Discussion Topic |
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 14, 2009 - 07:05pm PT
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They are terrorists!!
Luckily this was just a directional on the fixed line, left over one night.
They ate my shoes and a quickdraw too. Rrrrrrr.....
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caughtinside
Social climber
Davis, CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 07:09pm PT
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yegads!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 14, 2009 - 07:10pm PT
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D, you ever see them go all the way thru overnight on a sling?
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Barcus
Trad climber
San Luis Obispo, Ca.
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Sep 14, 2009 - 07:10pm PT
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Lets go Squrrel huntin!
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 14, 2009 - 07:11pm PT
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I have now.
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Gobee
Trad climber
Los Angeles
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Sep 14, 2009 - 07:22pm PT
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Rats, that looked new!
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 07:30pm PT
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Little guys thought they could set up shop in my car last month!
Took a while, but I found their next on top of my cabin air filter. Yech, every time I turned on the air con, it smelled like mouse piss.
It sure felt good to catch them with mouse traps
Edit: Dang Jerry, whaddya got, peanut butter fingers?
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xtrmecat
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montanagonia
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:29pm PT
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Out here the packrats just kill the rap anchors, alpine that is. I do not know what it is they desire in the nylon, what makes it so tasty, but they sure do eat the crap out of it. This was removed by hand for obvious reasons, but the original slung rock had about 15 newer slings on it. Only 1 had no signs of chewing, every other one had at least one chew mark if not upwards of ten. Kinda makes you wanna fix days ahead of time, doesn't it?
Bob
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:32pm PT
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zactly, imagine leaving a fixed line with these jackbooted Ratzis around!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:33pm PT
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Ya know Scuff, we might should retrieve those two Cams on that thing kinda near SPH....
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 14, 2009 - 08:42pm PT
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"Dang Jerry, whaddya got, peanut butter fingers"
Ha! Them'z not me fingerz.
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:42pm PT
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never seen a critter eat through so cleanly with a determined 90 degree cut. maybe it was a clear message to replace the webbing on those mid 80's tech friends....
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:43pm PT
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I think it is salt, from your sweaty hands, on the slings,----or maybe that nylon fluff makes for a soft nest. I've had packrats bouncing off my chest, at intervals, all night: chewing on my nice salty helmet liner.
Yep! Chewed it down to the plastic and ate some of that too.
Boots left at the base of a rock-shoe climb? If you're lucky: just the liners will be missing.
We shoot those rodents in Idaho.
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MisterE
Trad climber
Canoga Bark! CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:45pm PT
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Mean old snafflehounds :(
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luggi
Trad climber
from the backseat of Jake& Elwood Blues car
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Sep 14, 2009 - 08:49pm PT
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I smell blood in the air...war on the Vermin's
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rwedgee
Ice climber
canyon country,CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:00pm PT
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A marmot got my fav Patagucci
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:04pm PT
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but not the bagel on the passenger seat!
woot!!
1 for climbers
2 for Ratzis
get the gun, we'll even the score in IdaHO
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Ray-J
Social climber
east L.A. vato...
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:06pm PT
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They know how to destroy certain electronics devices too...
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:13pm PT
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They must all be related to the Evil Squirrel that lives in Chevy Chases Christmas Tree........:DD
Sorry guys for all the ruined gear and clothes....your basic 22 will work. Peace to you. Not the rodents. Lynnie
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:31pm PT
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I think it is the salt. When I was doing field work for my thesis, we had to put about a km of wire out to connect the electrodes. The data collection often lasted about 8 hrs so we had a lot of time to just hang out.
It would really suck to have the potential drop to 0 after 3 hours. We'd have to walk the lines and more often than not, it was rodents that would eat the salt off the insulation. We ended up using light gloves to keep the wires clean.
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james Colborn
Trad climber
Truckee, Ca
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Sep 14, 2009 - 09:34pm PT
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My truck started acting weird on the way to T meadows two weeks ago so I spun around and just barely made it home and got the truck to the mechanic. Squirel ate some wiring and got to the dashboard control wiring and ate that too. $500.00 later, I am seeking revenge. The score is now 8-1, humans. I even got two kills with one rat trap. NO MERCY. Don't even mention the bear incident, that mofo is going to pay big.
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justthemaid
climber
Los Angeles
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Sep 14, 2009 - 10:47pm PT
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Mike has the funniest marmot stories I've ever heard- perhaps he'll post up.
