a 25 foot pinnacle that rose from the center of Gunsight Notch (hence the name Gunsight Notch - it looked like the sights of a rifle). It fell/slid down the mountain on October 22, 1987.

Climb the east face of the Gendarme.  Start on the northeast corner and move diagonally up to a ledge on the south east corner. Climb to the summit. The route is not considered completed until the climber stands un-aided on the summit. It can be a real trip on windy days. It was a highly recommended route for everyone.

A cool short crack that has a couple cruxes, a lower crack crux, and an upper face/arete crux. It starts at the base of Marshall's Madness and then moves left ignoring the crack of Marshalls. Move around the corner slightly. Continue up a crack until it gets too small and flared to jam in. Make a few moves above your gear then get to a roof with a foot and a half long number two crack through it. Then pull over the roof and end up on the ledge at the top of the first pitch of Marshalls. I did it with Hunt Prothro in June of 2018. As of then, there is a bomber anchor on the first pitch of marshalls. It would be cool to link this into the Crack of dawn or into Marshalls as one really long pitch. You would just need to extend the pieces under the roof and the bolt anchor if you choose to clip them.

To the left and below where the Gendarme used to be is a short wall mentioned in Banana. Start below a pine tree that is used to rappel.

#1. Climb the shallow inside corner straight up to the pine tree. (35 ft.)

This is a nice short climb if you are in the area.  The protection is great and it has interesting moves.  It's fun, and worth doing if you've ticked the other classic routes of this grade.  Fairly sustained for 20 feet.

One of the most exposed climbs at Seneca and like its namesake climb the thrilling steep upper arête before it falls off!  Often only the excellent 3rd pitch gets done as pitch 2 is R rated.

P1: Staying right of Thais move up and out to the right. Aim for the right side of Thais chimney and the right side of a belay tree.

P2: Move up about 20ft and then left toward the outer edge of Thais chimney, you will soon find a crack system on the outer face of the column.  Pass a bolt and continue up the column. Just past the end of Thais chimney there is a stance.  Continue up the outside face of a steeper second column, note the gear gets limited as you approach the top of it.  The top of this second column is at the intersection of Thais Escape.  Step left into a thin vertical crack and climb 12ft to a small belay ledge on the left and build a gear anchor.

P3: Climb the very end of the supper exposed  arête.  Halfway up there is a stance out to the right on a block should you want a rest.  Near the top you will briefly move onto the left face of the  arête  then back out right ducking under and around the very top protruding fin.  I have always belayed sitting on the top of this 8" wide fin.

Start at the first aid box on the first pitch of 'Old Ladies'.

#1. Climb the overhanging crack to the overhang. Pull the overhang and continue up to summit. (100 ft.)

This climb starts after the second pitch of Pleasant Overhang. Traverse right past the pin onto the exposed face above the Pleasant O roof. Keep traversing until you see a bolt about 20' over your head. Climb to the bolt, keep climbing straight up past small wires to ledge with two bolt anchor. 2nd Pitch:

Climb straight up past nominal protection for 60', small wires & brass to 2 bolt anchor. 2 ropes needed for second rappel .

Climb a crack system to a mantel move and a ledge directly below the Gunsight Notch

An easy 5.7 by Seneca standards. Greenwall is in the shade for a lage portion of the day, and fairly protected fom the wind.

1st Pitch

Go up a short corner system. There are three cracks. The one is too big for most gear. Climb the middle one. Probably the crux of the route. Traverse across the large ledge and belay as close to the corner as you can. Trees and larger gear (#3).

2nd Pitch

Climb the corner and left facing face thru the intimidating looking bulge.

3rd Pitch

Forth class scramble onto the proper summit

P1. Climb the obvious left-facing flake/dihedral from the top of the first pitch of Old Man's Route. P1 ends at a ledge with a sizable tree and rappel anchors. This first pitch involves a few chimney moves and it's possible to sling some chockstones for pro.

P2. Climb the right-facing corner up and over a few ledge systems to the rappel ledge for the west face.  Belay here to reduce rope drag or continue up through the notch to the summit ledges.

