ECP ON THE WEB CONTENTS OFTHIS ISSUE Website: www.pittecp.org Email Group/Listserve: General Mtg Announcement p 1 [email protected] Twitter: @pittecp CONTACT INFORMATION Facebook: Officers & Appointees p 2 www.facebook.com/groups/42705455822 Activity Coordinators p 3 Google Group: groups.google.com/d/forum/explorersclubofpgh TRIP/EVENT REPORTS RockSchl PostGrad Trip - Seneca p 4-8 July 11th GENERAL MEETING RockSchl PostGradTrip–PhotoRpt p 9 th Thursday July 11 – 7:30PM CLUB NEWS Highland Park, Rhododendron Shelter: Accident at Seneca p 10 On Lake Drive, about 1000 yds north of the Park Entrance at north end of the Tennis Courts. ACTIVITIES Cook Out Night – ECP supplies Burgers & Dogs Activities Calendar p 11-15 Bring some food or beverage to enjoy & share. Skydiving Groupon p 16 Repeating Events p 16-18 Some reminders: ECP Floatilla p 18-19 - Guests are always welcome Nepal Expedition p 20-21 - Please arrive early to briefly socialize so Climbing Policy News p 22 meeting can start promptly at 7:30. - Bring any loaned library materials or gear for return. Presentation: Show & Tell: Looking forward to seeing everyone there! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 APPOINTEES OFFICERS - 2018 The ECP Appointees are persons appointed by the president to fill key positions in the club. In President – Ron Edwards addition there are appointed Activity [email protected] Coordinators and Special Committees Vice-President – Phil Light Environmental – Suryanathan Padmanabhan [email protected] [email protected] 412-944-5538 Secretary – Marla Turk Historian – Phil Sidel [email protected] [email protected] 412-521-9570 Treasurer – Anne Russell Librarian – Cvetomir Dimov [email protected] [email protected] Activities Chair – Nancy Tran Membership – Ximena Marinero [email protected] [email protected] , Equipment Chair – Jim Laird Publicity – Jessiie Crnjarich [email protected] 269-744-0039 [email protected] Editor – Philip Sidel Webmaster – Tom George [email protected] 412-521-9570 [email protected] 412-831-4711 SCHOOL DIRECTORS SCHOOL CHAIRPERSONS Mountaineering School 2018-19 Mountaineering School 2018-2019 -- Jim Laird, Bowen Lee, and Ryan Taylor Chairperson, Jamie Billings Rock Climbing School 2019 Rock Climbing School 2019 -- Ximena Marinero, Nancy Tran, and Chairperson, Jim Laird Ginette Walker Vinski, Mount ain Biking School 2019 – Mountain Biking School 2019 Chairperson, Lenny Lucas Backpacking School 2019 Backpacking School 2019 – Amy Johnson, Ximena Marinero, and Chairperson, Amy Johnson Joshua Selling TECH TEAM "modernizing the club's core operations & technology" AUDIT COMMITTEE Ashley Laird Ximena Marinero Anne Russell, Valerie Kramer, Chris Ciesa Tony Vinski Mark Wolfe Nirjhar Bera 2 ACTIVITIES COORDINATORS Activity Contact Email Backpacking Bethany Melvin [email protected] Biking – Road Bill Brose [email protected] Caving Doug Fulton & Teralyn Iscrupe [email protected] Fly Fishing Bruce Cox [email protected] Ice Climbing Jason Maruccio [email protected] In-Line Skating Robin Kamin [email protected] Mountain Biking Jason Miller [email protected] Lenny Lucas [email protected] Mountaineering Phil Light [email protected] Orienteering Matt Janick [email protected] Paddling – Flat Water Tony & Ginette Vinski [email protected], [email protected] Paddling – White Water Barry Adams [email protected] Rock Climbing Ron Edwards [email protected] Rowing Bob Dezort [email protected] Ultra and Trail Running Brian Ottinger [email protected] Sailing Bill Baxter [email protected] SCUBA Barry Smyda [email protected] Slack Lining Rachel Dobos & Vedant Desaig [email protected] Skiing – Downhill Greg Buzulencia [email protected] Skiing – Cross-Country Joyce Appel [email protected] Sky-diving Justin Blevins [email protected] Yoga Natalie Sipple [email protected] We still have a number of Activities for which we are seeking coordinators: Rafting, Sea Kayaking, Triathlon Training, Geocaching, and others What does an Activity Coordinator do? General advocacy and point of contact for the activity by helping current, new, or prospective members get connected with others in the club also interested in the activity and any events planned for it. Some specific duties/expectations of the Activities Coordinators can be found in Section 1.5 of the ECP's formal policy statements which are posted on the club website. If you are a member interested in an activity, you should contact the coordinator for that activity and let him/her know of your interest. You can work with the coordinator to keep informed about trips and events involving that activity and to help in organizing and promoting events around that activity. 