One of my favorite things in life is spending time with people who are as passionate about adventure and life as I am, This weekend I got to do just that. The way we engage people in life is rapidly changing, making it easier for us to meet the people we share a commonality with. My means for meeting such amazing people has been Twitter, and this weekend I got to spend some time with people that I consider my “Real Life” friends as well as Twitter friends.

The weekend kicked off with a cookout at Aleya’s (Rockandsky.com) place where I finally got to meet the artist formerly know as Adventuregrrl, Katie Levy now at Adventure-Inspired.com. The cookout was a blast as one might assume. We spent the evening consuming delicious brews and reminiscing about our adventures as well as planning future ones. After a great evening of food and friends it was time to turn in, We had an adventure ahead of us. Aleya, myself and a few others were West Virginia bound the next morning to Climb Seneca Rocks

After drinking lots of water to combat the dehydration of the previous night, We set off on the three hour drive southwest. Upon pulling into the parking lot, I was immediately mesmerized by the mountain sized fin of rock rising out of the ground. I was stoked.

The first day of climbing was a bit uneventful for My climbing partner Phil and I. For the sake of acclimating to a foreign crag we opted to get on a 5.0 climb: Worrells Thicket which was a rampy, chossy mess of a climb. Phil and I completed that climb, but actually climbed higher than where the route terminated, so we rappelled back down to the Lower Broadway Ledge where we rested and waited for Aleya’s party who was working up T & T.

We got to the campground around 5 and set up camp before sitting around, eating a delicious dinner, and some star gazing as well. The fun filled evening was concluded by a much deserved nights rest. We got up around 8am and broke camp, ate some breakfast and headed for the wall. This time we stepped it up a bit and had the south summit in our sights. Our route of choice was Conn’s west (Direct Finish) I started up the first pitch and placed a cam about half way up the pitch. at the top of the first pitch I built an anchor out of cams and  then yelled to Phil that he was on belay.

the second pitch is where this climb really got fun. I left the belay ledge and climbed up the flake with the tree above me in my sights. at this point the climb became decently exposed for a climb of this rating which excited me. after a few cool moves and some awesome exposure I made it to a set of anchors where I readied the system to bring Phil up. Phil followed the pitch flawlessly and we then began to work the final pitch. This pitch was quite airy and had a fantastic lie back move about midway up. feeling quite accomplished, Phil and I finished the Conn’s West and scrambled to a flat spot out of the sun where we rested until Aleya and George topped out shortly thereafter.

Upon regrouping and a short water break we made our way to the south summit a short scramble away and signed the summit log. This was a rewarding and special experience for me for a few reasons. First of all, the South summit of Seneca is said to be the highest technical summit east of Devils Tower, Wyoming, and secondly I got to spend the day with wonderful people.

A great adventure this weekend was indeed, but like all good things, it had to come to an end. we went our separate ways and headed back to the “real” world. despite the trip coming to a close, this is certainly not the end of the adventure, There are still many summits to conquer, and i’m still restless.