Arthur C Clark's Wonders of Climbing

[texplorer]

I would like to hear some stories about weird occurances yall have experienced whilst climbing. For example, biners automatically locking, gear placing itself, alien encounters, phantom climbers, etc. Yes, I am bored and am trying to lighten up the forum from all the talk on the recent accidents. So lets hear it. The strange, weird, and unexplainable (in climbing pursuits only). I don't want to hear how Cavey got those underwear on his head.

[max]

One time I bivied with a friend in the back of my truck, and when we woke up, all of our snacks, liquor, and.. well, our treats had been scarfed by an unidentified entity. My friend was as dumbfounded as I was. He said he never heard a thing that night. Spooky.

[Bug]

After a month in the Wind River range, my partner and I went to Devil's Tower for some sun and . While climbing the first day, I was unable to get anything to stick in the rock. It was unnerving, like having your girlfriend belay you. We basically free soloed the route and topped out. Down in the cottonwoods was a Souix Sun Dance going on. We had been climbing on their alter.

Does anyone know how to simulate the twilight zone music on a chat site?

[fredrogers]

A friend and I bivvied by the side of the road in Squamish one night. It was pouring rain all night until the early hours of the morning.

After I woke up, got out of the truck and walked around to the front, only to find a brand new, completely dry Club magazine.

Needless to say, we took this as an omen and took the ladies where ever we went for the rest of the trip. They even summitted Glacier Peak.

[dberdinka]

Many years ago I spent a cold dark evening in the Blue Lake parking lot. It was late in the year when the morning chill hangs around till afternoon if it doesn't refuse to leave at all.

My girlfriend at the time and I drove up to camp out at the trailhead. We arrived late, probably 10 o'clock. Being October traffic was light to non-existent on the highway. As we sat on the tailgate brewing some tea it was eerily quiet and still. There was no sound, no movement. Not even the whisper of a slight breeze or the humm of an insect. Just the silhouette of tall trees outlined by the faint glow of a moonless sky with a cold mist crawling through their branches. We felt small and exposed.

And without notice the trees began to shake violently, a strong wind ripped through the parking lot, blowing my pot of the tailgate and knocking branches to the ground. As quick as it came, it was gone again. Once again the trees, the night, the air were perfectly still, perfectly quiet.

No sooner had I walked over to pick up the pot, that a bone-chilling wail came shrieking out of the forest. Not a bark, not a growl, not a howl. Instead a deep, warbling cry that reeked of loneliness and pain. Then once again we were surrounded by a silent, motionless night.

We crawled into the canopy locked it from the inside and slept a dreamless sleep.

[bonehead]

Mommy............. I'm a-scared!!!!

[Dru]

Up above Meager Hotsprings once I found some mysterious footprints (just kinda oval - no toes or nothing visible) about 12" long going between two rock patches . Then I found a weird thing - two glacial erratic boulders 8' in diameter stacked one on top of the other

Later that same day I found a rock that looked exactly like a profile of Margaret Thatcher.

I have slides of all this but none of them are scanned.

Another time, I went to Red Rocks for the first time. supposed to meet some friends at Caesar's palace bvut we had no idea how big it was. Got parked and started heading for the casino saying "we will never find them." Just then elevator doors opened and there they were! ( we hadnt seen them for 3 days before this).

[CleeshterFeeshter]

Smelly Bob, Mildew, and Myself had climbed Glacier Pk back in 7/93. We were walking down the trail between Kennedy hot Springs and the White River Trailhead at about 1 Am. One headlight burned out and Smelly Bob did not have his with him. We crossed a creek and continued on finally arriving at the truck around 2AM. Someone mentioned "Did you sense that thing watching us back at the creek crossing a mile back?". THE HAIR ON THE BACK OF OUR COLLECTIVE NECKS STOOD ON END" as we all sensed the same thing.

Sasquatch is nocturnal

[Dru]

http://www.bivouac.com/PhotoPg.asp?rq=Pg&PhotoId=1049

[avypoodle]

This one time I tried to go rock climbing and upon reaching the cliff I noticed that there were 17 topropes set up every three feet. When I approached the "leader" I was greeted with hostility. I was told that they would be there until three or so, so I should go somewhere else. The funny thing is that nobody was actually climbing, they were just huddled in a circle talking about anchors and something called the "10 essentials"??

