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Brian
climber
California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 1, 2015 - 09:43am PT
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http://nickbullock-climber.co.uk/2015/12/01/from-dawn-to-dusk-from-dusk-to-dawn/
Greg was behind. “Bear, aaaaaaargh.” I spun to watch Greg sprint past me and in hot pursuit was a Grizzly. The bear bounded, pulling and pushing the snow with powerful legs. The snow lapped its belly and didn’t appear to slow it. Greg ran out of sight and the carnivorous freight train passed me, snorting and growling and bounding, dusting me with spindrift – it looked at me for a second, and for a second I thought this is it, this is really f*#king it, but in that second the bear had spotted Greg had fallen. I ran uphill as fast as the deep snow allowed. Greg fell on his back and watched the monster closing. It jumped. Screaming and shouting, Greg kicked at Ursus arctos horribilis and it bit straight though his brand new boot as if it were a carpet slipper. It lunged once more and crunched into his shin, placing a paw on his other leg before lifting him off the ground. I’m not sure at this point what other people would do, but Boswell is Boswell and the bear just didn’t appreciate this, he grabbed the bear’s mouth and prized apart the jaws, pushing, and screaming… “Nick, Nick, help, its got me…” I stopped running, and hearing my friend, the terror, the pleading – my survival instinct subdued. I stopped and turned, but I’ll tell the truth, the thought of running back to face the bear armed with only a ski pole slowed me, in fact, armed with a bazooka would have still slowed me, but Greg was shouting my name, how could I just stand. I took steps forward and out of the dark a shape ran at me. I screamed, the skin at the back of my throat tore. But the shape was Greg, screaming and running and shouting. I looked into his ashen face and saw something I had never seen.
We both screamed and ran into the woods following our tracks. The trees and branches surrounded, closed in, caught as we ripped and tore and crawled. “Watch me, watch me, stay with me.” All of the time we waited for the dark to ambush. After what felt like hours, we found our crampons and axes meaning the abseil and the ropes were five minutes away. Keep a look out, Greg packed gear into his bag. I stood, shining my headlamp armed with axes. We took turns shining and looking and brandishing. “If it comes, no running, we stand together and hit the bastard.” “Yeah, were in this together, hit the bastard, hit it as hard as f*#king possible, in the head, in the eye, hit the f*#ker.” But in my mind I saw the alien and I watched it shrug an axe as easy as a person squashes an insect. ‘They mostly come at night… mostly’ When the bags were packed, we took off again, sweating and swearing and shouting and banging axes together while following our trail. But it wasn’t our trail, it was the bears trail, and after an hour we had become totally lost. We knew we had gone wrong. “Lets head for the cliff top.” And we threw ourselves down – down and down, falling over rock steps, powder exploded, and I knew I was about to fall over a cliff and a small part of me hoped I did. We stood on the top of the cliff. Greg shone his torch, I kept watch. We had to retrace, we had to head back towards the bear and the attack, back into the dark woods. We now knew we were too far to the right, we were never going to find the ropes, we were stuck up here, stuck up here with the bear.
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EdwardT
Trad climber
Retired
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Crazy story. Thanks for posting.
Nick Bullock. Awesome name. Sounds like something out of a Raymond Chandler or Robert Ludlum novel.
Glad you guys are okay.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Great story....real suspense.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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What month of the year was it? Bears that wake up in the middle of their winter hibernation and go wandering around are super dangerous. A winter bear is the worst type of encounter, but this bear was obviously not trying to eat your partner. I address that below.
First, NEVER run from a bear. They tend to bluff charge, and if you stand there, especially a party of two, they often back down.
The attack is a pretty typical grizzly attack. They maul you a little, but rarely do they look at you as dinner. Sure, they have eaten people, even in places I used to frequent, but it is rare. The typical grizzly mauling is ripping off half of your scalp. Most people live through grizzly attacks. They could easily kill you, but once they don't view you as a threat, they tend to lose interest.
The leg injury could have been worse. A big grizzly can crush a bowling ball with its bite force. Since he only got puncture wounds, the bear wasn't biting down that hard. If he had wanted to, he could have easily crushed his tib/fib with a forceful bite. You see this a lot with grizzlies. Many attacks are maulings, and it is best to play dead. Black bear attacks on the other hand are often life and death, so fight back with all you have if it is a black bear.
Before heading into grizzly country, it is good to read up on the topic. A couple of things stand out: A solo hiker is most likely to get mauled. From there, increasing group size decreases the likelihood of attack. Even 2 people, if they stand together, cut the odds down tremendously. They rarely attack a group of 3 or larger.
