Scariest moments/mistakes when climbing not resulting in injury

A short section of an article I'm writing on climbing in Australia. " I was leading a scary A4 pitch when this happened right at the crux:   "At the severely overhanging crux, I noticed something protruding out of the flake, which sent my adrenaline through the roof. I recognized it immediately as the legs of a giant spider!  The legs alone were the diameter of a pencil, with long brown hairs, and it moved  fast!  I learned later that it was a giant Huntsman Spider which can grow to ten inches in diameter!  Shit!  To say I was terrified was an understatement.," 

stephen arsenault wrote:

A short section of an article I'm writing on climbing in Australia.  I was leading a scary A4 pitch when this happened right at the crux:   At the severely overhanging crux, I noticed something protruding out of the flake, which sent my adrenaline through the roof. I recognized it immediately as the legs of a giant spider!  The legs alone were the diameter of a pencil, with long brown hairs, and it moved  fast!  I learned later that it was a giant Huntsman Spider which can grow to ten inches in diameter!  Shit!  To say I was terrified was an understatement., 

Pics or it didn't happen....lmao    giant spiders and Australia go together like peas and carrots....  normally encountering a spider I'm like "hand me that stick!!!" ....whilst climbing....pass!!!

Jim U--- I'm not going to get in a pissing contest with you on the net.  It's not worth my time. I'm 80 years old, and have time on my hands, and thought I would post this story which occured 55 years ago, when I was climbing with John Ewbank--a legend in Australia.  There will be a large article published in a few months on Australian climbing, and the editor asked me to contribute, since I climbed with Ewbank.   I suggest you educate yourself and google John Ewbank, and me, for that matter before you make arbitrary comments  about someone you don't know.

I took this photo back in 1970, the same week I encountered that spider.  The book on Ewbank was published this year in Australia, and he told me there were Huntsman Spiders on the cliffs.

Steve, I think Jim was just kidding around, so no need for that response.

stephen arsenault wrote:

Jim U--- I'm not going to get in a pissing contest with you on the net.  It's not worth my time. I'm 80 years old, and have time on my hands, and thought I would post this story which occured 55 years ago, when I was climbing with John Ewbank--a legend in Australia.  There will be a large article published in a few months on Australian climbing, and the editor asked me to contribute, since I climbed with Ewbank.   I suggest you educate yourself and google John Ewbank, and me, for that matter before you make arbitrary comments  about someone you don't know.

I took this photo back in 1970, the same week I encountered that spider.  The book on Ewbank was published this year in Australia, and he told me there were Huntsman Spiders on the cliffs.

So I’m guessing you’ve never heard of “internet rule #1”.    Totally joking with you.  On the ground if I see a snake or spider I’m immediately looking for a stick.  Up on a cliff line somewhere…. Nope I’m squealing like a little girl.

and yah I get it you’re out numbered with the shit that wants to kill you in Australia!

This talk of Giant spiders gave me PTSD.  Not technical climbing related, but several years ago I was exploring a pristine mountain stream in Indonesia.  Came across a big web like a volleyball net stretched across the stream.  Looked like it was made to catch small birds.  Saw a freaky looking spider larger than my hand on the web.  

Now here’s where things get a bit fuzzy as I think I “lost time” briefly in the following moments…

Genius me decided to tap the web to see what the spider would do.  Genius me also failed to note that I was standing down stream…as soon as I touched the web, the spider immediately dropped straight down into the stream and instantly washed up on my thigh. Things went black from there.   When I “came to” and regained my senses the spider was no where to be seen and I was soaking wet and greatful to the fact that I was alone and no one had witnessed whatever it was I did in what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a split second in reality.   Don’t F with spiders bigger than your hand.   And if you do, stand upstream 

Jim U wrote:

So I’m guessing you’ve never heard of “internet rule #1”.    Totally joking with you.  On the ground if I see a snake or spider I’m immediately looking for a stick.  Up on a cliff line somewhere…. Nope I’m squealing like a little girl.

and yah I get it you’re out numbered with the shit that wants to kill you in Australia!

Sorry I took your comment the wrong way.  Have fun down there in TN!

I've had my foot caught behind the rope, I've seen other people having their foot caught behind the rope, but this is new to me - what are the odds of, what looks like, half hitch being tied around the foot?

amarius wrote:

I've had my foot caught behind the rope, I've seen other people having their foot caught behind the rope, but this is new to me - what are the odds of, what looks like, half hitch being tied around the foot?

He didn't just get his foot behind the lead rope. He got it behind the rope between two clipped bolts, then he did a nice karate kick as he fell. Seems like a fairly uncommon set of factors. 

We have several local climbs that move far enough laterally between bolts that, no matter how careful you are, you're likely getting a foot caught in the rope between bolts and going inverted. I really don't like climbing those and usually stick-clip them instead.

Devan Bee wrote:

We have several local climbs that move far enough laterally between bolts that, no matter how careful you are, you're likely getting a foot caught in the rope between bolts and going inverted. I really don't like climbing those and usually stick-clip them instead.

really? Seems like it could be avoided by just not high clipping and by paying attention? What climbs?

Early on in my top rope solo'ing adventures I jammed my devices (2 microtraxions) against the masterpoint knot, which chewed on my rope a bit more than I was happy about. I quickly grabbed my anchor sling, crawled on top of a nearby ledge, and unfucked the system. But I think that could've had a less-than-happy ending if:

A) I didn't have a ledge to scramble onto, or

B) I didn't have a 10.5mm static rope and instead had a dynamic rope that could've been desheathed/compromised in that scenario.

