Brendan Mulhern Climbing

My first experience of rock climbing was with Brendan. His natural teaching ability, incredible patience, and wealth of experience, knowledge, and skill all come together to provide you with the tools you need to find the confidence in yourself to climb places you thought you would never be able to. Everything I know about climbing I learned from him and I have had the joy of seeing what Seneca Rocks, WV has to offer with his guidance.
No matter if you are a beginner or an experienced climber, Brendan will cater his lesson to your needs and goals. When you leave you will be satisfied and confident with the wealth of knowledge you will walk away with.
Happy climbing, WAZOO!

You will not find a better guide than Brendan Mulhern. Full Stop. I spent two days with him at Seneca Rocks, WV and I learned so much. He is a natural and gifted instructor, patient and thorough; he went way beyond our agreed upon hours just to make sure everything got covered. He even took me to a spot and set up a top rope so I could get some climbing in, apart from the formal instruction. In wanting to experience more from climbing, I chose Trad… and I’m glad my introduction to Trad was through Brendan. I went back to Seneca to climb with some friends about 6 months after and was surprised with how much I retained, and how everything just made sense, and I have Brendan to thank for this. In fact, I even sent him a message thanking him and telling him how everything went! I haven’t been able to keep away from Seneca since, and go back as much as I can. In visiting, and revisiting, Seneca I learn just how special of a place it really is.
Brendan is truly a Seneca legend. Ask anyone you see climbing there, and it’s likely they’ve ran into or have known Brendan. Beyond his ability to instruct, he is someone that strikes you as quite remarkable in many ways: his sincerity, humility, patience, kindness, and never ceasing optimism and positivity. Brendan even tied the experience together quite nicely by providing contextual details throughout our time with him ranging from the history of Seneca Rocks, its geology, etc. Thus, the experience is much, much more than just climbing and learning. No matter your skill level, if you have ever had any inclination, no matter how slight, to learn Trad then you absolutely must connect yourself with Brendan.

I’ve known Brendan many years through the climbing community. I’ve had the opportunity to get to know him on a personal level, as well as observe him teaching and guiding. He is patient, knowledgable, caring, and most importantly… Safe.
Brendan freely shares his knowledge and really enjoys passing on his passion for climbing to all the people who climb with him. He’d never push anyone past their abilities. He is great with beginners as well as experienced climbers… No agendas… Brendan will tailor the day around your experience and goals.

Excellent!!! Spectacular guide!
My first outdoor climbing experience was with Brendan and here I am 8 years later still psyched on climbing. From the basics of belaying and following, to big wall aid climbing I have had the pleasure of learning it all from Brendan. His laid back demeanor and overwhelming amount of knowledge/​experience will keep even the most fearful at ease and smiling ear to ear.
I would absolutely recommend Brendan to anyone interested in climbing whether its your first outing or you are a seasoned climber looking to explore new areas and increase your skill-​set.

Brendan is, quite simply, and without exaggeration, as good of a guide as I have EVER climbed with.
I spent two days with him, and the sheer volume of knowledge he imparted was incredible. The sheer volume of confidence I gained by seeing, and doing, things done correctly had a very immediate impact on improving my multi-​pitch skills and safety.
On a personal level, I’m climbing with this guy I’ve never met before, but immediately it was as comfortable as if I was with a buddy who I’ve climbed with for years. Having just previously climbed with a different guide (in a different state) who while safe and knowledgeable was not as personable, this was a huge boon.
On a teaching level, Brendan just taught me things constantly through the time we were on the rock together. Sometimes it was planned — he never wasted time, and never fussed with gear — things were planned to be as he needed them, when he needed them. Sometimes it was spontaneous — I had a awkward belay stance and needed to either fuss with rope management or belay left-​handed … so he taught me to belay left-​handed. Once I left a piece behind because I couldn’t get it out from the rock, so he took the opportunity to teach me how to belay with a munter as he went back across the traverse to free it. And sometimes it was just in background doings that I could watch, and absorb, and learn from.
On a guide level, again Brendan was beyond top notch. We had checked in by phone before the first climbing day so had an idea of what I thought my abilities were — and very quickly on the rock he got his first hand understanding of what I could do, and where I could be challenged. Very quickly he had overlaid my abilities with his mental map of the rock and was able to offer different options, and routes, any of which would have been awesome, but which permitted me to choose between them instead of just being told, «ok, now we’re doing this».
I’m very much looking forward to booking some more time on the rock with Brendan. I strongly recommend you consider the same.