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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 30, 2009 - 03:33pm PT
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Rapid fire threads from the Yosemite Climbing Rangers today as we wait for our Epi-training to begin in 45 minutes...I'm waiting for Max the Rookie to jump in...
Well people, it's that time of year again. The bears are patrolling the base of El Cap on a regular basis. It looks like the clan of Bear #46 has returned with a vengeance. There is at least one other bear regularly looking for calories at the base. We have had several bear sightings and at least two haul bag ripped into. I've also had a report of a bear bluff charging a climber 4 times until finally giving up the game. I have to hand it to the girl who held her ground in that situation! I imagine there have been many more incidents that haven't been reported.
Last year I carried loads of water to the base for our Mescalito trip, and foolishly left them inside a haul bag. They were all brand new store bought gallons. The point is: these bears are so conditioned to climbers leaving food around that they will systematically check out any closed container to look for calories.
Yesterday Max and I were cruising the base, and saw several questionable hangs that could easily be "beared." Let me explain what works:
-Food can be stored at the base as you prepare for a wall in a Yosemite Wilderness approved Bear Cannister.
-Food can be hung from an anchor on the wall as long as it is at least 25' off the ground, without ropes that directly attach to the food bags/haulbag hanging to the ground.
-It also can't be stored on the wall if the climbing to the bags is 5.9 or easier....Seriously.
Yesterday we observed a bear begin to down climb the slab below Mescalito's first pitch. There was a bag of food hung on the slab that he clearly wanted to get into, but decided he couldn't pull the 5.11 upside down slab moves that it took to get the last 6 feet. If he tried and fell that would be sad.
So lets all work harder on our food storage at El Cap and everywhere else. If you bring food to the base of a climb, you need to bring it all with you once you leave the ground. We don't want to be the responsible group for another bear casualty!!
Thanks for the help and support,
Jesse McGahey
Yosemite Climbing Ranger
(209) 372-0360
jesse_mcgahey@nps.gov
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
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May 30, 2009 - 03:36pm PT
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Do the bears not just play golf (or hockey, or kickball or whatever) with bear cannisters?
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2009 - 03:56pm PT
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They bat the cannisters around a bit, but they can't get inside them. Of course, no one should leave them close to a drop off, slab, or steep slope.
This is a really good method that is worry free, does not require you to fix any pitches, and doesn't attract the scrutiny of other hazardous mammals such as Climbing Rangers.
We rent them out from the Wilderness Center for $5 a trip. Pretty cheap if you ask me.
Word,
Jesse
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
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May 30, 2009 - 03:58pm PT
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"...doesn't attract the scrutiny of other hazardous mammals such as Climbing Rangers."
hehe
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J. Werlin
climber
Cedaredge
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May 30, 2009 - 04:02pm PT
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Epi-Training?
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Holdplease2
Big Wall climber
Yosemite area
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May 30, 2009 - 04:12pm PT
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While trying to fix recently bears dug through the gear repeatedly, bit into water bottles, and sat within 25 feet of us for the larger part of the day waiting for us to make the mistake of moving too far from our small supply of food for fixing.
The bear canister may be necessary for even small portions of food that you plan on having with you to eat during the day if you are going to take a couple of days to fix.
At one point, while my partner was sitting on a rock sorting gear, the bear came up behind her without her noticing, with his head less than 3 feet from her head. She had no food. I hate to imagine if she had moved suddenly and startled him into swatting at her.
We have seen three separate bears and had extensive interaction with all of them. They have not managed to get any food, as we hung it high from cams in a crack and kept daily food close at hand.
One did grab my blackberry and tear off the silicon case and eat half of that. Perhaps because it had some sort of food residue on it? I don't know.
I don't like hearing about bears charging people. This worse that I've seen it in five years of spending extensive time at the base. The woods between AO wall and T.Trip are littered with shredded food waste.
Its important to note that hanging from trees does NOT work. Bears climb trees very well.
-Kate.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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May 30, 2009 - 04:23pm PT
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no joke...
they're here
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WBraun
climber
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May 30, 2009 - 04:46pm PT
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I talked to all the bears and they told me they're old Indians from the past and have come back in this life as bears to harass the white mans ass for their past crimes against humanity.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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May 30, 2009 - 04:53pm PT
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Hmmmm, seems like there'd be a better way.