Start same as Cockscomb Pine Tree.

#1. From the end of the chimney move right until below the overhang. Climb the overhang to the top.

(120 ft.)

This thin, desperate variation to the upper half of Sidewinder is quite a ride.  Even with the bolts, there is the potential for long falls from the cruxes.

P1: Climb the first pitch of Sidewinder to the belay ledge/bolts.

P2: Head up the second pitch of Sidewinder but step right after the first easy roof and clip a bolt on the face.  Continue up thin climbing and make an extremely difficult traverse right after clipping the second bolt.  Follow shallow corners/seams up past a third bolt to the top.  Spectacular and hard!

This climb starts about ten feet left of 'Breakneck' and 30' right of 'Triple S'.

Follow flakes and edges to the obvious right facing corner. A #5 HB and a small wire are your only protection until you reach the corner where a #2 Camalot comes in way handy. Follow the corner up and past two bolts to the second right facing and slightly overhanging flake (TCU's).Move right to jugs and last bolt,make a long reach to a jug. Follow the corners to a two bolt anchor.

Scramble up ledges beneath the roof until it is possible to reach the base of the large left leaning inside corner.

Climb the corner and face to the intersection with the normal route. (60 ft.)

Climb up the difficult face moves to reach a finger crack (crux, unprotected).  If you blow the crux moves, you'll land on the large ledge.  This may deserve an R rating as there's potential to fall off the back of the ledge if you land wrong.  Gear can be placed as soon as you reach the finger crack, from here the climb eases up significantly.  This route can be top roped by building a gear anchor on the gunsight above the crack.

This route is pretty low quality when compared to others at Seneca, but if you're tired of doing Banana, try this one.  It's not very sustained and light for 5.8 at Seneca.  Climb the small roof and face, heading left toward a crooked rappel tree that may or may not have slings on it.  Belay from the tree.

Two separate routes that when linked together make for a classic outing. Begin on the Snake Face just left of the arete formed by it and the Face of a Thousand Pitons.

P1: Climb the steep corners up to a nice ledge at a bolted anchor.

P2: Step off the belay and climb the right-facing flakes straight up to bolt anchors.

From this point you have a two options to continue:  Move right and finish on Marshall's/Cottonmouth.  Move out left and follow the left leaning upper crack of The Viper to the anchors at the top of Old Man's Route.

Great dihedral climbing on yet another classic Seneca 5.7.  Do it!  Start as for Pleasant Overhangs and just go straight up the dihedral.  The 2 pitch method requires long draws down low and belaying from the small ledge w/small tree rather far up the system.  The crux is towards the end of this pitch.

From the rap rings on Conn's west follow the arete and right facing corner up to the rap tree. from there it is a short scramble to the summit ledge.

P1: Climb up the right side of the inverted V to a good stance.  Follow a left-leaning ramp and a left-leaning crack system up into an alcove. Pull up and out the alcove on its left side and then move back right and up the face above to a good belay at a large pine tree.

Scramble up easy ledges above the tree to the Luncheon Ledge area.

This is a decent route with pretty good gear.  More traffic would help clean it up.

A rather overlooked option to an old classic.  It's also a good way to slip past the masses on Conn's West/Old Man's.

Instead of going up the big flake pitch of Conn's West, move right on Old Man's to the next corner/dihedral.  Climb the corner, passing two trees (stay left when you pass the trees).  You'll top out the corner near the big tree that's just right of the Conn's West bolted rap station.  Crux is towards the top.

Originally called 'Breakneck Direct' but some later starting callng it by many other names. Anyone that has been there can easily see where the original name comes from. I have named it by its original name to honor those that first climbed it and the name that they gave it then..

Start 20 feet right of Breakneck below a crack that splits the face.

#1. Climb the crack to the top.

Another nice, but rather short route. Would be a classic if it was longer.

Regularly done as P2 of Le Gourmet (5.4) because it protects better.

Starts at the rap rings near a pine tree on the Le Gourmet Traverse ledge. Climb the short, obvious left facing corner to Old Man's Traverse ledge, which is easy to see because there's a large pine at top. Short, but fun. The obvious crux is the blank section at the most vertical portion of the "C."

