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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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man! chewbacca!! ^^^ awesome stuff
i love tarantulas, and roadrunners. whoops, is that like dinners for diners? and is mousse still a thing?
oh ya, whiffin' belugas spouting just over my shoulder while traversing along the edge of cook inlet
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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A Moose descending off the Snaz. Swifts going wild on the Enduro Pitch of Astroman. But the worst was running into a rattlesnake in the crack just after the crux of Tombstone Terror at the Leap in 1977. Scared the sh#t out of me.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Animal story
We were bivouaced on rock terraces at the base of an alpine peak in the North Cascades - way above tree line. In the middle of the night we heard someone - or something - approaching, making a helluva racket over the rocks. We turned on our headlamps and found that we were surrounded by numerous elk. Big f*#kers, standing right over us and giving us the eye. They calmly wandered off.
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Back in the day Jimmy Newberry, Scotty Gilbert, John Pearson and I were doing a first ascent on Candlestick Tower in Canyonlands. I was leading this fabulous hand crack when something started nibbling at my fingers back in the crack. It probably was bats but it totally freaked me out. I threw in a friend, clipped a long sling to it and stepped into the sling to sort of boost me past this spot before I went back to hand jamming. Most unsettling at the time.
Not actually a climbing story, but about three years ago my wife and I were sea kayaking off the coast of the Big Island in March when a momma Humpback and her baby surfaced about ten feet from me and swam in formation with me for about 30 seconds before diving back down. Absolutely the coolest wildlife encounter I have had.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Lions and tigers and BEARS
OH MY,
the stories of the Bears are not mine.
But while out to climb a thing called the Head Stone, In the (west?) Strong Hold,
We returned to or Kit at the base and saw tracks. The Pads were 4 inches across and from the depth of them It must have been a Big Cat.
As we circled back toward our camp, the tracks re-appeared and crossed themselves,
We left before dark.
In that same time period there was a new spurt area , The Land Of Nod? out by the Weaver Needle? I was not on a bolted route, the line looked awsome and I had a triple set of small tri-cams, so I blasted off, only to get about 20 feet up when my fingers found a crimp that flex'd, so I skipped it. as the pathetic following me could not climb himself out of a paper bag, even with sticky rubber, he grabs and snaps off the flake
exposing a Scorpion . . . .
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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We got called out to go look for a couple of goombahs on the West Face of Mt Si (30 min from Seattle). We didn't get the call until about 3PM on an early October afternoon. By the time we got there and roped up it was already dark. We had little to go on other than the guy who turned back pointing up into the dark, "He's up there!" OK, we go up this steep ultra-chossy face for about 500' until it became clear even to our pitiful faculties that no more could be done until light returned; we'd heard nor seen a thing. We found a nice level ledge for the 4 of us and settled in; it was a sit-up bivy but comfy. It was a beautifully clear (yes, no rain!) and warm October night.
I woke up when the harvest moon started giving me moonburn. Man, that sucker was bright! Everyone else was still serenely stacking 'em - sort of an ad for re-sharpening your chainsaw. I'm sitting on the end tied into this little nearly leafless tree of about 2" diameter and maybe 8' high. I look down the slope below me and I see this 'thing' and it is moving - moving towards me! It is also big, a big midnight soloist! A big freaking soloist porcupine and he is headed for me! Now this wasn't the Norwegian Buttress, mind you, but we had been quite happy to have ropes and the odd piece 'cause you never knew when that clump of dirt you were mantling would cave in. But this dude was making it look easy and there was no doubt where he was headed - chez moi! He arrives at the ledge and fixes me with those flinty little beady eyes glinting in the moonlight and says
"So, you gonna move over or am I gonna have to convince you to cooperate?"
I really didn't want to awake the Sleeping Beauties and cause a mass stampede so I tried to be reasonable. I fix him with my most understanding and mellow Carlos Castaneda eyelock.
"Look, Mr P, I'm kinda at the end of my tether here so let's make nice, yes?"
With a cursory nod he proceeds to grab my daisy and head up this pathetic excuse for a tree! His tail is waggling maybe 24" from my finely chiseled and quivering features. This dude is so big I'm afraid the tree is going to bow over into my lap. He reaches the first fork which is about a foot above my head and makes himself comfy. He then commences to finishing the de-leafing of said 'tree'. I congratulate myself on maintaining a modicum of composure and re-join the Husqvarna chorus.