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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May 30, 2009 - 04:57pm PT
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Right on Werner, I can believe this. Also gotta believe some of those reincarnated bears climbed 5.9 or better BITD they were Ahwahneechees!
Peace
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quietpartner
Trad climber
Moantannah
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May 30, 2009 - 05:12pm PT
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Doesn't anyone use bearspray?
It works (usually) on the grizzlies up here.
Except when the wind's blowing in your face.
Except when it's past the due date. A couple of mountain bikers emptied two cans on a grizzly that finally ran off when a third biker hove into view.
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noshoesnoshirt
climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
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May 30, 2009 - 05:19pm PT
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reprint of an old post, but kinda funny, in a horrible way:
---------------------------------------------------------
So I was staying in C4 a few years ago with my buddy "Jimmy". We had a break-in in the beater Subaru wagon we drove out in, even though we had no food in the car. some bear was appearently tearing things up that fall.
A couple of days later we were hanging around a mostly deserted C4 about 11:00 AM with some Canadian hitchhiker dude from the next campsite while a bunch of Spaniards made pancakes at another site across the way. The Spaniards were distracted by something and moved away from the picnic table, and we watched as some bear ambled over and began eating the pancake fixins. The Spaniards hollered and waved and the bear kept on eating. The Spaniards eventually disappeared in the direction of the kiosk.
About 15 minutes later an official pick-up parked in front of our site and a uniformed dude and two uniformed chicks got out. The dude let a black lab out of the back of the truck. The dog promptly treed a squirrel and the dude went chasing after it. The dog started running circles around the tree with the dude following. The dude chased the dog around the tree, occasionally reversing direction, for a couple of minutes. When the dude finally caught the dog, he dragged him back to the truck, chucked him in a cage, and left the two chicks with a dart gun and various sundry gear. One of the chicks put the rifle to her shoulder and fired, scoring a hit squarely on the offending bruin. Said bruin hightailed it off into the pines past the YOSAR site. The YOSAR dudes, who had been watching the scenario, jumped on their fleet of beater bikes and got outta C4. The two chicks walked into the pines following the bear.
After about 15 minutes, one of the chicks came towards our camp. She walked up and asked us if we would like to help them carry abear out of the woods. Jimmy said hell no, y'all need to leave those bears alone. The Canadian dude said sure. I said OK (the chick was kinda hot). We followed the chick into the pines and came upon a weird scene.
The other chick was standing over a quivering bear holding a pole with a syringe affixed to one end. She was jabbing (not poking man, she was exerting some force) the bear with the non-syringe end of the stick, and if it so much as twitched a lip, she would turn the stick around and dose the bear with some sort of giant-killer sedative. After a number of pokes the bear was motionless, you could hardly see it breathing. Meanwhile I was chatting up the other rangerette. I told her about our car getting broken into (we had no food whatsoever in it), and she seemed to sympathise. She asked me if I thought this was the bear that did it. I said I didn't know (hell, they all look alike to me). She then asked me a question that still slays me.
"Well, this one's not going to do anything. Do you want to kick it?"
I politely declined and helped the chicks and the Canadian dude heave the fallen bruin onto a stretcher and back to the (recently re-arrived) truck.
So that's my story.
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kent
Trad climber
SLC, Ut
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May 30, 2009 - 06:22pm PT
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10 days ago my buddy and I were chased/stalked from the base of i guess the aquarian wall area to about the nose. We had come around a corner on our approach to lurking fear and a large bear was going through some climbers backpack about 30 ft away. It immediately started walking towards us. We had a haulbag filled with water bottles that it must have wanted to check out. We started yelling and throwing rocks at the ground to scare it away. We moved away slowly while yelling and rock throwing. It just kept coming at us at the same speed until eventually we are around the nose area. Other climbers on el cap must have enjoyed watching and listening to us scream like pubescent teenagers...
What would you guys suggest to do in this situation?
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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May 30, 2009 - 06:24pm PT
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Well, don't throw your rocks at the ground.......You have a target, let 'er rip.
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kent
Trad climber
SLC, Ut
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May 30, 2009 - 06:35pm PT
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well the rocks were also thrown in the bears direction. I didn't want to actually hit the bear and then get mauled by it in retaliation.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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May 30, 2009 - 06:41pm PT
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Thanks for the word, Jesse!
