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Mountain climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 26, 2011 - 10:50am PT
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So, behind my work there's this perfect hands splitter in a concrete levy, maybe 12' high. Sometimes I'll go run laps on it at lunch.
The top is capped by a 2' long rubber strip over the crack, so I jam way up the crack under the rubber flap, then reach the top. Down-climbing I just reverse the move - hang one-armed from the top, then jam up under the flap. It's nice and dry up in there, and I've cleaned out the spider-webs.
Well, today I hung off the edge, jammed my feet, and from that dark recess where I've been shoving my hand for a year or so, fell a pretty large brown bat, squealing in protest.
I'm not sure if I can ever climb it again, at least not with the hidden jam. I like bats and all, but I can just imagine shoving my hand up there and finding a soft winged body with sharp little teeth. Ugh.
I've never encountered anything worse than stinging insects or skinks in cracks while actually climbing on rock. What kind of stuff have you found inhabiting the rock on your climbs? I imagine scorpions and snakes must not be altogether uncommon on less-traveled crags in some parts of the country.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Apr 26, 2011 - 01:27pm PT
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I had two strange encounters while on Excalibur. One aid pitch about mid-height I was absolutely buried in silverfish. It was weird enough being covered in silverfish bugs, but the truly puzzling part was why they were so thick on that pitch, and not other places???
Then at our last bivy, a mammal with giant eyeballs tried to invade our ledge. Bizarre headlamp looking into these freekin' huge eyes scene. Never did figure out what it was 500 ft from the top.
Plus I've battled ringtailed cats at the base of El Cap......
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Pcutler
climber
Iowa
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Apr 26, 2011 - 02:27pm PT
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A wasp nest in a hand jam leaves you with two options. Take a whipper to get out of the swarm or tough it up and climb through as they attack.
Neither of which is too fun.
I chose the whip.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
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Apr 26, 2011 - 04:19pm PT
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We had a bat try to bite a TCU on the last pitch of Heading For Oblivion.
Brad pointed it out. I guess he was pissed(the bat).
Had lots of bird encounters, but I reckon those are a dime a dozen.
I've always liked the tiny frogs up on the Big Stone.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Apr 26, 2011 - 07:15pm PT
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Porcupine way up on the Ahwahnee Ramps.
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Adamame
climber
Santa Cruz
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Apr 26, 2011 - 08:04pm PT
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I recently saw a Banana Slug in a finger crack.
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NigelSSI
Trad climber
B.C.
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Apr 26, 2011 - 08:09pm PT
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Bats, frogs, wasps, alligator lizards, rattle snake, and a turkey vulture here.
The vulture was the scariest. Snake was pretty relaxed.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 26, 2011 - 10:33pm PT
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Dave and I were enjoying a loverly evening on Dinner Ledge; we had special
permission from the matron of the Old Climbers' Home to go camping.
We tucked each other in for the night after a second helping of Dave's
special 'Geritol' brownies. It has always been my practice to keep my food
bags close at hand as I'm not fond of sharing so they were arrayed like a
couple of extra pillows. I awoke from one of my habitual dreams of
stealing helicopters to sounds emanating from the haul bag about 5' from
me. I leapt to my feet with headlight in hand. I stood the bag up and
shone the light in. To my amazement I was greeted by the sight of a Ring-
Tailed Cat and a goodly sized one at that! Well, since this was a National
Park I decided to refrain from my usual practice of gene pool cleansing
and went with a little behavioral modification instead. I closed the bag
and proceeded to administer a suitable number of vehement wacks all the
while reminding the little bugger that he'd picked the wrong haul bag to
crawl into especially considering it was bereft of comestibles. When I re-
opened to torture chamber I peered in and started gagging. Apparently I'd
scared more than the bejeezus out of him; who knew they were related to
skunks ! Then I realized that in my maniacal raging I'd been completely
unaware that I'd also managed to scare the bejeezus out of Dave. Poor baby
had downed more than his share of the brownies and had awoken from his
stupor to such a commotion as to cause him to think I'd succumbed to a
terminal Alzheimers conniption. I turned the varmint loose to Dave's
relief and watched it seemingly hurl itself off the ledge. Oddly enough
the next morning found the haulbag purged of the stench. We had a good
chuckle when I found an empty one pound package of fig newtons (not ours)
about 30' up the wide crack. Apparently other campers hadn't been
so 'defensibly' minded.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
or some such
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Apr 27, 2011 - 12:51am PT
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I'd fight ya for a pack of fig newtons. They're FIG NEWTONS, MAN!!!
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Apr 27, 2011 - 01:21am PT
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The scariest was a Gordobot encounter. A humanoid type being with tattered harness, shorts and shirt usually seen walking for miles looking for the food of the gods.....a rock face that no one has left their mark on.
Then there's this critter called the Nattie Rattie whose feet are it's predominant feature. The ST guidebook on creatures found wandering the high desert has many picutes of this desert footer.
The Fonda Fowl is rarely seen. A shy bird, usually appearing at night attracted by campfire it is known for it's beautiful plumage.
