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superdiamonddave
Mar 16, 2004, 5:18 PM
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I don't know about you, but around here, critters live in them there cracks! I have annoyed bats as I have climbed pass only to have them curse me by "barking" at me. I have also seen centipedes (*shudder*) darting around looking for grub.
But the one I will never forget took place in the Wichitas. I was climbing in a squeeze chimney and ran into a "nest" of daddy long legs spiders. There must have been 200 of them buggers in a massive ball the size of a volleyball. They were just out of my reach and slightly higher and deeper in the crack than me.
Here's the good part: I blew as hard as I could on them and they SCATTERED ALL OVER THE PLACE. Now I'm no big fan of spiders, but luckily I'm not afraid of daddy long legs. Those dudes came down on me and scurried down my clothing and on my head, arms, and legs by the dozens. Yikes! Anyway, Okieterry and I finished the climb with no more encounters that day.
Anyone else have any crack critter stories?
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wonderwoman
Mar 16, 2004, 5:21 PM
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In reply to: Anyone else have any crack critter stories?
:lol: :lol: :lol:
None that I care to admit to!!
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tucsonalex
Mar 16, 2004, 5:27 PM
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Daddy longlegs are not actually spiders and don't bite. Don't worry about 'em, they're harmless.
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ntu_soca
Mar 16, 2004, 5:34 PM
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I was out bouldering one day, and I sat down to do a sit start on a nice little hand crack. Just as i slotted my first hand in the crack. A snake jump out of the crack, and landed pretty much in my lap. I don't know what kind it was just that it was about 2 or 3 feet long. Enough for me to promptly jump up and run away screeming like a litle girl. My nerves never really settled that day.
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rltodd00
Mar 16, 2004, 5:38 PM
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This post made me remember a time I had forgotten. A few years back I was climbing in Potrero Chico on some pocketed wall, I was on lead (cant remember any of the route details), anyway I reach for this big pocket and really jam my left hand in and start to move my right to another when I feel something crawl onto my hand. I wasn’t sure what was happening since I was concentrating on the next move but when I realized there was something in that hole I started to jerk my hand out as fast as I could. Whatever it was bit the hell out of my middle finger before I got it out and of course, I came off. I climbed back up and looked in but couldn’t see what it was (some sort of lizard I think). I didn’t have a reaction to the bite so all was good. Good thing I had forgotten about that otherwise I might be a little apprehensive about grabbing for deep pockets or reaching way back into a crack. Time to forget again.
Rob
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kimmyt
Mar 16, 2004, 5:43 PM
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First time I ever went climbing outside, I stuck my hand in a crack and out crawls this monstrous, prehistoric-sized centipede. Crawled right over my hand, and I was too afraid to let go so I had to just sit and let it slither over me. *shudder*
That, and I was bouldering once at this place with all these little pockets carved out from the wind, and found out once I started climbing that each and every little pocket was filled with the discarded skin of some sort of flying creepy-crawlie that made a disgusting crunch every time i placed my hand. Ugh.
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coldclimb
Mar 16, 2004, 7:05 PM
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I love Alaska. :D Nothing in the cracks here. I did find a crab in a crack in Hawaii once. Nothing more though.
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j_ung
Mar 16, 2004, 7:22 PM
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Just a couple of weeks ago I saw so many lady bugs crammed into a horizontal, that the crack itself was no longer visible. There were enough ladybugs that they dripped out like molasses when I brushed against them. I'm guessing it was tens of thousands of lady bugs, all in one crack.
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scientiffikk
Mar 16, 2004, 7:37 PM
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Snake in pocket, had to use it anyway.
Bat inside crack.
Silverfish that jump down on the lead climber.
Numerous spiders and webs, granddaddy longlegs also.
Tree frog in crack.
Slugs in crack.
Once a frog jumped onto my wife's shoe.
The worst was on a boulder in a grass-filled slot, I was reaching over into it and heard a rattling sound, we think it was a rattlesnake. There was no other way to get onto the boulder to check.
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virginiapine
Mar 16, 2004, 8:37 PM
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I once was startled by an owl that I scared out of a hueco while doing a climb a bit west of the 'Boltsnapper' area at Hueco Tanks... I seems to remember him screeching and me sucking in a lot of air at that moment...
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dynoguy
Mar 16, 2004, 8:58 PM
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Smith Rock- Home of the Killer Pigeons
Okay maybe they never killed anyone but they sure as hell scare the crap out of me when they shoot out of the huecos.
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cliffmonkey2003
Mar 16, 2004, 9:12 PM
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Yah, I had an encounter once at Grand Ledge in Michigan with a bat. I think I was climbing a dihedral and scared it. It flew out of the crack right above my head. And I know the centipedes you're talking about superdiamonddave. I've run into one at the wichitas on Lower Mt. Scott, but luckily it wasn't while I was on a climb. Those things make me shudder just thinkin' about them.
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dorkmaster
Mar 16, 2004, 9:24 PM
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they best one i can think of was the time that my sister pulled a stikitoad out of the crack, and promptly droped it, splattering all over the ground. we still make fun of her about it because she is a vegitarian kill no animals person. She wont admit to doing it though!
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reprieve
Mar 16, 2004, 9:31 PM
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last saturday, I was belaying out at Wilton while my partner was climbing a slab. All of a sudden we hear this rustling above him and two squirrels run out of a hole in the rock and scatter off. They did that a couple more times and we actually ended up climbing a variation of the route to avoid bothering them.