I awake with a jerk, the first hints of dawn are showing. I look up for the P-man. He's gone! I look over the edge, he's gone completely. What the hey? The now totally leafless tree stands there forlornly silhouetted. Now I have a real problem. Do I tell 'em and risk the knowing nods and winks or just suck it up and bank it for a future audience?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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On a climb....a Pigeon flew out of a crack on Ruper in Eldo, brushed my face and nearly caused me to take a looong leader fall.
An aggressive Mountain Goat tried to get into my pack while I was belaying a climb near Leavenworth.
I was skiing below what was to become the Cobra Pillar on Mt. Barille in Alaska on a snowy day when I encountered a Wolverine ambling down the glacier. He stopped 30 feet from me and we had, what seemed, an interminable standoff where we just stared at each other until he ambled off to the base of Barirille.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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I bivied at Lake Annette before doing the north face of Mt Temple. Woke up to discover that a rodent had chewed through most of the salty leather on my helmet straps.
Not as bad as my friends who were new routing on multipitch in the Ghost River. They were rapping down in the dark while rats were chewing on the ends of their ropes. The ropes kept getting shorter as they descended.
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Concerned citizen
Big Wall climber
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Many years ago, on my one climbing trip to the Tetons, we were descending a steep slope just above a pool into which a stream delivered a waterfall that I perceived to be ferocious. I was pondering the immense force of the water, thinking that anything under it would be immobilized, when a moose exploded out from under (or behind) it as if the waterfall were not there, as easily as we step from a shower. They are powerful animals.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Got woken up by a bear shaking me in Yosemite.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Oct 10, 2017 - 07:55am PT
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That looks like a tame goat. My close encounters with goats were accidental, like popping over a ridge and a goat was right there. They seem to avoid people. Anyone have any comments on goat behaviour?
Sheep don't seem to mind people. I was at a parking lot in Jasper Nat park once with my family when a group of about 50 sheep surrounded my van to look at my cocker spaniel.
They just stood there with the closest about 10 feet away from my dog. He was very confused
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Oct 10, 2017 - 08:27am PT
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Anyone have any comments on goat behaviour?
Don’t get me started! My ex researched goats in the Oly NP. They accomodate to people seemingly willingly, especially if you’re covered in sweat. What, you call yerself a climber and haven’t been licked by a Mountain Goat?
He’s giving me the stinkeye cause I was trying to tell him he was done. He wasn’t having it and to emphasis his point he even dropped his head into the skewer position!
“OK, dude, lick away!”
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Oct 10, 2017 - 10:39am PT
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Not exactly a climbing encounter, but an encounter none-the-less on the way to a climb. Bus (Ivan) Couch and I had hiked (you can almost drive the entire way) into the Stone House at the base of Lone Pine Peak in the eastern Sierra. Lone Pine residents often refer to it as “The Monastery,” and a hiker’s manual refers to it as the “Stone House”; it is known by the U.S. Forest Service as the “Tuttle Creek Ashram.” Bud wanted to attempt a first ascent of the south face.
We decided to spend the night on the floor of the house before beginning what became a complete fiasco the next morning. We spread out our sleeping bags and foam pads on the wooden floor and settled in for the night.
Sometime after dozing off I was awakened by a strange intermittent sound – like someone hesitantly using sandpaper to smooth out the splintered floor. Scrape, scrape ... pause. Scrape, scrape ... pause.
Weird, I thought, and cautiously began reaching for the flashlight lying somewhere on the floor around my head. Scrape, scrape … pause. Scrape, scrape … pause, it continued as I groped in the darkness.
When I finally grasped the flashlight and succeeded in lighting up the floor above my head, there facing me over its booty, with its two little beady eyes flashing, staring directly into the glare, totally unshaken in its task, shuffling backward with intense effort, scrape, scrape … pause, was a tiny field mouse obviously straining under the burden of the Almond Joy candy bar it was dragging to some far off haven in the darkness. The glare had interrupted the felony in progress, but then seemingly unshaken, the mouse continued its backward struggle. Scrape, scrape … pause. Scrape, scrape … pause.
I was so impressed with its show of intense determination, I switched off my light and bid the little bugger goodnight. Couch slept through the entire episode.