:DDD
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 27, 2011 - 01:29am PT
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Creatures? Well I've run into some scary life forms while climbing, but last weekend... My god... I don't know if I can even talk about it...
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 27, 2011 - 02:28am PT
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I have run into several bats and swallows in the cracks high up on Yosemite walls, but the worst was a putrid dead bat smeared onto a fixed bong that I had to clip somewhere. Ewe.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 27, 2011 - 03:49am PT
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Peregrines, Bald Eagles,Golden Eagles, Osprey, Redtail Hawks, Barn Owls, Vultures, Ravens, Seagulls, Pigeons, Swallows, Black Bears, Bobcats, Marmots, Elk, Deer, Mountain Goats, Bats, Rats, Mice, Snakes, Lizards, Salamanders, Scorpions, Spiders, Hornets, Wasps, Yellow Jackets, Ants, Slugs the size of your...
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KitKat
Trad climber
South Lake Tahoe
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Apr 27, 2011 - 06:44am PT
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Men in El Cap Meadow...
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HuecoRat
Trad climber
NJ
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Apr 27, 2011 - 09:08am PT
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Gekos at Hueco were pretty common, as were some foxes in the old days. There was a huge bees nest for years on the left side of the Pigs in Space Buttress, too.
I was attacked by owls on two separate occasions, once on a no name cliff near Raton, NM, and once on Busted at Hueco.
I ran into a bunch of yellow bats on the second pitch of Westpole at Seneca. Almost jammed my hand right into the bunch of them. They hissed and scared the crap out of me!
I, too, got swarmed by silverfish on El Cap. It was on the traversing pitch of the Triple Direct where you go right from the Muir Wall toward Camp IV on the Nose. They were all over the diorite, but not even a centimeter onto the surrounding granite. They crawled all over me, and then went right off of me as I passed back onto the regular rock. Totally wierd.
Found a copperhead snake on the photo pitch of CCK at the Gunks, and of course, hundreds of huge millipedes.
Last week I pulled onto the GT ledge on Three Pines at the Gunks and found a big Raven's nest, with momma and 2 chicks. A few years back I pulled onto the same ledge and was greeted by a "baby" turkey vulture. Big, but only covered in pin feathers. The ugliest critter I have ever seen. It croaked at me like some dinosaur and then slumped back into a cave beneath some boulders. The stench that came from that cave would have choked a zombie.
Last, but not least, I got to see a Peregrine from about 5 feet away on the last pitch of the Nose. It hovered on the wind for about a minute before sailing off toward the Shield. I only remembered my camera after it had gone. I was just so amazed at how close it was that I didn't move at all.
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HuecoRat
Trad climber
NJ
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Apr 27, 2011 - 09:17am PT
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Just remembered this one.
Coming down the trail from Seneca once, I encountered 2 guys who asked us, "Do you have any bee killer?"
They had stopped for a break and had set their pack on a ground nest, and had gotten swarmed a little before they ran, leaving their pack right there. I suggested that they take our rope and run in, clip the pack, and we could drag it away from the nest.
Great idea. The guy takes off in a run, clips the pack and runs away again, no stings. But instead of clipping the haul loop, clipped a shoulder strap. Then, instead of slowly dragging it off, he yanks super hard and the pack flips over and dumps out its entire contents right on top of the nest. Now they swarm out in earnest! The guys hiked down with us to buy some bee killer. As we are walking the guy asks me,
"Do you think anyone will steal our gear?"
I said, "Man, if they are mean enough to get your gear with all those wasps on it, then they are tougher you, and you should just let 'em have it!"
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rick d
climber
ol pueblo, az
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Apr 27, 2011 - 09:55am PT
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found a snake on "help me mr wizard" at granite mountain- about 130' off the deck- freaked me out so I down climbed and lowered off the belay...
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Apr 27, 2011 - 09:58am PT
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steve shea
climber
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Apr 27, 2011 - 10:19am PT
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A copperhead while soloing/bouldering a 59 handcrack, fell off and badly sprained my ankle, Ragged Mt Ct. A lammageier about took my head off on a ridge between Gauri Sankar and the Menlung La in tibet. Kind of a huge himalayan golden eagle. Snow leopard tracks in the Rongshar Gorge and unidentifiable but upright human type tracks at about 18,000' between Menlungtse and Cho Oyu. Plenty of fresh greasy bat guano, worse than bats. Another eagle attack after doing the Medicine Bow Diamond in the Snowies WY. A full on Goshawk attack on my way to the Snaz. That one required a shaved head and lots of stitches.
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Apr 27, 2011 - 10:21am PT
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Little songbirds on the Kahiltna Glacier that were blown in by storm systems. They'd hang around the tents until they'd freeze to death at night. I'd feed them a bit but there wasn't much hope for the poor little things so far back in there from plants.
Seen bats and rattlesnakes in cracks. Tombstone Terror at the Leap was notorious for containing a rattler. I think they use the cracks to migrate up and down the cliff and look for mice. Fortunately they were so wedged in there and so far back they couldn't strike but still scare the sh#t of you when you're torquing away on that thing and you get buzzed.
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