Me... well... it was those damn Tahquitz squirrels. Insidious little monsters they are.
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Cpt0bvi0u5
Trad climber
Merced CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 10:56pm PT
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Some guys from Spain in C4 had the right idea. The rigged a basic trap to catch squirrels under a bowl and also had a piece of cardboard hooked up to a cord that they would pull to make the squirrels go flying.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Boise....
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:02pm PT
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My pack is covered with duck tape from rodent attacks.....
The marmots at Angel wings had a hoedown. They chomped our stuff bad.
My pack, my boots(I made it down, though), Phil's hat,pad, & his socks. They were a mess. They rolled the food bucket down the hill, but were foiled by superior technology.
Plus we didn't give them time. Time is on their side. And there's more of them.
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:19pm PT
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me, i'm thinking they're french. you know:
"It's Rodin - not rodent!"
(a line from a cartoon i watched as a child. still kills me)
probably thought you were poaching their project. why else would they even be there?
glad it was just a directional and you're still here to goof about it. not so glad that you added yet another bad mental image to THE FEAR i always get on fixed lines. up my way, they're often up for months. i'm saving your photos for the next time one of my so called 'pals' tries to talk me into playing rock goalie on their 'old project'.
i think Phil_B is onto something (salt). either that or i'm onto something (pissed-off french Rodins). pick one (go with Phil).
^,,^
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David Wilson
climber
CA
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:24pm PT
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captain, what route on the angel wings?
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apogee
climber
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:27pm PT
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I've had plenty o' varmints chew on various clothes or packs, where you might find sweat salt, but never had 'em go after my gear.
I'll be sure to not think about this thread the next time I jug the fixed lines to Heart early in the season.
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pip the dog
Mountain climber
planet dogboy
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:51pm PT
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^^^^^^
apogee, you don't like occasionally sweat on your gear, like 30 feet out and getting a tad chimpy?
no?
um, well neither do i. ever. not once. those Rodins are definately french.
^,,^
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hooblie
climber
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Sep 14, 2009 - 11:56pm PT
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standard beckey proceedure for trailhead extended parking includes a roll of wire screen to protect everything chewable under the hood from "snaffle hounds."
i've suffered damage on a pair of vehicles that included complete removal of plastic grillage, three headlights and the front edge of both carhoods curled up with canine toothmarks. don't underestimate the attractive force of rabbits seeking safe harbor in the engine compartment where dogs run loose.
arizona is a "fence 'em out" state. survey stakes are best left without flagging. it doesn't take an advanced tracker to follow the cowtracks in the snow connecting every point on the survey. open range cattle have chewed my padded stearing wheels, ripped trailer wiring harnesses completely asunder and consummed garden hoses all the way to the hose bib. i'm going with the bubblegum theory as to why.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Boise....
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Sep 15, 2009 - 12:01am PT
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Ah, Mr. Wilson, one of my Own devising.....That was '97.
The Lorax, it's in the Secor guide. Funner than it sounds.....
Except for the Marmot attack. They were hungry, I guess.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 15, 2009 - 12:06am PT
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loose carabiner sitting on the line at the base, then he jugged the line going up anyways.
kwazy
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Sep 15, 2009 - 12:53am PT
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I was terrorized for a whole night by marauding rodentae intent upon anything resembling chewable goods on or about my person including the boots on my feet. What made it really bad was the one foot which was unable to retaliate due to its connection to a leg which forced the unplanned bivy due to its inability to dodge a meteorite.
A Coonyard Alpine Hammer is a fearsome weapon. PETA be damned!
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Boise....
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:12am PT
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All's fair on the Stone.
Eat or be eaten. Trouble is, we have more (slightly) edible stuff.
Or something. Fricken Varmits.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:24am PT
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If they're after salt, wouldn't bringing a small block/lump of it to put out be the easier way to distract them? And if enough of them congregate in one place to chew on it, wouldn't that attract some predators to eat the little varmints?
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Boise....
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:25am PT
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We are the predators, perhaps.
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:30am PT
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Ha! rwedgee- so we finally see the infamous marmot decimation I heard about in Tuolumne... omg! (hope all is well down your way)
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rwedgee
Ice climber
canyon country,CA
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:30am PT
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Here's one about to have his way with my dog.
