Snakes on Pitches

While walking down from the top of a climb in Central MO I came around the corner and almost stepped on a rattlesnake. It was stretch out straight and my boot landed about an inch from its tail. We both had an "Oh shit!" moment then went opposite directions.

I almost stepped on a baby rattlesnake coiled up in the talus field in the trapps last fall.

There was a huge (6' +) thick eastern black racer that liked to hang out in the big horizontal crack on Horseman where you make the move out of the corner onto the traverse. Especially when it starts getting colder because that part of the crack pumps out heat for some reason. That is exciting reaching into the horizontal and grabbing a snake the size of a tree limb!

No picture but first time climbing white lightning at table rock in NC I got up to the first small ledge to find a rattle snake. I decided to go ahead and keep climbing another 10-15ft before I put my first piece of protection because I didn't want to bother him and get bit.

I have had lots of encounter with rattlesnakes in Yosemite, and remember hearing about a prominent climber being bitten on the hand while free climbing a route on half dome, and nearly losing some digits.
I climbed at Quartz Mountain once in Oklahoma and there were rattlesnakes literally everywhere. It was freaky, how many there were, on the approach, on boulders, under boulders, on ledges of the climbs.

climbing friend,

motherfuckin snakes

About 10 years ago I was walking through the Gunks Uberfall and heard a yelp, followed by the sound of something heavy rushing through the air. I looked up to see a leader taking a MASSIVE swinging fall from the traverse through the corner. Probably 30-40' all told.

Turns out he was on the hand traverse and grabbed a snake that was hanging out inside the horizontal and in a panic he just pushed off and pitched off backwards. He didn't like snakes very much before the incident, even less so afterward.

This thread reminds me why I enjoy ice climbing, no snakes.

At a small, obscure sport crag in NW Los Angeles last summer. Cruising up a short 5.11 with juggy pockets, when I deadpoint for a solid, and necessary, pocket. I feel something furry and hear a loud EEETCHEEETCHEEETCHEEETCHEEETCH and snatch my hand out of there. Must have scared the shit out of this bat, so I go in direct, lower a bight of rope, and have my buddy tie a stick to it to flush the bat out so I can finish the route. Now I don't like going there quite so much. They carry rabies, and you never know which one is just a shape-shifted vampire.

I was reading a comment here on MP for a route at Taqhuitz, where someone reminisces about the time his partner shoved his hand into a crack, yelled something, and yanked a big rattler out of the crack and sent it flying hundreds of feet to the base without getting bit. That place is teeming with them.

anyone have pictures of the rattler some climbers ate and killed down in mexico last year?

I was in the RRG one summer (luckily a mild one) and I pulled up onto a ledge and heard and then saw a copperhead. I just let go hahah. This came just after me saying how I was scared I would encounter one and my buddies told me I was being crazy.

My partner shrieked while setting a top rope. I thought for a second he was falling even though I saw him tether in. Every snake he sees is a dangerous pit viper.

As a result of this thread, I had a scary dream last night. I was hiking back to the car from Taqhuitz, and rattlers were everywhere. My dog, (that I haven't seen since I was 17 because it was my dad's ex's dog and she kept it,) got bit. Then I went to the vet and for some reason I didn't have any clothes on and then my teeth fell out.

Disaster Franklin wrote:As a result of this thread, I had a scary dream last night. I was hiking back to the car from Taqhuitz, and rattlers were everywhere. My dog, (that I haven't seen since I was 17 because it was my dad's ex's dog and she kept it,) got bit. Then I went to the vet and for some reason I didn't have any clothes on and then my teeth fell out.

Seen plenty of copperheads at crags around the New River Gorge. Had to skip a few placements due to snakes chilling in horizontals and huecos on routes.

Climbing for years in Taiwan has supplied me with enough viper encounters to last me for some time. The worst was having two bamboo vipers (aggressive!) fall into my rope bag while on a 5x6 foot ledge.Also ran into a few seasnakes coiled and cammed into vertical cracks after typhoons.

Speaking of creepy crawly climbing stories, I have been covered in literally hundreds of spiders on route after clearing a web that concealed a hueco full of hatchlings. Gross.

BrianWS wrote:Speaking of creepy crawly climbing stories, I have been covered in literally hundreds of spiders on route after clearing a web that concealed a hueco full of hatchlings. Gross.

Was climbing at the NRG at the Endless wall getting ready to sport climb when a climber who previously climbed it came to are rescue and told us there was a copperhead about 40 feet up. if I would of saw it climbing you'd think a 10 year old girl was up there along with a pretty nice fall ✌