I'm not surprised at how high up the bear was. If this was spring, the bear had likely just left its den, and they are super hungry at this point. In most places, however, humans aren't on the menu.
Where this all goes out the window is in parks where they are protected, such as Yellowstone. I've happily spent many months hiking and sleeping alone in Alaska, where the bears aren't habituated to man, but a place like Yellowstone, where the bears are conditioned to being around man, even associating man with food, is a super creepy situation. So sleeping in Yellowstone gives me the creeps. I've had grizzlies come through my camp and wake me by setting off my alarm of dishes on top of my bear barrel, but they were no big deal....in Alaska.
Bears that are habituated to humans are scary. On the other hand, I've run into a fair number of wild, unhabituated bears in the Brooks Range. They tend to run like a deer when they see or smell you.
Sorry for jumping in here, but I've always been interested in bears.
I've been charged, too. I always had a weapon in Alaska, and never had to use it. Came close one time, but it turned out OK for the bear and me.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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NEVER run from a grizzly bear
Words to survive by. It also might have helped if they had not fallen
into its bivy cave wearing their crampons.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Wow! Quite a story.
If I were cynical, I would re-word BASE104's advice, though. Never run from a grizzly in a party of two if you can't outrun your partner.
;-)
John
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Now that is a story!
I once read a book bought in Canada, of how to deal with bears. It is exactly as base104 has said. Play dead with grizzlies and fight like hell against black bears.
One man in northern Japan recently found a black bear reared up on his hind legs right behind him. He turned around and hugged the bear who was so surprised it didn't know what to do. Then they both fell together and rolled down a slope and the bear took off.
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Damn, that must have been a pretty horrifying experience. Talk about feeling small and helpless and out of your element!
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labrat
Trad climber
Erik O. Auburn, CA
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I'm continually surprised to hear the advice that black bears are the ones to be the most worried about. I had always thought that grizzly / brown bears are the ones to be the most aggressive and most likely to kill me while I'm out backpacking, climbing, or hiking. Yellowstone and the Tetons are the only places I've carried bear spray. Maybe I should rethink that?
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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First, NEVER run from a bear. They tend to bluff charge, and if you stand there, especially a party of two, they often back down.
True. Running makes you appear to be prey to the bear.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Maybe I should rethink that?
Yes, you forgot Polar bears...
^^^ That's the front foot, the back ones are MUCH bigger!
And BTW, don't bother to run or fight a Polar bear,
you'll just die tired and frustrated.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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A scary story. Glad they were tough enough to survive the long way back.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Play dead with grizzlies and fight like hell against black bears.
Depends on the time of day. If its night, fight.
Big difference between surprising a bear versus being considered a food source...
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Jan
Mountain climber
Colorado, Nepal & Okinawa
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Reilly, I've heard that bear spray works on polar bears also. There's a story of a Japanese arctic explorer who stood his ground with a charging polar bear which turned around only six feet from him when he finally let loose with bear spray.
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Yes - Base104 is right on regarding bear behaviour. With very rare exceptions - a very, very few griz - mostly young and inexperienced - will consider humans prey. If you see a black following or circling you, he's sizing you up for lunch and aggression (yours) is in order.
I had a lot of experience with bears in Yosemite, Olympic and Denali. Had to shoot a few, not willingly. One memorable experience was first-aiding a seasonal ranger who was mauled in Denali. The road foreman brought him into our house from the Toklat area. He'd been bitten almost everywhere except his chest and belly where he was lying down. Partly scalped, skull showing. We had to clean all sorts of dirt and tundra plants out of his wounds, and when we rinsed out the rags in the sink the strainer clogged up with fatty tissue. No anesthesia, but he handled it well. It took 8 hours to get him to Fairbanks by special rail vehicle and then chopper. He recovered nicely, with a scalp like a road map and doubtless some scars on his soul.
Interesting that - as 104 noted - the bear never used full crushing bites. There were opposing fang marks on both sides of lower leg, but only punctures. Could have crushed it. Most was ugly, but superficial. More like punishment.
I searched for the bear for days but never located her.
The details of the attack are interesting but extensive. It was an exceptionally protective female with a couple of almost grown cubs, and she charged from over a hundred yards.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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And BTW, don't bother to run or fight a Polar bear,
you'll just die tired and frustrated.
Not so.
As far as I know, I'm still alive. But if I hadn't tried to escape, I'm pretty sure I would have died.
I spent years around black/brown bears in the forests of Northern Saskatchewan, and then in the mountains of Southwestern BC. Never had a problem. As Base104 said above, in areas where they are not habituated to humans, you can just shoo them away.