I think this is the one that ate my shirt too.]
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:50am PT
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now that's a dog you can bring anywhere...
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2009 - 01:52am PT
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"...then he jugged the line going up anyways."
For the record, I did bounce the crap out of that thing before jugging. To quote cooter: "I may be Kwazy, but I ain't dum."
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Sep 15, 2009 - 03:26am PT
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What a great thread!
Munge said: "zactly, imagine leaving a fixed line with these jackbooted Ratzis around!"
I just fell off the couch. Good one!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Sep 15, 2009 - 03:36am PT
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I hate meeces to pieces!
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2009 - 04:14am PT
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In 98 I stashed a rope and gear, inlcuding Clif Bars below Mt. Sill. Came back the next week to do the Sill-Tbolt traverse car to car in a day but found the Ratzis had nearly chewed right through the middle of the cord and made quite a mess! Odd thing is, they hardly even touched the Clif Bars; only one was open. We doubled the rope, simul-climbed, and still had a great day.
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aguacaliente
climber
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Sep 15, 2009 - 04:39am PT
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backpacking in SEKI, a deer nosed around our camp at night and somehow got and ate a map. fortunately it was just one of several photocopies among us. best guess is the paper had absorbed salt/sweat from riding in a pocket. but it was like "the dog ate my homework" in real life.
uh, deer are rodents too, right?
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 15, 2009 - 01:43pm PT
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This is what it's come to. Adding some hardware to the rack...
My good ol' .22 single shot I got as a kid. If that doesn't work I'll have Miwok call his boys and set up a perimeter.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Sep 15, 2009 - 01:59pm PT
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^^^NOW that would be entertaining!
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Sep 15, 2009 - 02:17pm PT
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Salt is most likely what they are after.
To protect our camp we've wadded up pieces of paper towel
-marble size- soaked with water and totally caked with as much salt as possible. In the morning the dozen we'd made from one paper towel and scattered around were gone. No chew marks on our gear.
Once a marmot would not give up trying to commando into our site to chew our gear. He left us alone after eating 4 salted paper towel wads.
We did not do this inside any National Park.
If the rodents chew your gear is that considered 'feeding animals'
which is prohibited in the park?
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hooblie
climber
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Sep 15, 2009 - 02:47pm PT
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one time i was headed from wyo to leavenworth, wa for picking season in the apples. checked a job service a ways east of
mt st. helens when the gas kitty ran dry. found myself swinging a spikeing mall on the railroad well out of town. payday was to be next week so no sense commuting anywhere. at dawn on sunday, out next to the tracks, the hatch of my scirrocco flew open, my sleeping bag gathered up around my neck and was hauled unceremoniously over the gunnel to the dirt where three armed men the size of paul bunyan towered over me screaming about rock chucks that belonged to them. one big boot was on my chest and four others were cocked and ready to do serious harm. i occasionally gasped enough breath to deny even knowing what a rock chuck was. nothing that they tossed out of my car made a liar out of me and i was directed to
have a nice day. go ahead and speak unkindly about rodents, but i've noticed that some of them do have guardian angels
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Sep 15, 2009 - 10:22pm PT
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One other marmot problem----marking their territory!
3 years back: we did a "old farts trying to recover lost glories" climbing base camp in Idaho Sawtooths. We all had tents (based on past bad experiences).
Day three our younger friend: "the female rope rocket," shows up with her "ultra-light" gear, including a tarp-tent fly that she brags about.
Yep! Day 5, a marmot pees all over her sleeping bag and gear during the day.
I have a photo of the marmot lurking 50 ft. from her tent. Golden-Mantled ground squirrels were also suspects, but I don't think they have that much urine.
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Ray-J
Social climber
east L.A. vato...
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Sep 16, 2009 - 01:49am PT
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Didn't norman clyde just shoot em?
Hahaha!
Sorry...
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 16, 2009 - 02:05am PT
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I hear if you hang a few carcasses around camp the others will stay away. hehe.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Sep 16, 2009 - 02:11am PT
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Well, I was afraid I might get lynched or reported to PETA for my story on the prior page but I guess that was paranoia. I can vouch that Jerry's theory is correct for after I applied my alpine hammer they left me alone for the rest of the night.