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Oct 10, 2017 - 10:51am PT
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Was freesoloing Mary's crack at Donner on Schoolhouse rock. I knew some friends who got there ahead of me were already half way up. When I got to the big ledge before the slabs and final crux I discovered that my friend Dustin's big old mutt dog was on the ledge freaking out! My partner and I could not figure out how the heck the dog got up there. Without any other option at hand we decided to top out, run down to the car and get a rope and rig harnesses on the dog. When we topped out we encountered Dustin. "Hey did you guys see my dog at the base?" He queried. "I heard him whining." "Yea we saw him on the belay ledge!" We discussed our rope rescue plan with Dustin while the dog whined and barked profusely. Should we use runners or two harnesses in opposition? We contemplated. Then suddenly we heard panting, huffing and scraping from below. "Holy sheet, the dog is trying to climb the crack!" It was obviously impossibe for a dog to send the far right chicken head crux. So we scampered to the edge of the 5.5 crack above the slab and watched in horror. I remember wondering how we were going to console Dustin. Did we have any trashbags? Would it be quick? Was anyone climbing under the 90lb canine? I remember the look of complete focus on survival in the dogs eyes as he scrambled in four paw drive, desperately clawing his wayup the near vertical offwidth. We prepared emotionally for the worst. Poor dog! Hes gonna crater for sure! We thought. Then to our amazement the big ole scrapper fuhkeeng sent the route! Crazy mutt followed us down the walkoff proudly, albeit a bit dazed by the near death experience. Stupid dog barked constantly as we took turns on short subject. Needless to say, Dustin left the dog at home on subsequent trips.
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Oct 10, 2017 - 10:54am PT
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Ran into alligator lizzards mating while soloing knapsack. Grabbed for a jam on Under the Bigtop at the leap in the big horizontal pocket and pulled out three large dead fish carcasses.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Oct 10, 2017 - 11:50am PT
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Jim Keating and I were headed up to Snake Dike (1975), class 3ing those little headwalls and we came face to face literally with a rattler, we both dropped to the bench, so to speak, but I am sure a number of us have had similar run ins.
Staying in an old dilapidated trailer my first year at Columbia College (1974) found a scorpion in my bed.
And my first encounter with a grizzly, Kupreanof Island, SE AK, just got off the fishing boat I was working on (1977) for a break. It was about 60 feet away across a small inlet. It looked at me, I looked at it, I started walking backwards through the brush. It did not care. I sure as heck did.
Came across other snakes and sharks, but that was covering politics.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Oct 10, 2017 - 12:01pm PT
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Lots of animal encounters in this story
Years ago, we were in the Evolution when a regal marmot addressed us. He was actually the god Poseidon, a fact that we didn't know at the time. He was angry with us for sullying his divine waters with our filth when we went swimming in a tarn.
Poseidon the marmot lured us into the Enchanted Gorge. My brother thinks that Poseidon implanted the idea of the Enchanted Gorge into his head, but I wonder if my brother just smacked his head when he dove into the tarn. Anyway, my brother insisted that trek into the fabled gorge, so we did.
We crossed the Ionian Basin and fought battles with the creatures Charybdis and Scylla in order to enter the underworld of the Enchanted Gorge.
Deep in the Enchanted Gorge, Poseidon punished our transgression by throwing innumerable snakes and mosquitos into our path. My brother even swears that he saw the rank dog Cerberus on the other side of the swollen creek.
We reached the confluence with Goddard Creek, and found there Elysium. We shook the twigs and insects from our clothes, and soothed our bleeding and welded skin in the creek. A beautiful songbird sang to us for an hour while we slept in the warm sand next to the creek.
We climbed Goddard canyon back towards the Ionian basin.
That night, Poseidon put a centipede into my sleeping bag, and I fled the tent so fast that I blew out the door. That night we fed many mosquitos.
When we finally reached the Ionian basin, a goshawk flew to us. It was actually the goddess Circe.
Circe warned us that we would have to spend the rest of our ephemeral existence in an evil place called "modern civilization." She encouraged us to return to the backcountry as often as possible to escape he plagues of civilization. I had only one question for Circe about this dread place called "civilization."
"Are there any snakes or mosquitos?"
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Oct 10, 2017 - 01:03pm PT
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SLR, that first pic is really quite amazing.
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