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Eric Horst squinted up at shiny pinpoints beckoning from the cliff.
Bolt hangers.
Climbers clip into the fixed metal anchors as they edge up the rock.
Starting about 20 years ago, hundreds of three-eights-inch steel bolts were drilled into the Enola Low-Grade crags along the Susquehanna River in Conestoga and Manor Townships.
Horst, a well-known meteorologist and expert climber from Millersville, pioneered many of the ascents.
And Safe Harbor briefly became a climbing mecca in a region devoid of other major scarps.
Then, in the early 1990s, the abandoned rail line was closed to the public by Norfolk Southern, which still owns the Manor Township tract.
Amtrak retained an easement to the high-voltage power cables that thread the corridor on two-legged catenary towers.
In 2008, years of legal wrangling over the fate of the land finally culminated in its transfer to Conestoga, Martic, Providence, Eden, Bart and Sadsbury townships, as well as Quarryville Borough.
Many of the municipalities promptly opened their segments to hikers, bicyclists and horseback riders.
Manor Township, home to fewer bolted climbing routes, might or might not allow climbing, Supervisors Chairman John May said.
"I'm sure it will be discussed as the design of the trail proceeds," he said.
In Conestoga Township, though, "No Rock Climbing" signs went up last winter, prompting cries of foul from climbers.
Hope has not died that the edict will be repealed before the railroad replaces the 1930s electric towers over the next two years.
But frustration is at a peak, confirmed Horst, who says the community loses by shutting out an increasingly mainstream, family-oriented sport.
"Climbers are a pretty big user group," he said. "For [Safe Harbor] to be open to hikers now and not climbers, I think that's what's really freaking people out."
The wires are the worry, according to Amtrak and Conestoga Township.
In an April meeting, township supervisors told Horst they'd "soften" their stance on rock climbing if Amtrak did.
But Supervisor Steve Charles said the municipality is also following the recommendation of its insurance carrier.
"I took our insurance agent down through there," Charles said. "He agreed, if Amtrak doesn't want rock climbing, who are we to say go ahead?"
Up a ropeHorst parked near Shenk's Ferry Wildflower Preserve recently and hiked north for about 20 minutes to his old climbing haunt.
He once drew up a Safe Harbor guide that was reproduced in Rock & Ice magazine.
The original climbing routes — with names like Bat Crack and Super Slab —still exist at "the harbor."
The 85-foot cliff band bisected by the Conestoga River recedes to north, bolt hangers at the ready.
"Sport" routes protected by permanent bolts, as opposed to gear the climber carries and places himself, reflect the hottest — and safest —climbing trend, Horst said.
But no ropes dangled, no weekday warriors danced up the slabs.
"Man, this is a shame," said Horst, regarding the deserted scene with hands on hips. "We're being discriminated against."
Nobody complained when a trickle of climbers discovered the manmade cut years ago.
"It was kind of like a secret place," said former climber Dick McCullough, 75, of Lancaster. "Then the secret got out."
Old photos show cars parked nose to tail at the base of the crag.
Elite climbers such as Horst and Hugh Herr got their start at Safe Harbor.
They went on to make ascents all over the world.
But they returned repeatedly to the steeply sloping, orange and black schist outcrop along the river.
The west-facing rock is especially appealing in cool weather, said Scott Messick, 35, of Elizabethtown.
"It's probably one of the nicest concentrations of good, quality sport climbing in the East," Messick added.
Tom Bebb, owner of Reading Rocks climbing gym, has been advising climbers to steer clear of Safe Harbor. But he agrees the site could be a huge boon to the hundreds of climbers in the area "if it ever does legally open."
It did, for a month or so, in 2004, after the county seized the land by eminent domain. The takeover was overturned in court.
This past winter, before the township posted the land, Messick and other climbers began filtering back in.
"We got asked to leave," Messick said.
Exactly who did the asking is unclear.
It wasn't a cop, Messick said.
However, Southern Regional Police Chief John Fiorill said officers have been patrolling the railbed more often since the township acquired it.
Because the land is posted, he said, climbers can be charged with trespassing and fined by a district judge.
That hasn't happened, the chief added. "I feel like [climbers] are obeying the request" to stay away.
Nor has Amtrak been busting people.
"We do not patrol the area and are unaware of Amtrak personnel working in the area, Amtrak Police Capt. Maureen Powers said in an e-mailed statement conveyed by spokeswoman Karina Romero.
The railroad has selected a Kansas City, Mo., consultant, HNTB Corp., to design a replacement for the catenary line, Romero added; the plan is to build a single row of poles down the middle of the corridor.
Construction is scheduled to wrap up in February 2011, she said.
What Amtrak's policy toward climbing will be after the project remains unclear.
Romero referred the question to John Pielli, Amtrak senior director of track maintenance and compliance. Pielli, she said, referred her to another official who was unavailable for comment last week.
"It's an odd situation" at Safe Harbor in that Amtrak owns only the air space traversed by the power line and not the land underneath, Romero said Friday.
"We don't want to prevent the rock climbers from experiencing their sport," she added.
However, as she noted in an earlier e-mail, the railroad is concerned by the existing wires:
"The voltage is such that if [climbers] were to touch them or even come near them, the outcome would be terrible."
Climbers don't dispute that. But they claim it's a moot point.
Even at a spot where one of the electric towers was bowed toward the rock by a 1980s derailment, Horst said, it would be virtually impossible for a rock climber to get near the high-tension line.
Horst dismisses concerns about liability as "bogus."
Climbing is a longtime tradition about 15 miles upriver, at Chickies Rock County Park, he pointed out.
People ascend Chickies at their own risk, said Lancaster County Parks Director James Hackett.
There have been no problems, noted Hackett, who said climbers, hikers and bicyclists alike are "environmentally friendly" park users who help pick up trash left by others.
The Pennsylvania Recreational Use Statute immunizes public and private land managers from lawsuits as long as activities such as climbing are offered free and indiscriminately, according to Hackett and Horst.
The two men have cooperated on developing climbing policies.
Horst said he hopes to continue Safe Harbor dialogues with May and Charles.
Meanwhile, he's developing an online forum for local climbers,
http://lancasterclimbing.com.
And he's long since contacted the Access Fund, a Colorado-based advocacy group that partners with climbers and land managers to mitigate environmental impact and get grant money for parking areas and other measures.
Parking is a sticking point at Safe Harbor, Horst acknowledged.
But, he said, once the area is opened, getting the Access Fund to help put in a gravel lot would be "a slam dunk.
"The number one thing is to get it open."
Jon Rutter, the writer of this article, climbs at Reading Rocks and Chickies Rock County Park. E-mail him at jrutter@lnpnews.com.
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