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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 23, 2010 - 01:25am PT
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I was on the Spire One Conn route in a 110ft chimney which is a huge gash that you fully submerse yourself in and pinches off after about 50ft that makes it feel overhanging which is strange for a 5.5. But any way I am at the crux squeeze and I look down and by brother and his buddy are freaking out and I honestly thought they had farted or something they were acting so weird when I look up and there is this fairly large animal running up and down the crack looking very angry above my head. It was fairly large, like the size of a medium size racoon with longer arms really sharp looking claws and a blackish devil head that looked like it wanted to eat my guts. It was running up and down the chimney to within what seemed like inches on several occasions and freaked teh sh#t out of me. We looked on the net for a long time but Pine martins seemed like the most likely candidate but the animal I saw seemed bigger than most of the descriptions I could find. How big do they get and they must climb fairly well as this was on a ledge that by for the easiest way up to is the climb I am on. Any way needless to say I backed off the route and have never seen one since. This is in the Black Hills Needles
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mark miller
Social climber
Reno
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Sep 23, 2010 - 01:40am PT
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Their Awesome as most wild animals are. My favorite memories are of being in the Valley a pitch or 2 up and seeing a bobcat walk through, awesome. We get to see Bear's frequently but a bobcat doing his rounds is stunning.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 02:15am PT
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Wolverine. Pucker factor four.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Sep 23, 2010 - 10:15am PT
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It was probably a Fisher by what you describe. They are bigger than pine martens. I don't think that pine martens live in the Dakotas anyways... google it as I'm too lazy too.
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Maysho
climber
Soda Springs, CA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:06am PT
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Here ya go, these are from open access sites, we use these photos in our youth forest science programs.
American Marten
Fisher, yes it is super cute, but one of the fiercest hunters in the woods, one of the only creatures that can kill a porcupine, it flips it over and rips out the stomach.
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:11am PT
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Wow, that sounds wild Mike!
The chances of you seeing a wolverine in the lower 48 are nil.
Saw one here in Montana last summer...just sayin
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:14am PT
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Aye, guess I forgot MT doesn't qualify as lower 48...
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Greg Barnes
climber
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:29am PT
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Martins are really wary of people, it's pretty rare to see one in any way other than high-tailing it away from you. Except in Tuolumne, there was one that would hang out near the top of Cathedral and check people out (in late season). And there was one that runs around hunting and totally ignores climbers (actually ran around us up the wall and back down) at the base of Drug Dome and nearby domes.
The chances of you seeing a wolverine in the lower 48 are nil. My brother and I got a good look at one in Idaho in the late '90s, some back roads not too far from City of Rocks.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:30am PT
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Wolverines have been known to make their way into California...
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:39am PT
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martens are about one-fourth the size of a fisher. they're doing a study in wisconsin where the fishers seem to be crowding out the martens. the key seems to be undergrowth--the martens do best in really thick growth.
i flushed a pine marten while skiing mt. piņos in southern california last winter--barreled out of a ponderosa and scampered away downslope. i tried chasing it, but it started going through thick growth and that was that. i looked 'em up after that--not supposed to be this far south, but my identification was fairly positive. i took it as a good omen. why not?
btw, it's marten, and it's a species of weasel. a martin is a large swallow and apparently getting endangered because starlings kick 'em out of nesting places.
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hooblie
climber
from where the anecdotes roam
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Sep 23, 2010 - 01:50pm PT
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t-bury, if it's any consolation, back before montana was discovered by hollywood and the trophy home moguls, my sister thought it was quaintly quizzical that i would take up residence in MT. she assured me that it was nothing negative.
in fact, "when people think of montana, they generally think pleasant thoughts." she said,
"it's that they generally don't think of montana."
i'm not saying she was a futurist.
in the alaskan interior, salmon are hauled out of the rivers all summer, destined to be fed to teams of huskies, which are are either raced or run on traplines (or both)and the winter's production of pelts, primarily marten is the measure of the season's success. the above is the typical style of the hat that is the end result of all that effort.
there's no arguing with something that does the job so well.
of course i had to be different, so i went with beaver.
marten is softer, less ticklish, and not so ... big.
over at the hanger i was reworking my survival kit after relocating to the southwest, i decided to take the hat over to the house so my gf could see it and without a thought tossed it on her table.
i was right behind her when she discovered it. WOW, did that ever precipitate
an electrifying screamfest. even the second hand jolt was intense.
pretty clearly, i was not in alaska any more
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TKingsbury
Trad climber
MT
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Sep 23, 2010 - 01:54pm PT
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Interesting how it turns out eh?
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Sep 23, 2010 - 02:10pm PT
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A good friend has seen a wolverine in the Sierra. Rare, but they are out there.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 23, 2010 - 04:52pm PT
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I remember it as bing the size of a fox, but it was very good at climing. I sure it was not a wolverine unless it was a juvenile as I would say it weighed 15-20 pounds. i will try to post a pic of the climb as I am sure it is the only way it got up there as it is basically a boulder that is 11o feet tall that then has two more huge boulders on top of that and it turns into a spire. It is all stone up there as well there is not turf dirt or any kind or reason I could figure for it to go up there. Definately not spirle size. Mike
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Sep 23, 2010 - 07:53pm PT
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My dog treed a fisher in the woods near our house, a few years back. It was a tough-looking critter with long claws I could see from the ground, 20 feet below. Heavier-bodied than its weasel family relatives.
I was really glad that fisher decided to climb instead of make a stand and fight it out with my dog.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Sep 23, 2010 - 08:09pm PT
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THere is a pine marten that tours the far side of the Tuolumne across from A loop in the campground. They pester the people who over winter looking for food.
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hossjulia
Social climber
Eastside
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Sep 23, 2010 - 08:11pm PT
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Pate, you need to get out of Colorado.
The chances of you seeing a wolverine in the lower 48 are nil.
The only reason I think you probably did not see a Fisher is that they only live on the far Northern border these days.
Uh, negatory dear, while not common, both have been spotted in the Sierra within the past few years. See Pine Martin all the time in the winter.
We also have River Otters and Beaver.
Wow, to see a Fischer up close, teeth, claws and all would have been awesome, and a bit scary.
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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Sep 23, 2010 - 08:36pm PT
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Hey Mike. me and a buddy swear that it was a pine marten we saw off a spur canyon in Camp Remington last year. The pics above of one looks just like what we saw.
Maybe were being invaded or could be someone let some loose.
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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Sep 23, 2010 - 08:47pm PT
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Pate's photo surely does not look like a Marten.
Martens are not at all rare in the Sierra, but I'm not sure of their range.
There used to be one habitually spotted near the Jenny Lake ranger
station in the Tetons.
A Fisher came within 35ft of me, twice, in Mt Lassen Nat'l Park, though
that was nearly 20 years ago.
Martens can climb pretty well, on rock as well as tree.
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bringmedeath
climber
la la land
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Sep 23, 2010 - 11:03pm PT
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Oh I am an idiot, I never have made my way to this rad looking climbing area, and didn't fully realize where it was located, so martens probably occur there. But I doubt you would bail from seeing a pine marten. They aren't really that intense to instill fear in one.
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