Afterwards, he told me about a day in the past at the same place where a squirrel had actually jumped out of a large pocket he put his hand in, ran down his arm and jumped off of his shoulder!
YOU
SHOULD
HAVE
BOUGHT
A
SQUIRREL
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deleted
Deleted
Mar 16, 2004, 9:33 PM
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Thanks- you have all thoroughly scared the bejesus out of me. I may now have to take up some indoor sport.
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climbersoze
Mar 16, 2004, 9:54 PM
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In reply to: YOU SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A SQUIRREL
Squirrel's rule.
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superdiamonddave
Mar 16, 2004, 9:57 PM
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Wow, I had never heard of some of those. I guess it depends on where you live.
I just remembered some more but they were not it cracks. There were these tiny little squirrel-like things...they might have been chipmunks, running up and down Devil's Tower. They were like 300' feet up our route and I would have swore that they were going to fall off. Also, at Quartz Mtn, there are some wild billygoats that ran right past me on the steep slabs. I was amazed at the way they are so sure footed.
Oh, I gotta tell you about a suicidal garter snake at Cave Creek, Arkansas. I just finished a 60' dihedral and was about to set up a belay and this snake came out of nowhere. Instead of moving out of harms way and scurrying back to the safety of the trees, it leaped right past me and almost hit my belayer on the ground. It started the heck out of me, but I managed to yell "ROCK". The snake took a 60 footer and slithered away. I imagine it probably died of internal injuries but who knows.
I'm curious as to what climbers find in cracks in other countries. I bet there are some creepy things lurking in some of the more remote places.
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coldclimb
Mar 16, 2004, 11:48 PM
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I knocked a squirrel out of a tree from at least 40 feet. It just smacked down and ran off. I think smaller animals can deal with groundfall easier. ;)
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timstich
Mar 17, 2004, 12:39 AM
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Once, many years ago, I went with the infamous Gill Ediger into Brinco cave and ventured into the Crack of Doom. Eidger would announce the crack with a thick Scottish accent. The ramp before the crack was at a 45 degree angle and streamed down water. As Ediger slithered his way up, he caught an eyeful of the narrow crack and paused.
"Damn Stich. I got me a touch of the heebie geebies. It'll go away in a minute."
And so it passed and he thrust his 6'4'' frame into the abyss.
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mcumbrae
Mar 17, 2004, 1:20 AM
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The crags nearby my hometown crawl with animal life, specially during summer. You can even see some desert tarantulas, scorpions and black widow spiders around, just to name the scariest... luckily i´ve only seen them from a distance. If they are somewhere near the route i´m climbing i turn somewhere else. It is not like i´m a sissy and loathe the little fellas, but it sure sux to get bitten. A friggin´ wasp stung me twice before i could get past it... it feels like a cigarrette burn. :x
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g
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Mar 17, 2004, 1:22 AM
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I've ran into my share of animals and insects. Just a week and a half ago a chuckwalla (a large lizard) scared the crap out of me when it moved in a crack at Red Rocks. What's worse is it got me again when I climbed the crack just to the left of where he was. When I heard the movement, the first thing that popped into my mind was a friend who got bit by a rattle snake while crack climbing.
Yes, rattle snakes do show up in cracks at Devils Tower occassionally. I think it was about two years ago when one was repeatedly spotted in Assembly Line. Sadly those chipmunks on the Tower sometimes fall to their deaths, but I've always been pretty impressed with their skill.
The most dangerous things I've ever ran into at the Tower (or on any climb, and I'm excluding other people of course) are those flying ants that are sometimes up top, and once I came upon bees in the crack on McCarthy West (Hong Var.). I was not happy, it is hard enough to climb with out them.
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daggerx
Mar 18, 2004, 4:35 AM
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Lets see on rock im seen Copperheads and rattlesnakes, I was in the red 2 years ago climbing a finger crack at long wall and their was a copperhead in it about 1/4 way up. I had just hand jamed below it and not seen it when i came up to were it waS i did not see it, I started to hand jam and it muct have been going to bite me. I slipped and fell maby 10 feet to only hear my belayer yelling &#(@^&@(#&#(@!& a copper head just flew out of that crack. Also have seen many bugs, spiders, lizards, bee's and wasps. I hate running up on a wasp nest whcih happens more then you would think. Going up class 4+ peaks I have seen elk, fox, sheep, goats, mtn. lion a couple foxs, all were I was having trouble going.
DX
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roughster
Mar 18, 2004, 4:52 AM
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When I did the East Buttress of El Cap, I got to the top of Pitch 9 and set up the belay. From out of the blue I started hearing a frog croaking. Looked over and sitting right under small overhang plain as day was a huge frog. Was crazy considering here I was probably a 1,000 feet off the ground and there is a giant frog stuck in some hole in the middle of the cliff! That thing probably never moved more than a few inches in its entire life.
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jfk
Mar 18, 2004, 4:59 AM
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I once found myself half-way up a route, when out of the depths of the crack this horribly angry hissing started. I couldn't see it what it was, but the critter seemed to located somewhere between my lower handjam, and my foot. Completely freaked my out. I quickly climbed past it, and the noise softened a bit, but every time I'd move and the rope would rattle the quickdraws, the hissing would begin in full fury.
I finished the pitch, and then proceeded to get into an argument with my belayer. He insisted that I rap the route and clean the pitch. Myself, I really didn't want to get anywhere back near the screaming thing in the crack, so I insisted that he second the route.
Somehow, in the end, I talked him into it, and he followed, but managed to avoid most of the crack and work his way up the face, which he dobbed, the Monster in the Crack Variation.
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