How hungry are the marmots ?

I'm planning a overnight camping/hiking/climbing trip to the Grand Teton park and hope this isn't a silly question .... I notice car owners wrapping their parked cars in plastic to prevent hungry marmots from chewing their vehicles wiring. Do hikers/ climbers have to worry about hungry marmots chewing packs or even climbing ropes if left unattended, or  overnight ?

I met the bravest marmot I've ever known on the lower saddle of the Grand Teton. It literally came up to us as we were lounging and snacking. I think it would have stolen a bite if we looked the other way. I'm sure they would dig through an unattended pack with food in it. I haven't heard anything about them eating sweaty pack straps or ropes in the Tetons. They don't hang out in the parking lot, so don't worry about anything with your car; this isn't the bugs. 

I had a marmot eat the tongue of my shoes when I left them at the base of Petit Grepon. 

I have never seen that in decades in the park. Marmots are up higher. Porcupines on the other hand are known for crewing on vehicles now and then. It is a bigger issue in Bugs though.

A particularly hungry marmot in titcomb basin (Wind Rivers) once chewed through my bivvy sack, ate part of my sleeping pad, the socks I had left in there, and destroyed my approach shoes. I had put several large rocks on top of all of my things while I was away… The marmot managed to push most of the rocks on my bivvy sack aside, in his quest for the socks! Respect the marmots!!

You don't want to test them.  They'll rip out your tent to get what's inside!

I left a small chunk of chocolate in the tent at the Lower Saddle one morning. A Marmot chewed a hole in the tent, ate the chocolate. It was so small it must have pissed him off. It then peed and shat right where my head goes on my sleeping bag. 

"Respect the Marmot."

I don't have special insight into Teton marmot behavior. But generally:

1) When they come out of hibernation, marmots are extra driven to try to drag your entire backpack back to their hidey-hole. Be extra vigilant early in the season. Critters will be more persistent than you are vigilant, regardless of the season.

2) Critters might be motivated as much by your salt as your caloric stash. Do you have a plan B for when some critter has eaten you pack straps? Ropes? Helmet chin straps? I haven't gotten up the will to bring a salt lick into a national park, but sometimes the vermin charismatic mega-fauna make me want to.

3) There are a range of other vermin charismatic mega-fauna that like to chew your stuff. Pack rats are agents of chewed mayhem in places that marmots do not dare but you do. Crows and ravens will peck the eyes out of your goods. Not a problem in the Tetons, but I've slept in a log cabin that was gnawed on all night by a porcupine and there's a fat ringtail that lives at the base of Birdland in Red Rocks. And in the day, some creature in the north cascades climbed up the campsite's bear-proof hanging arrangement and bit the top off all the peanut M&Ms and ate the peanut out from inside the chocolate shell. And Belding's ground squirrels ought to be represented in a line-up of usual suspects in Tuolumne. Lawyers for all these critters are getting ready to serve me with a class-action lawsuit, but I speak the truth.

The fattest marmot I've ever seen lives at the spur to Mt Whitney where everyone puts their pack down and ambles the last couple of miles along the ridge to the summit...

"Respect the marmot." A curious phrase. Is arsenic generally regarded as a sign of respect? Gemini tells me "No, arsenic is not a sign of respect:" How to resolve this paradox? I'm so not advocating arsenic in national parks. But respect? I'm rooting for the predators...

I feel like I've been warned .... watch out for the hungry ones

Gee Dubble wrote:

You have not “noticed” “wrapping vehicles in plastic”

Would plastic actually work? Every time I've seen vehicle protection it was done with chicken wire netting.

Gee Dubble wrote:

You have not “noticed” “wrapping vehicles in plastic”

that would be insane.

Early season marmots are a problem with human salt and food 

The picture posted by to OP seems to be making the rounds and likely from Sequoia - Kings Canyons where the NPS does advise people to wrap their vehicles to prevent marmot intrusions. That is new to me. Fortunately, the Teton marmots have not been problematic. That may be because they tend to live up higher and further from valley floor. But as I noted the porcupines have at times.

Allen Sandersonwrote:

The picture posted by to OP seems to be making the rounds and likely from Sequoia - Kings Canyons where the NPS does advise people to wrap their vehicles to prevent marmot intrusions. That is new to me.

Thanks for the link. It explains my comment above:

“Physically block marmots by driving over a tarp and then wrapping it around your entire vehicle. Cover the wheel wells. Wrapping chicken wire around the vehicle is no longer advised, as marmots have learned to get around the wire.”