Eric K Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 (edited) My wife and I just got back from a few days in Leavenworth. We visited the Pearly Gates crag once and as soon as we got there were surrounded by at least 8 Mountain Goats. My wife decided she did not want to belay me while Goats were bucking heads a few feet away. As we left the biggest one charged at us a few times and followed us 3/4 the way down the trail. Have any of you experienced this? What have you done, do they every go away? Eric edited to fix spelling Edited June 11, 2011 by Eric K Quote
Dane Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Goats can be agressive. A man was gored and killed in 2010 by a goat in the Olympics during the fall rut. Best thing to do is leave the area if they seem agressive or overly interested. Only needs to happen once to you. http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2010/11/fatal-goat-goring-investigation.html Quote
kevino Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Pearly gates and snow creek wall are a regular training center for mountain goats before they take their trundling and attacking skills to the alpine area. Best to check with their coach about their practice schedule before heading out to those areas. Quote
russ Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 We were at Pearl Gates two summer ago when a family of 5 or 6 spied us from the top, then worked their way down to us. The large male made a somewhat aggressive move at my buddy, he yelled and waved aggressively back - the goat backed off. It was clear they are very use to people.... Quote
olyclimber Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 I, for one, welcome our new goat overlords. Quote
AlpineK Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 You need to learn how to make friends with goats [img:center]http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/503/medium/Kurt_doesnt_think_the_goat_is_all_that_tough.jpg[/img] Quote
Pete_H Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Throwing rocks and yelling at them seems to do the trick. If not that then a modern firearm used in "self-defense" would probably make them leave you alone. Quote
uparock Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 How do you make friends with them Kurt??? I was there two weeks ago and one of them kicked a rock down. It landed 6 feet from us with no warning. We got our helmets on although this rock would have crunched us anyway. No aggression was evident. Quote
markwebster Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Last year there was a baby, he/she was super cute, and quite the slab climber, sliding down 5.9 slabs in 4 wheel lock. Short of shooting them, could one perhaps feed them? Leave an offering of something that wasn't too heavy to hump up there? They go batshit over salt in urine. I wonder if a salt block placed away from the climbing area would be a good idea. Baring that, perhaps grizly bear pepper spray might work? Shooting them is bound to end very badly. Injured, angry mountain goats attacking poorly armed climber/hunters, environmentalists up in arms... Quote
Eric K Posted June 11, 2011 Author Posted June 11, 2011 Next time going pee away from crag will be a good idea, and bringing bear spray in case they get aggressive is smart too. Wild animals getting habituated to human presence is never a good thing, so I probably won't ever do anything to give them the impression that we are friends. I dont know that putting out a big chunch of salt will stop them from bothering humans once this salt runs out. I think that going pee away from the crag and in places where they can't get to it (down the cracks in boulder fields maybee) will probably be the only good way to get them to realize that humans don't equal salt. Eric Quote
DPS Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 The goats are getting more agressive. Someone needs to put the smack down on the biggest one to send a message to the others. Quote
genepires Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Throwing rocks and yelling at them seems to do the trick. If not that then a modern firearm used in "self-defense" would probably make them leave you alone. I threw a rock at a semi aggressive goat once. While I wasn't throwing for a kill shot, it had some momentum and the goat didn't even notice the impact to his rib cage. Quote
goatboy Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 What a surprise, people who disagree about the ethics of wilderness use as it overlaps with climbing. Goats are an objective hazard of climbing. If you're not okay with that hazard, then there are plenty of other places to climb. Here's a funny analogy: Shooting goats is like retro-bolting, or bolting cracks -- it just brings the crag down to your level of comfort. Instead of the murder of the impossible, it's just murder of goats. By the way, on a related tangent, dogs are illegal at the Pearly Gates and the snow creek trail altogether. I saw a very irresponsible group with a husky dog chasing goats around the talus up there last year. A good way to hurt or kill either the dog or the goats. Quote
AlpineK Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 How do you make friends with them Kurt??? Remembering that they don't play by human rules is crucial. I imagine they drop rocks on other goats all the time. Pissing on a rock at an appropriate distance from your base camp is one strategy for making friends with goats. Just a guess, but due to the weather conditions this year, they may feel like defending their turf is a high priority since that's where they get food. Others mentioned staying away from them when they are in rut. Kind of a stay away from our goat ladies thing. They know what climbers are always talking about Quote
G-spotter Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Those goats drink more urine than Bear Grylls Quote
DRep Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 I topped out on OS on Tuesday and had to fend off a goat who didn't like me being to close to its kid. This goat had the look of evil and hatred on its face. I was on an anchor belaying my partner up while trying to keep Satans minion at bay from sending me for the plunge. Not really anywhere for me to go while stuck on an anchor? They then proceded to chase us down and send moderate sized rocks down the gully. It was no doubt the said goat combat coach which Kevino speaks of. Quote
cam yarder Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 I was belaying my friend on Loaves of Fun at Pearly Gates when a goat nearly landed on top of me after jumping off the large boulder next to the route. I guess it didn't see me, but had I not jumped out of the way, I think I woulda been pretty fuhq'd Quote
Buckaroo Posted June 12, 2011 Posted June 12, 2011 http://hikinginthesmokys.blogspot.com/2010/11/fatal-goat-goring-investigation.html whoa! that goat weighed approx 350 pounds, no wonder he got the better of the dude. I've seen lots of goats, but never anything close to that big. Quote
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