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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May 30, 2009 - 07:10pm PT
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Long time ago they used to dump the garbage in a special area up at Merced Lake HSC. Everytime the garbage went out it was two or three guys taking it because a pack of really big bears was just waiting to go through it. The bears in the park are so much smaller now because they don't have the access to goodies their predecessors had. Anyway someone always carried a slingshot out to the dump. You had to shoot at the bears to shoo them away from the dump. I remember shooting one particular bear, had to have been 300lbs plus, really hard with a rock, using a Wham-o sling shot. The thing didn't even flinch but just looked at me with the most penetrating stare like he was taking my name and number for a later encounter. I felt a combination of terrible and scared shi*less. Hiking around there after that I always thought that thing was just waiting behind a tree somewhere! I'm not sure rocks are such a good idea.
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msiddens
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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May 30, 2009 - 09:45pm PT
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Good lord, I hope bears don't start chipping the approach pitches. Just think of all the damage they'll do with the chisel! OH, if ONLY they had opposable thumbs!
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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May 31, 2009 - 02:18am PT
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As of last June there was a little cub, cute little guy, patrolling Half Dome really hard. That little guy climbed some fixed lines on the 1st pitch of the regular route that were hanging on blank slab (just right of the 10c first pitch). He scaled 20' up with no problem and was latched to my food bag. It took a lot of effort to chase him away. I won't underestimate them again.
This guy was incredible, he came back later to display his climbing skills by going to the top of a small pine and frollicking around. He would hang by one front paw from the top branches, then let go, falling through the branches, catching himself in the middle of the tree only to repeat the process. It was an amazing acrobatic sight. Poor guy will probably get shot soon if we don't do our part and store our food properly...
Thanks for the reminder Jesse.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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May 31, 2009 - 02:53am PT
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if these rangesr don't do sometin, i'm gonna kill all these bears.
this is stupid.
how many years?
forever a problem?
hey, do you guys like bear jerky?
just put some of that in the haul bag and make them canibals.
i pushed a bear off glacier one year.
i felt so bad, to punish myself, i climbed the apron during the fireall.
usually a 5.9, the falling burning debris bumps the anty to 11,67.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
North of the Owyhees
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May 31, 2009 - 10:10am PT
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Stupid bears.......Arrrggh.
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Ottawa Doug
Social climber
Ottawa, Canada
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May 31, 2009 - 10:19am PT
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Thanks a ton Jesse for all the info, all of it useful! Hope to see you this Sept./Oct.
Mungeclimber, I think I have a pic of that bear as well, at the base of Lurking Fear no doubt. He came to visit us as we were launching one morning.
Cheers,
Doug
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Eastside
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May 31, 2009 - 10:59am PT
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You guys! I can't believe this, no wonder the bears aren't afraid of people, what a bunch of wussies.
When a bear comes around and even thinks about getting my food, or whatever, I get big and mean, yell, make aggressive hissing and huffing noises, throw rocks or whatever is handy at it to HIT IT!
And then when I get it running, chase it a hell of a lot more than 25 feet. Try about a mile. I want that bear to think I am the worst thing it has ever run into, and hopefully, it will be a little more leary of people after that.
All they want is you food, not you, and most of them are big scardy cats.
HOWEVER, I know their body language, I have lived with them for 12 years, and I know when one is NOT bluffing. I make sure I have something to duck behind in case one charges me, which has never happened.
When I run into them being bears in their territory, they usually bolt, but if they don't, I still scuffle my feat and do just enough to spook them and establish alpha. I don't chase them or anything like that, I just want to let them know that people are alpha.
This is all for their own good! The more they get used to people, the shorter their life and the more likelihood they die a horrible death and live an unnatural life.
Don't just stand there and look at them when they stroll through camp. Scare the crap out of them!
I have hurled bottles, pots, rocks, empty cans, whatever I have. The best? An empty can that had been used to scoop lime out of a bag for porta a potties (illegal now). Hit the bear right on the nose, who was dragging a cooler off backwards and growling at me. (not my cooler)He yelped, started crying, and tore off like a shot, dropping the cooler.
Every encounter a bear gets like that one could just give him pause the next time.
They are very smart critters, complacency on our part is turning them in to big, ill behaved pets!
Be mean to them and save their lives!