Lesson learned? Get the anchor length right! You can set up a masterpoint on a double length sling, but if that puts the TRS system's anchor knot _below or at_ the end of the climb, then it results in very unsavory device stacking and can make escaping the system very challenging and/or dangerous.

My biggest mistake ever was not climbing fast enough on the Steck-Salathe so we ended up looking for our packs in the dark and then Platinum Robert had a meltdown and started screaming "IT'S FUCKING FIVE NINE! IT'S FUCKING FIVE NINE!" over and over again. Lesson learned!

TRS ice with fixed line and 2 microtrax. Found out the top microtrax was not engaging coz the teeth are all iced over, so I was just relying on one microtrax the whole time, which might also get iced over time

Had one just a couple of weekends ago on the low 5th class 200' approach ramp to the roof routes on Redgarden in Eldo. It looked casual enough to do in approach shoes. It was not, at least not the route I chose. Mildly freaking out about 40 feet up, I girth hitched to a tiny pine tree and perched uncomfortably while changing into my climbing shoes. Lesson learned: when in doubt on a new scramble with deathly consequences, choose the climbing shoes. 

Forgot to share another great one:

I was leading at some remote part of AK. I am from NE and don’t too much experience in alpine rock routes. After passing the initial 5.10- crux (protected by bomber #4) I reached a ledge and clipped a shiny bolt. From that point it was slightly slabby sustained 5.9 ish face climbing in a sea of solid, high friction basalt blobs that had very few down pulling holds, no obvious features/bolts to follow, and almost no crack to place gear. Around 30ft ish above the bolt (couldn’t find any gear yet) I almost barndoored at a slopey traverse and that was scary AF. I managed to calm myself down, then went up another 15ish feet to find a good stance and overlap to place gear. It was the first piece after the bolt. I was so scared that I put 4 pieces (tbf they were all smaller than 0.4) there lol. Turned out to be a good strategy coz anyway there was only 1 other piece of gear (bomber #1) for the next 50ft of climbing to the anchor. I was psyched out of my mind when I clipped the anchor. That’s one of the proudest moment of my climbing life.

That pitch was merely rated 5.10- PG13, but had I actually barndoored there, I would definitely deck on a ledge and hurt myself pretty badly. I know most people on MP can walk up that shit, but that was a powerful experience for myself. Just wanna share a scary, memorable story of a crappy climber being healthily sandbagged by AK hard man ;)

Well, just had another learning moment today.

At the Bihedral in Boulder Canyon, my partner decided to lead Rhodian Shores, a sandbagged slabby sport 10b. The first bolt is pretty high off a ledge, and there's a sizeable runout between the 3rd and 4th bolts. Being overly cautious in case of a leader fall before the first bolt, I girth hitched a triple length sling through a tunnel where two large rocks were leaning against each other sitting on the belay ledge and attached my PAS as a ground anchor. So that's a little under 9 feet of leash. My partner took a fall between the 3rd and 4th bolts, which would have been fine except that they outweighed me by about 35 lbs and I was pulled up toward the first bolt. The ground anchor caught me about halfway to the first bolt. I do believe that without the ground anchor, my partner would have hit the ledge, given the large runout above the 3rd bolt and how far I could have been dragged up to the first bolt.

Oof, that hit me hard. Super glad for that ground anchor. 

Went and attempted a mountain solo. On the way back, across the steep snow field i was sort of squatting on my toes taking a break. Bang my leg post holed and i stabbed my achilles with my crampon! Essentially sitting all my body weight  onto the crampon thats in my leg to avoid loosing my balance and falling down the slope.

I didn’t realize that’s what happened at first. i went to hike onward and my leg was not working and it was very painful. I checked under my sock and saw a fucking hole the size of a marble.

what the fuck you gonna do except hike down… crawl… over cast, clouds getting lower.

Fortunately there was another guy with similar plans as me. He helped me get down. Which took 8 hours to make it back to the TH.

Punctured muscle

Years ago, when I first got into trad, a partner and I started driving to the Whites for a day trip, it started sprinkling, so we turned around. We, mostly he, decided to do a route in smugglers notch. Doing no preparation for this climb, and being young and stupid, we never checked for peregrine closures, and hiked to the cliff from the wrong direction so we missed the “cliff closed” signs.  On The last belay (pitch 5?), just as he started leading the pitch I was dive bombed for probably five minutes, with the bird coming only a few feet from me multiple times. It all ended well, and the last pitch was exposed and amazing, but I was stressed for quite some time at the belay. Although probably not the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, it was the most prolonged feeling of fear I have ever had while climbing.
Now I always check for cliff closures. 

Today was 55 degrees and I got off from work, threw rock gear in my bag and grabbed my ice harness since it was out for the season. I than headed to hit a couple easy sport routes. Set up and started climbing using Grigri on lead rope solo. Lead the route flipped rope over open anchors at top and set back to lower with Grigri. Thats when I see grigri start pulling away from my body very quickly. Grab the wall and look down to see that I had inadvertently clipped my grigri to the loop of my Black Diamond Spinner leash that is girth hitched to my belay loop.  Only thing that was holding my weight was the 2 elastic cords that are supposed to give out under body weight. I have no idea why I am not laying at the base of the cliff right now. Worst part is forgot my helmet in ice climbing pack. Funny how alot of close calls and accidents are on chill days climbing the easy stuff. I got away with something today and it all had to do with luck. Be safe out there!