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Brian Hench
Trad climber
Laguna Beach, CA
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Sep 16, 2009 - 02:16am PT
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There is a product called Bitrex that is put into poisonous household products to make it so that children won't drink them. I think it's generic name is denatonium benzoate. It's one of the more bitter substances known to man.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatonium
Make an alcoholic solution of this and spray it on your gear. Let it dry. See if the snafflehounds nibble on it then.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 16, 2009 - 02:27am PT
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What if you just pee on your gear?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 18, 2009 - 03:48pm PT
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gotta put that in my beer, keep the more human looking snafflehounds from drinking them beers.
Und ya, zer Ratzis need to be taken out back und shot! yavol!
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho, also. Sorta, kinda mostly, Yeah.
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Sep 18, 2009 - 03:58pm PT
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Munge! Get back to work........
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jstan
climber
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Sep 18, 2009 - 05:52pm PT
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BITD when there were real MANLY wall rats, the use of Royal's red hammock was problematic. Somehow you had to wake up out of a deep sleep every once in awhile to flick the rats off any rope left fixed above.
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hooblie
climber
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Sep 18, 2009 - 06:40pm PT
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the GF's garden was being devastated by a bloom in the rabbit census and her cocker was too short legged to catch them, though we awarded e for effort. i noticed her (the dog, eh?) barking at the end of a stack of scraps of pvc sewer pipe where rabbits would reliably seek refuge. so these were placed about the spread along the exercise circuit. it's tough to dislodge a determined meal bracing mightily in a 10' length but the friction coefficient can be over come with the radial forces generated by an overhand chop technique ala trebuchet. rabbits have achieved vertical trajectories yielding treetop views of the pinons.
the galvanizing image from ground control is the bellyside view of the gallop to nowhere other than the point of impact.
whereupon the chase is restarted with way better than even odds
edit: i hearby release scaled down rope rat version to the public domain
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Jerry Dodrill
climber
Sebastopol, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 18, 2009 - 06:46pm PT
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^^^Need to see a pic of this!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Sep 18, 2009 - 08:25pm PT
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Nein! Vee vill not be doing verk today mein Kapitän!
prepare for zee photo onslaught zis seevening!
und now, I got to get zee Cocido soup for zee fraulein from zee axis of evil Mexican restaurant...
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jstan
climber
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Sep 18, 2009 - 08:37pm PT
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That's it!
Chris needs to shut this down.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho, also. Sorta, kinda mostly, Yeah.
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Sep 18, 2009 - 10:11pm PT
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Cocido soup?
Do tell..........
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Could be worse. In parts of the Choco region in Colombia, the leaf cutter ants (this is the insect kind) stray from just clipping up the vegetation into little discs and carting them away for their gardens, to clipping up just about anything else that's laminar. My experience on a rain forest collecting trip was, first they chopped up the newspaper we were pressing the plants in, plus the specimens themselves leaving only the twigs, then started working on the hammock shelter I was trying to sleep in - away went little pieces of the rainfly, not too many of the mosquito netting (couldn't cut it up as easily), then skritch skritch skritch, plink plink I hear them working away at the hammock ropes too. Not very comforting. A colleague had his shoes (cheapie basketball high-tops, which are great rain forest footwear) completely eaten, leaving only the rubber soles, toe cap, and metal eyelets. At least, you can eat the rodents once you wham them. Ants are not so good of a dinner.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Sounds like they'd be a high-fibre diet...
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Cocido has chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, corn and spices.
I usually put cilantro in mine.
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Eastside
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WOW! Is this stuff kinda new in the Sierra? Have they been especially bad in the past couple of years? Or have I not had problems like this because I rarely sweat? (Go ahead, I've heard it before.)
The wood rats, golden mantels and mice have been really bothersome this year. What gives? Not enough predation? (Shoot away)
TPR live trapped a wood rat and a golden mantel and hauled them down to Warren Corner. Not far enough, I said. Sure enough, both a wood rat and a Golden Mantel with the same MO as the trapped ones showed up about 2 months after being relocated. I swear it's the same ones.
We know relocating bears doesn't work, seems to not work with rodents either.
(shoot away!)
Snap traps successfully killed off the mice in less than a week.
WAY quicker than I thought.
After 9 summers cleaning mountain cabins, which involves rodent control, I swear I will be haunted be dead mice the rest of my life!
That stinky old cabin smell?
One place I worked and a really stinky cabin. (NOT TPR!)