[Alex]

In April 1994 I came down from my hermit cabin in Gov't Camp OR to climb/ski Mt St Helens. It was getting pretty late at night and I had never driven up there before, so on the windy road to Cougar, WA, I was taking my time. There was a huge Suburban tailgating my poor little Honda the entire way in, never passing me, just tailgating me. So I get into town and pull off the road to self register. The suburban pulls up next to me and I am thinking "logger saw my hippy climbing stickers and is now going to pummel my hippy tree-huggin' ass". Out steps a beatiful young early 20-something year old woman.

"Hey there,""Hi" <gaping>Young 20-something proceeds to tell me I drive like a granny, but if I want, she will give me some driving lessons next time I come through town. Proceeds to tell me where she lives, I should look her up. "Um, ..ok!" <still gaping> I ask her (desperately) if she is into skiing, tell her I am going up the hill.

She doesnt ski. We head our seperate ways.

On the outskirts of town (remember, I am in Cougar, WA) a fully grown Mountain Lion pops into my headlights, and lazily jumps of the road.

My plan changes from sleeping outside my car to sleeping inside my car.

On the way out, I dropped by her place, but she was not home. Felt it was too wierd to try to explain the whole situation to her dad, so just left. Without her number

[dberdinka]

One more

It took me two trips to the Valhalla Range to climb the South Arete of Gimli. Both times the area was very dry, quiet, still. It's hard to explain but it certainly has a very desolate, melancholy feel to it (this was before it's recent explosion in popularity).

On the first trip my partner was wigged out by this atmosphere I described and we bailed a few pitches up and headed out.

On the second trip we hauled bivi gear into the flat bivi area near the route's base and climbed it that day. On the final summit ridge my partner stepped onto a 2000+ pound block that immediately started sliding. After surfing it for a foot or two he hopped off. The thing acclerated before taking a 1000' plunge to the talus (and trail!) below. But that wasn't the weird part.

That afternoon we're hanging out near our camp. It's just compact dirt and heather with a few boulders strewn here and there on the top of a broad ridge Sleeping bags, bivi sacks clothing are strewn about in the sun. We're sitting about 30' away from the stuff. Again it's perfectly still, quiet, lonely.

I feel the lightest brush of wind against my cheek and suddenly all that gear is floating straight up into the air. A pile coat, full sleeping bag, bivi sack are just elevated like 10 feet straight up in the air, flapping about like they're trying to fly. My buddy is running around under the bivi trying to grab it but it stayed out of reach for a good 5+ seconds before drifting back down.

If it were some sort of micro gust it packed an incredible amount of energy and focus. Never felt a breeze again that day.

[gregm]

[Dru]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dberdinka:

One more

It took me two trips to the Valhalla Range to climb the South Arete of Gimli. Both times the area was very dry, quiet, still. It's hard to explain but it certainly has a very desolate, melancholy feel to it (this was before it's recent explosion in popularity).

On the first trip my partner was wigged out by this atmosphere I described and we bailed a few pitches up and headed out.

On the second trip we hauled bivi gear into the flat bivi area near the route's base and climbed it that day. On the final summit ridge my partner stepped onto a 2000+ pound block that immediately started sliding. After surfing it for a foot or two he hopped off. The thing acclerated before taking a 1000' plunge to the talus (and trail!) below. But that wasn't the weird part.

That afternoon we're hanging out near our camp. It's just compact dirt and heather with a few boulders strewn here and there on the top of a broad ridge Sleeping bags, bivi sacks clothing are strewn about in the sun. We're sitting about 30' away from the stuff. Again it's perfectly still, quiet, lonely.

I feel the lightest brush of wind against my cheek and suddenly all that gear is floating straight up into the air. A pile coat, full sleeping bag, bivi sack are just elevated like 10 feet straight up in the air, flapping about like they're trying to fly. My buddy is running around under the bivi trying to grab it but it stayed out of reach for a good 5+ seconds before drifting back down.

If it were some sort of micro gust it packed an incredible amount of energy and focus. Never felt a breeze again that day.

---

Check out the weird face that appears on the bottom of the south arete at sunset...

[dberdinka]

I can't stop! So much weirdness!! AAaaaaghh!

Ok, so this isn't really my story but it's a good one, I think this guy got sick of me asking him to tell it. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Again, quite a while back, say ten years ago, two buddies of mine Steve and Clark took off to traverse the Picket Range. Like everyone they were going to hit it all, so there packs were loaded down with rock gear, ice gear and 10 days of supplies. Needless to say they were heavy. The weather was a mix of good and bad, and after summiting Challenger they head down into Luna Cirque intent on the North Rib of Fury.