Good face climbing on good clean rock past bolts to undercling/arch. Very unique steep crux move (to left hand- I used my thumb, others used "flipper" finger).

Shipley's Shivering Shimmy is the original name. Perhaps the name was a tad to long to stick. Triple S is one of the best routes at Seneca. Stem, stem, and stem some more until your left leg is completely exhausted; hopefully you'll have reached a rest by then.

Oh yeah; it's sandbagged, even for Seneca.

Climb the path of least resistance from the luncheon ledge to the mini summit (Humphrey's Head) directly above.

This climb starts after the second pitch of Pleasant Overhang. At the bottom edge of the face to the right of third pitch of Pleasant O, traverse right past a solid pin until you reach the edge of exposed face above the Pleasant O roof, where you can clip a bolt. The bolt is only about 5 feet from the pin but it is not visible until you reach the arete. Follow line of 8 bolts straight up the left edge of the face to 2 bolt anchor where the route rejoins Pleasant Overhang pitch 3.

FA info based on Tom Cecil's comment at

mountainproject.com/route/1…

Easy 5.5 for the grade and a new leader.  There are a few old pins up top.

Fine crack climb with plenty of face holds if you need them. There's a thin fin in a crack that's hollow, which probably should be left alone.  Top out is very rocky, so beware so that you don't rain rocks down on those below.  Build a gear anchor.  Easy scramble off to climber's left.

Start at the main crack pitch of Conn's West.

#1. Climb the main corner pitch of Cann's West for about 25 feet until it is possible to angle up and left toward the roofs of Westpole. Continue to angle left and belay at the tree that marks the end of Thais Escape (100 ft.)

#2. Climb a crack to the sloping ledge above, then move right and finish on Westpole Direct Finish. (50 ft.)

Climb the hand and finger crack 2 ft right of the Le Gourmet Chimney. Half-way up move a couple feet across a ledge and follow the crack system on your right

Start same as Triple S.

From the top of the corner it is possible to traverse left into a shabby looking crack.

Bring on the Nubiles is an awesomely exposed arete climb.  It is best approached via the first pitch of West Pole, but it does have it's own first pitch which is quite run out.

P1: For this pitch begin just left of the tree at the start of West Pole and head up just right of the arete to a belay stance.

P2: Get ready!  Climb straight up on thin cracks to a stance on a pedestal.  From here reach up to a good horizontal and wander up near the arete to the top.  Gear is sporadic - take what you can get and savor the exposure!

Climb the route to the mid-point of the roof.

Using aid surmount the roof and a short piece of the face above. From a pocket on the face free climb the crack to a bolt. Climb the face to the right of the bolt then regain the crack. (135 ft.)

pitch 1

Scramble up into the notch between the Cockscomb and Humphrey's Head. From there, head up and left into the obvious chimney between a massive detached flake and the Cockscomb. Climb past an awkward chockstone to build the belay in a nice flat slot between the flake and the west face of the Cockscomb.

pitch 2

Head up the obvious crack system at the large notch cut out from the flake. About 20 feet up, head left and eventually traverse across the summit of the Cockscomb

Alternatively, just fire straight up from the belay to finish on Breakneck. The crack kinda peters out, so protection is sparse for the last ~20 ft. You can place some marginal small cams, but I wouldn't want to test them. I'd call this section of climbing about 5.7 by Seneca standards.

I recommend the alternate finish-- it's a more natural line.

This fun little route starts with a short flake/left-facing corner to a belay ledge.  From the belay ledge, head up a left-facing corning through increasingly challenging moves until it merges with Gunsight to South Peak, a 5.3 ramp that heads to the summit.  Gunsight to South Peak can get kind of crowded.

From Gunsight Notch, climb the arete towards the South Peak until you are able to move onto the East Face on thin flakes.  Climb around the Gryphon's Beak and finish on the regular Gunsight to South Peak route.  Great exposure for a 5.4!

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in South Peak West Face (Main Area)