3 Rock School 2019 Post-Graduate Outing to Seneca Rocks by Shlomo Bear, Andrew Venella, and Amanda Wareham The weekend of June 1st - 2nd marked the 2019 annual Rock School outing to Seneca Rocks, where recent graduates, instructors, and adventure-seeking ECPers visited and teamed up to summit the West Virginia crag. The trip was a chance to get out to a beautiful rock face and spend a fun weekend climbing, but for the graduates this experience was also the culmination of their entire Rock School adventure. For six weeks the students had studied, observed, practiced, and been tested on a variety of climbing-related skills with the goal of becoming safe outdoor climbers. Following the White Rocks overnight outing in mid-May, the students had become certified Rock School graduates. The Seneca outing was an opportunity to experience multi-pitch climbing, challenge themselves, and pursue their climbing dreams. It was a fantastic success! Deep in the Monongahela National Forest, Seneca rises 1000 feet above the valley floor, a narrow wall of sheer tuscarora sandstone like the spine of some gargantuan prehistoric beast. Page 4 2 Page 4 A large cleft separates two peaks, in between which a stone spire, or gendarme, used to stand. Despite the fall of the gendarme in 1987, climbers still refer to the whole section between the peaks as “the gunsight”. At the top of the southernmost peak, hidden away in a groove lies an old ammunition can containing various items placed there over the years by generations of climbers. One of those items is a log book. While the north peak can be reached via a hiking trail, there’s only one way to sign your name in that book resting on the summit of the south peak: climb. After arriving on Friday evening to a rosy alpenglow, ECP teams linked up, pitched tents, and prepared for two days of climbing. Individual teams made their own schedule, and for some the morning began well before the sun had risen. A hike up the “stairmaster”, a path made of a series of boulders and stones up a steep hill, was a common approach to the crag. One by one the ECP teams claimed the summit, arriving to amazing views of surrounding West Virginia and each signing their names in the summit book at the top. Page 4 3 Page 5 Some of the popular climbs at Seneca were “Old Ladies”, “Skyline Traverse”, and “Conn’s West”, but no matter the route, everyone had a full day of new challenges and thrilling climbs. To cap off the exciting day of climbing, ECPers joined together for a potluck at basecamp, sharing food and drink, and trading stories of the fantastic day. Despite all the fun that was had on Saturday, Sunday brought a terrible reminder of the risks inherent to rock climbing. A good friend of the ECP took a serious fall and suffered significant injury. It should be known that the response to the accident was rapid and efficient as fellow climbers, local guides, and ECP members rushed to lend aid. According to a leader who was directly beneath the fall and played a pivotal role in lowering the injured climber to a recoverable position, once assistance began arriving, the rescue proceeded like clockwork. The rapid action demonstrated by the rescuers and the support shown by everyone present is truly inspiring and is worth remembering. Page 4 Page4 6 Afterthoughts In the words of Kelly Barko: I was a ball of anxious-nerves, but those feelings subsided as Bowen, Mandy, and I hiked up Stair Master as I was now more concerned about being in shape to even make it to the actual climb. Thankful to have made it to the first pitch of Old Ladies, Bowen took the lead and we began our journey to the top. After a total of 4 pitches, we had successfully reached the summit of Seneca Rocks by 10 AM! As a memento to our triumph, we signed the book at the top, but included in the box were wedding photos from friends that I had once worked with nearly 8 years ago at Seven Springs! I have since contacted them and they were happy to find out that their wedding photos were still there from 4 years ago. After taking in some views of the West Virginian countryside, it was time to rappel back down to the ground. Actually, I lied. The most fear-inducing moment was belaying Mandy across the summit to the rappel while Bowen setup the rappel station. All I could think of was “F@#k, if I drop Mandy the ECP will murder me, and I’ll be so sad.” Fortunately, I was confident in my abilities to belay, and we ended up all rappelling down Pleasant Overhangs happily ever after. I am super thankful to have had them as my team, and I literally had one of the best times of my life. In the words of Claire Brautigam: I left camp around 7am with my intrepid teammates, Jim (Schuring) and Jess (Goelz). Jim had made a bet that we could do 10 pitches by the end of the day, so we skipped the infamous Stairmaster and got straight to climbing. The first three pitches were fun and uneventful… After an interesting variation on Bee Sting Corner (shoutout to Aussie Nick and my teammates for quick thinking and good communication in a sticky situation), wePage continued 4 our ascent.