Just as they start down, Clark dislocates his knee in a stretch of talus. Swollen to the size of a cantalope they know they're screwed. Steve shuttles the packs down into the basin were they spend the last beautiful night of the trip. The next day begins with a low ceiling of grey clouds and a light drizzle. Unable to climb up, they start bushwacking down Luna Creek. and bushwacking, and bushwacking,........and bushwacking. On the morning of the third day they finally hit the Big Beaver Trail. By now the weather has turned to the worse. A constant cold rain has fallen for days.

Low on food, Clark takes whats left and Steve cruises out to the road to arrange a boat shuttle for the next day. Still unable to put much weight on his knee, Clark hobbles down the trail using a large branch as a crutch. It's 12 miles to the lake and the rain isn't stopping. Step, step, step......step.

Evening approaches, in the gut of the valley it gets dark early. There is no one within 15 miles. The headlamp comes out and he continues to hobble down the valley. Step, step, step. By 10 PM the rain is falling harder than ever, Clarks exhausted, the headlamp is on it's last legs too, casting a feeble orange glow that flickers in and out. But he only has a mile or two left.

Resting against a boulder he listens to the drumming of the rain. RRRRRRRaaaaaaaaarrrrggGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!! From across the river this enormous, throaty scream rips loose and fills the valley. Clark later describes it as being angry, pissed, coming from something huge. Some beast in the forest soaking wet voicing it's frustration. With out hestiation, Clark leaned up on his stick and continued to hobble out, step, step, ..step.

Like someone else said, Sasquatch is nocturnal! Scary!!!

[Dru]

this one was out in the daytime.

[CleeshterFeeshter]

Another Cleeshter story-

I was out on a long dayhike (25 miles) in the Sawtooths in 7/94 up Baron creek. Up near Baron Lake near my turn around point, I see this 40 something lady whom was in backpacking for 10 days. We chat for a moment and I explain that I have another 12 miles to get back to the car and it is getting late. She states "watch out for those blisters" in a creepy voice and I get this cold feeling. Anyway, a couple of days later, this lady is hiking with a family of four and leaves camp a couple of minutes ahead of them. She falls face down into an 8" deep stream and her heavy pack weighs her down and she drowns. They say cats go off to die by themselves. I think this lady went off to die in the mountains.

[Jason_Martin]

This story's not as creepy as some of the others, but it's still cool.

Five or six years ago, Dave Z. and I were on the South Side of Mt. Adams. We had set up camp and were piddling around when we noticed a nice steep two hundred foot incline near our camp. The sun was setting, but we just weren't done adventuring yet.

We approach this sixty degree snow and ice slope and climbed it for the hell of it. At the top we were able to traverse over to a much lower angle slope which we were going to take back to our camp.

As we were descending I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I only saw it for a second, but it appeared to be a bright golden orb floating in the sky. Then it was gone.

"Did you see that?" I asked.

"Nah, didn't see nothing." My partner responded.

We continued down for a moment, when Dave looked up startled. "Did you see something over there?"

"Uh... No."

And I didn't. We were both spooked. The horizon was still bright red as the sun had just dipped behind it. Suddenly we both saw something out of the corners of our eyes.

"What the hell was that?"

"Dude I do not even want to know."

Both of us were wigged. We didn't want to say it at the time, but we both thought we were seeing a UFO bounce in and out of our sight lines. We watched the horizon.

The light came again, but this time it was quite clear what it was. There were clouds in the distance and apparently there was a lightning storm.

The freaky thing about it was that the lightening was shooting UP into the sky from the clouds. Neither of us knew that lightning could do that. This is what we had seen out of the corner of our eyes.

Cool and kind of creepy.

Jason

[jordop]

Another Gimli spook: last October, retreating from the South Ridge in a snow storm, we looked back from the parking lot to see the sky mainly clear except for this localized snowstorm just swirling over and over on the east face. Those of you who know what the peak looks like (a giant wave cresting to the east) can probably picture this "horizontal tornado" just cycling over and over in the recess of the east face. Very strange.

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: jordop ]

[jordop]

Dru, I think your camera is haunted! I've never seen that in any other pictures of Gimli!

Another but not mine: Buddy of mine summits a large peak in the Bernese Alps via a supposedly nice 5.9 multi pitch (can't remember the name). In in the midst of a clear sky at sunset, raises his axe in triumph, only to be struck by a large bolt of lightening. His brother walks him out and he is completely amnesiac for the next week. He started going bald the next week. Now he is a fire protection engineer!