We knew what it was and ripped off the old drywall to clean it out, disinfect and replace. The carcasses were stacked about half way up the wall.
G-R-O-S-S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marmots started attacking cars at Tioga Campground this summer too, and everyone I know has had nests in their engine compartments this year, reminds me I better check my cars air cleaner!
The camp hosts motor home had a pack rats nest filling the engine compartment. Might explain the electrical problems they were plagued with.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, jerry... say, i have pet rats... and if a towel or anything get close to the cage, they "have at it"... thus---i think they "do it" to "do it", they are pre-programmed, so it seems...
yep, its just their nature, so naturally have much WORSE if there IS something they like, flavor-wise... :O
and reilly, as to this:
I was terrorized for a whole night by marauding rodentae intent upon anything resembling chewable goods on or about my person including the boots on my feet.
i just got down reading one of chappy's old post as to him and a climbing buddy sleeping in a cave somewhere???? ready to get some shut-eye:
he said all night they were tormented by an extremely rowdy mouse... (his wording was better, but something similar to this)...
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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So Dave and I were enjoying a loverly evening on Dinner Ledge; we had special permission from the matron of the Old Climbers' Home to go camping.
We tucked each other in for the night after a second helping of Dave's special 'Geritol' brownies. It has always been my practice to keep my food bags close at hand as I'm not fond of sharing so they were arrayed like a couple of extra pillows. I awoke from one of my habitual dreams of stealing helicopters to sounds emanating from the haul bag about 5' from me. I leapt to my feet with headlight in hand. I stood the bag up and shone the light in. To my amazement I was greeted by the sight of a Ring-Tailed Cat and a goodly sized one at that! Well, since this was a National Park I decided to refrain from my usual practice of gene pool cleansing and went with a little behavioral modification instead. I closed the bag and proceeded to administer a suitable number of vehement wacks all the while reminding the little bugger that he'd picked the wrong haul bag to crawl into especially considering it was bereft of comestibles. When I re-opened to torture chamber I peered in and started gagging. Apparently I'd scared more than the bejeezus out of him; who knew they were related to skunks ! Then I realized that in my maniacal raging I'd been completely unaware that I'd also managed to scare the bejeezus out of Dave. Poor baby had downed more than his share of the brownies and had awoken from his stupor to such a commotion as to cause him to think I'd succumbed to a terminal Alzheimers conniption. I turned the varmint loose to Dave's relief and watched it seemingly hurl itself off the ledge. Oddly enough the next morning found the haulbag purged of the stench. We had a good chuckle when I found an empty one pound package of fig newtons (not ours) about 30' up the wide crack. Apparently other campers hadn't been so 'defensibly' minded.
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Rob Roy Ramey
Trad climber
Colorado
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This is not such a new problem. When bivied at the Igloo bivi, 2,500' up the North American Wall in '81, Chris Cantwell and I encountered woodrats. One the pitch below the Igloo I felt a tug on my rope that was tied off above and when I looked up, a woodrat ran across the pile of rope. According to my field journal entry: "Chris had a hard time fighting off the woodrats which kept chewing on his sleeping bag to get nest material." During the night, the woodrat stole my Swiss Army knife and his bandana, dragging them deep into a crack. We managed to fish these out in the morning.
Previously, I'd had mice on Mammoth Terraces, a third the way up El Cap, and on the narrow bivi ledge that is halfway up Half Dome (the one several pitches below Big Sandy).
But shortly after spotting the first woodrat on the North America Wall, I had another strange nighttime encounter. From my field journal: "Not long afterward I felt something fall onto my leg and stay. Reaching down, I felt something wet, slimy, and cold. Then it moved. On with the headlight! A frog had landed on my leg! It stayed there about 30 seconds or so, then without provocation, it turned and made a leap into the abyss."
It was then that I realized that the El Cap "ecosystem" was largely the result of organisms pouring over the rim above. Seeds blow or wash off the rim to colonize cracks and ledges, while woodrats, deer mice, frogs, lizards, and crawling invertebrates disperse over the rim, down-climbing or falling, to colonize those same crack systems and ledges. (And yes, I bet that more than a few have even free-soloed up from below). And the birds, bats, and flying insects can come and go, to colonize as they please.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there rob roy ~~, say, this is very cool, thanks for the neat share:
It was then that I realized that the El Cap "ecosystem" was largely the result of organisms pouring over the rim above. Seeds blow or wash off the rim to colonize cracks and ledges, while woodrats, deer mice, frogs, lizards, and crawling invertebrates disperse over the rim, down-climbing or falling, to colonize those same crack systems and ledges. (And yes, I bet that more than a few have even free-soloed up from below). And the birds, bats, and flying insects can come and go, to colonize as they please.
god bless...
