Peter_Puget Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Anybody have any good bat stories? Once while top roping at Banks Lake I broke a flake off and caught it in my lap. As a reached down to grab it I noticed a squished bat on my leg! I have seen plenty of bats in cracks but that was the only one that I actually touched. PP Quote
pope Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Great story. But this is a rock climbing forum. I come here to get advice on how to climb 5.13, not listen to your war stories. Monitors, could we move this thread to Spray? Quote
Dru Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Peter_Puget said: Anybody have any good bat stories? Once while top roping at Banks Lake I broke a flake off and caught it in my lap. As a reached down to grab it I noticed a squished bat on my leg! I have seen plenty of bats in cracks but that was the only one that I actually touched. PP Did you bite it's head off Quote
Peter_Puget Posted October 23, 2003 Author Posted October 23, 2003 No I screamed and let both the bat and the flake drop. Quote
specialed Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 jkassidy said: I come here to get advice on how to climb 5.13, not listen to your war stories. Start by removing the poly-pro from under your shorts, hardcore. Quote
Dru Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Coming back from Ibex we drove hrough Rosedale and a bat flew into the windshield little fucker must not have known we had a STEALTH MINIVAN INVISIBLE TO SONAR!! I heard they have to put the B2 in the hangar at night or it will have dead bats in the morning that flew into it cause its so invisible and stealth and all. I bet wonder woman had the same problem with her invisible airplane! Quote
vegetablebelay Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 I had a bat hit the windshield at night on the N. Cascades Hwy. Tons of bugs peppering the windshield then a large pulpy body hit and bounced off. This is my first post in the New Rock Climbing Forum! Quote
mattp Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Groping in a muddy sandstone offwidth I once grabbed a bat. Quote
scot'teryx Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Climbed this crack on icicle buttress once and found a bat was in the crack right at the crux almost popped off as it let out quite a shriek Quote
dkemp Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 Several weeks ago I was at Tieton's Cave area. It was getting dark and we were wrapping it up but Seth hadnt gone up yet. He was uncertain about leading it but decided to. But it was taking too long and now its dark enough that he gets out his headlamp, and he aint even at the chains yet. Then Anna and I notice bats flitting all around him. She doesnt want him to be surprised so she shouts up to him, as gently as one can say such a thing, "Hey Seth, there's bats flying around your head." He tersely shouts back down, sketchedness apparent in his voice "THATS NOT WHAT I WANT TO HEAR!" Ooof! He finished the climb and we all had a good laugh afterward. Way to hang in there Seth. Quote
minx Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 ehmmic and i were climbing lizard one fine afternoon. she was leading the 3rd pitch, the pitch after the OW. i saw her give the roof crack a funny look and move along rather quickly. when i got there, while looking for a slighty more secure hold than i had i peered up in the crack. there was a bat, and it was starting to move. i committed to that first traverse move really quickly after that! i'm not sure if i'm glad she didn't tell me about the bat or not! Quote
chelle Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 minx said: ehmmic and i were climbing lizard one fine afternoon. she was leading the 3rd pitch, the pitch after the OW. i saw her give the roof crack a funny look and move along rather quickly. when i got there, while looking for a slighty more secure hold than i had i peered up in the crack. there was a bat, and it was starting to move. i committed to that first traverse move really quickly after that! i'm not sure if i'm glad she didn't tell me about the bat or not! Yeah! That was a funny one. Got me to commit too and run it out until I rounded the corner. I think I hinted there was something, with the exclaimation of "Oooh gross!" just before I took off. Quote
Dru Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 "BAT hooks? BAT hammocks? pass the zinfandel!" Quote
willstrickland Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 You folks should spend a little time caving...after having them flying around your head or coming face to face with them in tight passages for a day or two, you'll get used to 'em. On a side note, my first night spent underground was probably scarier and stranger than the first night on a wall. Quote
chelle Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 No thanks. We all have our "thing" and exploring dark, dank, caves with slimy animals and furry ugly flying things doesn't sound fun to me. Quote
willstrickland Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 ehmmic said: No thanks. We all have our "thing" and exploring dark, dank, caves with slimy animals and furry ugly flying things doesn't sound fun to me. All the more reason to do it...confront your irrational fears and overcome them. I thought I'd freak from claustrophobia, but I didn't. You'd be surprised by the lifeforms in caves, very few of the creepy-crawly things you'd expect but definitely some weird stuff...blind fish, colorless creatures. It's also the best place for the wintergreen breath mint experiment. The ones (I forget the brand) with the green section in the middle of a white life-saver type breath mint will "spark" when you crunch them, it's pretty wild. Besides, when you live in the TAG region (where Tenn/Alabama/Georgia meet, one of the best caving areas on the continent) there's nothing much else to do when the days get short and it's cold and rainy(Atlanta gets more annual volume of rain than Seattle, just spread over fewer days). We would get out of classes on Friday, jump in a cave around 10pm, pop back out sometime in the middle of the following day, catch a nap, drive to another cave and do it all over again. Bats are just part of the trippy landscape down there. Quote
Alpinfox Posted October 23, 2003 Posted October 23, 2003 (edited) Have you done much caving in WA? Where? I've done some in CO, but not out here. Edit: Oh. I see you are in AK. Well anyone else know of cool caves in WA? Share? Edited October 23, 2003 by Alpinfox Quote
pope Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 I'm aware of a secret cave that's got some bats............and about 400 bolt holes! Quote
Off_White Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 Down at Suicide Rock, across the valley from Tahquitz, there is an old aid line called "The Pirate," a really really thin crack. It has since gone free by climbing the pin scars, only 5.12 if I recall, but back in the late 70's it was still an aid route. We were messing around at the bottom, joking about climbing it, playing with the pin scars. Now, most of this crack was in the knifeblade size, but the pinscar in question would take the tips of two fingers, not quite to the first knuckle. I'm standing there, fingers in the scar, and it screams at me. I jump back, and this angry little bat face wriggles out of the hole and flies away. I'd had no idea they could occupy such a tiny space... Quote
Dru Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 i saw a garter snake chimney up a fingercrack at squamish once! Quote
Szyjakowski Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 reminds me of the time i started up the lieback crack at off's house crag and slitherin down was a garter snake... to the face climbs we went! Quote
Off_White Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 We had a rattlesnake in the crack halfway up the first pitch of Frogland in Red Rocks, that gives me the creeps many times over compared to those snuggly little bats. Quote
Jens Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 Was climbing up the 5.11 pocket route at the now defunct Ted's Wall at Fossil rock and shoved my fingers palm out into a undercling drilled pocket. I cranked back on the pocekt and heard the pocket creak like a piece of wood. I felt something fuzzy and looked in to see that I had shoved my fingers into a little bat! It didn't bite me though. Quote
ketch Posted October 24, 2003 Posted October 24, 2003 Not a climbin story but still Bat. A couple years back my uncle took me up to find a cave he thought I would like. Seems that when he was in high school he wanted to prank a little. He went up to this cave and painted all the Bats with glow in the dark paint. I guess it was pretty funny until glowing bats started being seen all around three counties. Guess there was a few freaked guys lookin for how that happened. Quote
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