Snakes on Pitches

A few years ago I climbed Bushwack Crack in LCC. I set up a top-rope for my partner, lowered out and he started up the route. About half way up he started screaming that there was a snake in the crack, between two of my pieces of gear. While it was just a small, non-poisonous one, I totally missed him on my way up. Must have jammed directly on top of him with out ever noticing... Just glad it wasn't one of the big rattlers we have around here.

I still say ticks are the worst...........

Rattlers love the sun!

My friend almost stepped on this guy hiking to the Tongue Mountain cliffs on Sunday.

A bit off topic, but this Bull Snake at Phil's World was unimpressed with my (still) 29" bike tire. "S-s-s-s-s-sooo 2014" he said. Then he slowly slithered under a nice flat rock just off trail murmuring about 28.125" being all the rave now, and also about a few sandy but good boulder problems in the vicinity.

Phil's bull snake

Coiled up in my rope
This lil guy was coiled up in my rope, we became belay buddies.

So I had a combo deal with two snakes climbing at Pinnacles National Park in California. I was leading a 5.11b and was struggling to find holds so my mom pointed out some holds to the right of me which led up into a crack. After reaching the crack I looked inside and came face to face with a snake. I started moving around to the left but then things got interesting...

As I kept moving up my belayer yelled "look out!" and I saw something go over my head. I turned around to see that there was a snake falling through the air behind me after it launched itself from the cliff!!

If I find any pictures from this event I will add them later.

Rattlesnake that fell from above

This guy fell from the cliff face above the belayer where a climber was climbing at Castle Rock in CA. It fell right onto the rope bag and onto the rope itself, right next to where the belayer was standing. It was stunned for a brief moment - long enough I could grab my camera and get a shot of it before it slithered off into the bush nearby. Belayer was super cool and never freaked out once. The climber didn't even know there were rattlesnakes falling on us from above. I considered the climb "clear of snakes" and headed up the route right after.

Rattler guarding the base of a nice crack at Indian Creek

After climbing all day at Indian Creek in Utah, we decided to hit up one last climb in the afternoon sun. We headed over to the base of the climb, and sitting coiled up right where we were gonna start our climb was this beautiful little rattlesnake. Though the sight of us made it head out from the sun and into a nearby corner, we thought better of trying our luck there and headed home for beers instead.

Never screamed like a little girl from snakes on a route (got so used to Copperheads in NC and rat snakes scattering with every step after it rains) and thought I was safe from scary wildlife up here in WI.

Then, shwacking up Turks Head in Devils Lake right after the first talus, one of these guys came scurrying across my hand while unroped about 12 feet off the deck. By scurrying across my hand, I mean covering the entirety of my hand, me recoiling in horror, and then noping the fuck off the wall.

Fishing spider - not my picture

The nature center told me how lucky I was to see one in Devils Lake...

snakes don't bother me but if I saw that spider I am letting go whether I am clipped in or not.

When I was out climbing the other day I came across one of these:

jake the snake

Almost stepped on this four-footer in the Gunks.

Sometimes it seems like the Gunks has as many snakes as climbers.

I once put my hand in a horizontal on Strictly From Nowhere to find a rat snake waiting there.

Also: bats.

Prairie rattlesnake found on the trail at the Lookout Mountain crag. This one had been run over by a bike but it weren't dead, yet.

about stepped on this beauty on trail at undisclosed crag in NC.

Looking Glass near Hyperbola

Sean Cobourn wrote:

I would be pretty happy to see one of those - I've seen literally hundreds of nasty copperheads in central NC, but never a timber rattlesnake. Plus, they are pretty hard to make bite you, and even if you somehow get bitten by one, they don't normally dry bite and run.