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adam d
climber
closer to waves than rock
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for those that haven't seen the Bugaboo car protection scheme...essential!
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Oct 26, 2009 - 12:54am PT
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rat f*#kers got us again...
tried different tricks this time, but to no avail. It wasn't just a fluke.
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axlgrease
Mountain climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Oct 26, 2009 - 01:35am PT
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Those goats in Glacier really are salt starved. The ones at Logan Pass and Hidden Lake Overlook are so habituated, they're known to lick the sweat off of you bare arms. I also had a t-shirt destroyed by deer up in the Trinity Alps. I left is spread out on a rock overnight, and the next morning it looked like rwedgee's Patagucci there up-thread, only with more holes. They had licked right through the fabric...
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corniss chopper
Mountain climber
san jose, ca
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Oct 26, 2009 - 02:50am PT
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The marmot army that lives at Martha Lake (sw of Mt Goddard)
Kings Canyon NP, cleverly allowed us to setup camp before they
poured out of their holes to surround us.
It was like a scene from that movie Willard!
Grabbed or gear and staggered over to the Ionian Basin.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 26, 2009 - 03:11am PT
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Fun on a Winter Night
Required Ingredients
1. Small, unheated backcountry shelter.
2. Backcountry skiers, preferably adolescent males of any age or sex.
3. Midwinter, -20 or so.
4. Long, dark nights with only candles for light.
5. Infestation of noisy rodents in walls, due to previous visitors thoughtfully leaving food lying around.
6. Bench, sitting height.
7. Pot lid - must be round and reasonably flat.
8. Bucket or large pot - pot lid must approximately fit, with room beneath.
9. Bait - cheese, peanuts or similar.
10. Mind altering substances to add to the hilarity.
Instructions
1. Place pot lid carefully balanced on edge of bench.
2. Place bucket/pot directly below.
3. Place bait very carefully balanced on outer edge of pot lid. (As the house mouse, or husmus as they're called in Norwegian, weighs only 10 - 20 g, some care or even sobriety is required to find the tipping point, although experimentation helps. If necessary, text Ed. H and ask him what to do.)
4. Extinguish light and sit quietly.
5. Upon hearing "crash" of pot lid landing in bucket, leap up, turn on light, check bucket to see what's been caught.
6. Giggle and laugh, identify victim scurrying frantically in bottom of bucket, take trophy photos, gloat, and then release prey for another round.
Everyone comes out ahead. Mousy gets some winter vittles, humans get some fun, nobody gets hurt. In the case of an infestation of something larger or nastier than mice, more aggressive measures could be taken, e.g. hurling contents of bucket out into the snow, or even half-filling bucket with water. But not in a national park.
Perhaps the fall from bench to bucket could hurt a mouse. But I saw a mouse at the FaceLift take a flying leap off the back of Ken's truck onto the ground and shoot off, unharmed.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Oct 26, 2009 - 03:32am PT
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Rats can swim. I once woke up in a house in Nepal to the sound of rhythmic scratching noises and upon investigation discovered a rat that had fallen into a plastic bucket of water who was swimming away, the scratching noise being his little claws scratching against the slick wall of the bucket. That one got heaved out the door into the cold.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Oct 26, 2009 - 03:51am PT
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Mighty Hiker's entertainment specifications recall a hilarious story related by Greg Child in his stellar slide show on Patagonian climbing given at the P-gucci outlet in Reno (and no doubt other locations). The miserable ramshackle hut in which they were waiting out interminable bad weather was unsurprisingly infested by rodents feasting on the climbers' rations. These they were eliminating one by one by means of a ski pole baited in the middle with peanut butter, placed over a large plastic bucket with water in it. The rodent arrives at the goods, the ski pole rotates, plop, gurgle.