But meeting a mama Polar Bear coming down from her winter den, with her cub, wasn't the same thing at all.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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I'm continually surprised to hear the advice that black bears are the ones to be the most worried about. I had always thought that grizzly / brown bears are the ones to be the most aggressive and most likely to kill me while I'm out backpacking, climbing, or hiking. Yellowstone and the Tetons are the only places I've carried bear spray. Maybe I should rethink that?
Well, if there is anything that I am an authority on in this place, it is traveling in bear country. The range of black bears is huge. They are found in many places in the lower 48. The only griz country in the lower 48 is, generally, Yellowstone and its surroundings, as well as the Cascades, I believe. They used to have a huge range, all the way into the great plains, but they were quickly exterminated. They remain in Yellowstone and surrounding areas safe from people. You can't just go shoot them. So they fear people less and run into them more. A bad recipe, and there have been fatal incidents in Yellowstone.
So just on interactions, you are far more likely to run into a black bear than a griz in the lower 48.
Grizzlies are all over Alaska and western Canada, but the lower 48 is much more crowded, and human to bear interactions are more likely. Yes, most black bears aren't too big of a deal, but some can be killers.
Grizzlies aren't necessarily bloodthirstly monsters, but as I said, Yellowstone bears are habituated to humans. They don't fear people, because people don't shoot them there. I find Yellowstone a very creepy place at night, alone in the back country. Damn near every trail in the park has a bear warning sign at the trail head. Those bears are brave. They will come right into campgrounds and eat anything they can get their hands on. All you can do is keep food smell to a minimum. Don't take tins of sardines, for example.
As for the differences in attacks, grizzlies, in wild areas where they aren't habituated to humans, or associate them with food, tend to maul their victims more often than killing them. For whatever reason, it seems that bears regard humans as a threat in these areas, and after they stop the threat, they give up. It is pretty rare for a bear to actually kill, and likely less to feed on people, but it can happen. 2 people were killed and partially eaten in ANWR a while back, right in a spot that I had hiked through alone a few years before. It was the first bear attack since the Refuge was formed in the fifties. I know the guy who found the camp torn to shreds, and who called in the Troopers, who killed the bear from a helicopter, and found the elderly couple partially eaten. That is pretty damn rare, although it tends to haunt our dreams. Hyporthermia is a bigger problem than bears in the Arctic, but bears fit our nightmares.
In the arctic, there are no black bears. They are all grizzlies, other than the polar bears along the coast, and if you want to get freaky, we can talk about polar bears, who are curious and might walk 10 miles upwind just to check you out.
As for grizzlies, the wild ones tend to run like a deer when face to face with a human. If they don't, then it is time to get your pepper spray or shotgun ready because they aren't following the pattern. Even then, odds are it will end well.
Bears in Yellowstone don't follow the pattern. They've been raised on leftover cheese puffs and the constant smell of human food. They don't risk death by following these urges, so they associate humans with food. It is so bad that they have to eventually put bears down.
I far prefer the wild ones to the Yellowstone grizzlies.
Anyway, there is no catch-all solution. You play the odds. The odds are that if the bear does attack; if this is not a bluff charge, he will chew you up, but remarkably, most people survive, just like the guy in the story above who got a love nip in the leg. If that bear had wanted to kill him, it would have taken his head off in one second. If it had wanted to really hurt him, it would have crushed the bones in his leg. The appearance of his friend, the second person, even if armed only with a ski pole and a loud voice, totally changed the calculus. His appeared, and the bear left. If that guy didn't have a buddy, he would have probably really gotten chewed on.
Black bears rarely attack people, but when they do, they mean business. So fight like hell. If you know it is a grizzly, play dead. After the perceived threat is gone, the bear will often leave. That is playing the odds. There have been a lot of bear attacks, so there is a lot of evidence about their behavior.
The biggest thing you can do to be safe is to travel in groups. A bear almost never attacks a group of 3 or more. It just doesn't happen. Likely, the bear thought that the guy was alone. The appearance of his friend, even if all he could do was yell, is normally enough to spook a grizzly.
They don't walk around behaving like flesh eating zombies. They mainly live off of plants, and are lucky if they nab something more substantial.
The story above is great. Those guys climbed a ton of hard stuff. The bear attack is pretty typical for a grizzly. Maybe a little on the light side.
What they need to remember is that the second guy with the ski pole likely saved his buddy and ran off the bear. You don't need a weapon. Just yell and let the bear know that there are two of you. I've run off grizzly bears just by yelling at them more than once.
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