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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May 31, 2009 - 11:11am PT
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Hossjulia-
I'm with you. I was trained in bear lore by Chuck Pratt when I first came to the Valley and your philosophy is almost word for word the same as his. He especially emphasized that we needed to be aggressive with the young ones just out on their own, so they would be trained properly from the beginning. It also helps to camp at the top of the hill so that they will just naturally run downhill away from you. In the old days this meant they ran straight down through the tourists' campers and pets. The barking dogs further emphasized the point.
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tooth
Mountain climber
Guam
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May 31, 2009 - 04:22pm PT
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Throwing Rocks always worked for me in C4.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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May 31, 2009 - 04:29pm PT
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Hard to believe big hairy homos are cause for so much concern.
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tadhunt
Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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May 31, 2009 - 04:39pm PT
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"There's a bear over there!"
May 26, 2009 -- Touching down at the base of El Cap in Yosemite, just after rapping down from the bottom of the stovelegs (which is another story), we encountered this black bear that another climber had just tree'd. The day before, this bear had broken into his haulbag and scored all of his food and beer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tbkRpw1Fx4
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adamiata
Ice climber
Candia, NH
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May 31, 2009 - 04:41pm PT
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"Yesterday we observed a bear begin to down climb the slab below Mescalito's first pitch. There was a bag of food hung on the slab that he clearly wanted to get into, but decided he couldn't pull the 5.11 upside down slab moves that it took to get the last 6 feet. If he tried and fell that would be sad."
Maybe he was trying to poach Tommy Caldwell's project.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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May 31, 2009 - 04:49pm PT
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Another piece of info for this thread is that there are some really big bear caves below the East Buttress of Ribbon Falls down about 20 minutes from there, in a group of super-giant boulders. So for the bears, the base of El Cap is really local, a pantry actually.
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nutjob
climber
Berkeley, CA
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May 31, 2009 - 05:40pm PT
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Thanks Peter, whenever I get to Chockstone Chimney or Silent Line, maybe this little factoid will keep me awake and moving when I'm wandering around there at 3am after a rough day!
About bears being more aggressive: Two weeks ago, Bear #{?6} at the Grack on Glacier Apron... he stood up on hind legs half-leaning on a rock and hissed at me from 15-20 feet away. I had been in a stare-down with him for a minute. Then I lifted my arms to simulate bigness, had rocks ready to throw, but he ran off after that with no direct violence on my part.
Some other climbers made the mistake of leaving a 6-pack of King Cobra in plain sight, and that was enough to tempt him beyond reason.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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May 31, 2009 - 06:30pm PT
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just be glad we don't have climbing baboons in the park.
you would have to do el cap without food.
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aguacaliente
climber
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May 31, 2009 - 07:00pm PT
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Just wait until the bears learn to place bolts.
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JesseM
Social climber
Yosemite
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Topic Author's Reply - May 31, 2009 - 08:14pm PT
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Peter,
I was up there at Ribbon Falls about 10 days ago. I have never seen so much Bear Scat! Definitely the Bear Lair!
Jesse
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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May 31, 2009 - 11:39pm PT
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This is when I miss Ouch! and his creativity. RIP Ouch!
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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In the snowbank below Central Pillar of Frenzy (Middle Cathedral Rock), there was a message written:
"May 30 - dusk - bear warning - bear at base"
A bear patrolled the base of Middle Cathedral in October a couple of years ago and opened our packs.
One morning a week ago, we observed 2 young bears next to the bear boxes at El Capitan bridge. They had some food or trash, either from the top of the bear boxes or maybe from a car. I bluffed throwing a rock, and they ran back a bit. Then I actually threw it and they ran further.
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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was climbing at the base of El Cap today, bear cruised up to check us out, it looked like a yearling.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jun 11, 2009 - 04:20am PT
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It also can't be stored on the wall if the climbing to the bags is 5.9 or easier....Seriously.
This also applies to the big rock at the base of the regular NW face of Half Dome, which, at a glance, seems an obvious place to secure your pack. I once put our food up there, thinking it was too hard for a bear to climb up. He got the pack, opened it without tearing it at all, and then feasted while we threw rocks at him.
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jcques
Trad climber
quebec canada
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Jun 11, 2009 - 10:39am PT
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Bear didn't have a good vision and audition. He smelt every think for miles.I never look at it, but maybe some smelt can repulse bears.