But one of the critters proved incredibly adept at escaping his watery doom, earning the name "SuperMaus" (Greg's partner for this trip being Swiss) and resulting in much discussion, many otherwise boring hours thus being whiled away. But in a fit of cabin fever, the partner (Peter was the name, I believe) decides on a solution. Immediately after dark, Greg hears the reliable splash of the critter having gotten the bait, and expects to hear it jump out as always. But his partner leaps to his feet and chucks a lit match into the barrel, and WHOOOM! goes the fireball of stove fuel he's poured in instead of (or on top of) the water. Although this certainly wins the war against thievery, crushing boredom then descends on the hut, with Peter often lamenting, "You know, Greg, maybe we should not have killed the Supermaus."
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Oct 26, 2009 - 12:18pm PT
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Incineration seems gilding the lily, in terms of the morals and ethics of the bucket solution. After all, it's humans who leave the food out for the little guys in the first place. Maybe not deliberately - humans can be kind of dumb. And these are fairly natural areas.
Leaving aside the potential for burning down the hut, of course.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Oct 26, 2009 - 12:26pm PT
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BITD the NPS Ranger at the base of Mt Olympus (Olympic NP) bragged to me about 'offing' 100 mice one night with his 'wheel of death'. He set up a gangplank leading to a wheel with some cheese on it suspended over a big bucket; death by drowning. He had to get up several time to empty the bucket!
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The_Kid
Trad climber
Idyllwild, CA
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Oct 26, 2009 - 12:29pm PT
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Ground Squirrels on the north face of suicide ate my food and chewed through my friends harness bag while we watched from the rock little bastards!!
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Oct 26, 2009 - 12:33pm PT
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Mongrel's Supermaus story reminded me of a gross childhood experience.
We were visiting friends who had a summer cabin at the base of Idaho's Sawtooths.
The wife (Betty) was baking a cake in their propane oven.
After a while there was a really bad smell, then smoke could be seen coming from the oven.
When Betty opened the oven-door: a mouse on fire came running out and made it under a couch. We then had to do a search for the burning mouse before it took the cabin with it.
We never found the mouse, the cabin did not burn, and we did not have any of the cake before leaving.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Oct 28, 2009 - 03:09am PT
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Suicide ground squirrels will chew your shirts clean thru.
lost some good tie dies that way.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Feb 27, 2013 - 01:30am PT
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Bump for a good thread until IT showed up.
Nevertheless.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 27, 2013 - 01:58am PT
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Why do I have a Tami Cartoon of mice chewing the anchor point of a portaledge going through my head?
And I thought all I had to worry about was Hanta?
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Feb 27, 2013 - 11:42am PT
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In Colorado, porcupines are probably the worst pest for ruining things while looking for salt in the wilderness. Whilehorse camping, we always had to suspend our saddles and other horse gear on ropes between trees to keep the porcupines out. Recently, they ate the wooden shutters off my cabin too.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 27, 2013 - 12:01pm PT
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Jan, that ain't half as bad as the time a porcupine tried to share my bivy
ledge on a rescue! He was pretty darn reasonable though. There was this
little spindly Waiting-For-Godot tree about 5 feet tall growing out of the
ledge 1 foot from me that he climbed about 3 feet up into and settled
into a fork and we all had a nice snooze. When I awoke he was gone, like a
pin cushion in the night.
ps
I'm going to pm you a link to an LA Times article on Uchinaaguchi classes
here in LA!
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Feb 27, 2013 - 12:12pm PT
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"BITD the NPS Ranger at the base of Mt Olympus (Olympic NP) bragged to me about 'offing' 100 mice one night with his 'wheel of death'. He set up a gangplank leading to a wheel with some cheese on it suspended over a big bucket; death by drowning. He had to get up several time to empty the bucket!"
That's amazing. Must have been hell to try and get some sleep with them running all over you are night. Look like this?
Why don't climbers who are going to leave a fixed rope in place or bivi in an area of high rodent concentrations leave a box of this nearby? I never have, but wondered if anyone has even considered it.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 27, 2013 - 12:21pm PT
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Couch, that's it, although his was old skool galvanized.
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karodrinker
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Feb 27, 2013 - 12:35pm PT
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the d con would then poison the birds who eat rats, so really bad idea.
I Wonder, has any climber ever taken the chop because of rat chewage through an anchor? freaky to think about on the death slabs and such, as well as all the fixed on the east ledges.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Oct 26, 2015 - 07:01pm PT
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dogs and cats are currently taking a beating on the front page so i toss this into the fray, maybe take a little pressure off
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