I wonder if bringing food high in the clift for the night is a good practice because bear can smelt it from every where in the park. Attack from bear occur when they compete for food whit an other bear. In that way, notice that our position, on two feet, is consider by the bear as an attack. Attack also occur when they are starving.
As the goal is to not have bear close to the clift, what can we do in our action to protect our environment for bear and us?
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sunshinedaydream
Trad climber
the big granite bubble
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Jun 11, 2009 - 07:37pm PT
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Bump!
I was one of those that got bluff charged at the base of the Salathe. Its sad... all a product of human conditioning. Be responsible people! I know I'm probably speaking to the choir, but seriously!
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Jun 11, 2009 - 07:52pm PT
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I want some details about the bluff charge!? Tell us the story about this, sounds interesting... poor dumb bears, they have gotten too smart for their own good.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jun 11, 2009 - 08:02pm PT
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Grizzlies do plenty of bluff charges too. Sometimes not so much. Throwing rocks at them doesn't work so good. I always throw at blackies; gotta keep 'em honest for their own good. Wanna know what works really well? One of those little cans of WD40 and a Bic lighter. "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"
ps Haven't had the nerve to try it on a grizz. That's what S&W 50's are for.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jun 11, 2009 - 08:04pm PT
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Fattie, great minds working on the same plane?
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Swami Jr.
Trad climber
Bath, NY
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Jun 11, 2009 - 09:47pm PT
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ah, the yosemite yaks are back! if they're going to be walking around el-cap base then we should really outfit them with some helmets. Little cute bear helmets.
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Nefarius
Big Wall climber
Fresno
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Jun 11, 2009 - 09:49pm PT
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I was bluff charged a few years ago while working the Athletes Die Young boulder problem at Le Conte... Was in the sit start and noticed people around me backing up. I stood up to see what was up and saw the bear when I turned. He kinda swatted at the ground and charged a little, so I grabbed the bouldering pad and lifted above my head and charged back, shouting at him. He bolted.
About 2 minutes later a goofy ranger came around the corner and asked, "Did you guys see any bears around here?"
"Yeah, I Just chased him off that way..."
"Try to stay away from him, he's trying to mate."
hahahaha
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Jun 11, 2009 - 11:51pm PT
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2nd trip to the Valley-1974: we spent first night stoned in a VW bus in the C4 parking lot and parked my little Toyota with 20 Dz. homemade chocolate-chip cookies in the back-seat, right behind the van.
Yes! Next morning: broken out rear window, torn seats, bear scat,and 0 cookies.
I've hated bears ever since.
We figured out they and the rangers ruled the valley: except when it got too warm in the summer. Then the rangers would trap the bears and kindly helicopter them up to the high mountains.
Except for the Grizzes, the bears up here in the N. Rockies are still mostly scared to death of humans: because of hunting.
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adam d
climber
CA
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Jun 12, 2009 - 12:15am PT
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hate the bears?!
hate the dumb, irresponsible humans.
I saw a bear up on the Hurricane Deck in the San Rafaels this week. First one I'd seen in SB county. Like a bear should, it bolted immediately. Cool that seeing wild bears is still special. Habituated bears make me hate selfish idiots, not bears.
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jcques
Trad climber
quebec canada
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Jun 12, 2009 - 11:21am PT
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What is the traduction of yosemite in english? yo-sem-i-te in native people language.
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quietpartner
Trad climber
Moantannah
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Jun 12, 2009 - 11:47am PT
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Nefarius...
Seen any bear-scratched notes on a tree trunk lately?
"....Desperate, hairy-backed climbers preferred..."
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pimpdaddy
climber
manchester, vermont
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Jun 12, 2009 - 12:36pm PT
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Jun 12, 2009 - 01:06pm PT
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dad! where have you been!
hey, what about spraying the bear with the WD 40, then lighting the match?
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Jun 12, 2009 - 01:16pm PT
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this big guy was rummaging around near the base of never never land. later, he busted up our hidden haul bag. looked like he gave it a couple good hits until everything fell out, then finished off by taking a leak all over the bag. pretty clear message....his turf
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Jun 12, 2009 - 01:25pm PT
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coondogger
Trad climber
NH
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Jun 15, 2009 - 04:34pm PT
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Hi Jesse,
I have always wondered why the park service doesn't use dogs in partnership with the rangers to significantly reduce interaction and problems between humans and bears.
There is no simple solution but always wondered.
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