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Marylandclimber
Aug 13, 2012, 7:18 PM
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I just wanted to share a story that happened to me the other day and to remind people to always bring wasp/bee spray. I was trad climbing a small 30ft climb at Rock State park Maryland and I used a crash pad to protect the first 10 feet. When i got to the top I setup a rappel and started rappelling. When I was 10 feet off the ground I realized to late that my crash pad was covered in bee's. I rappelled straight into them and ran away with a few stings to my ankles. We waited around 10 minutes and they weren't leaving at all. We pulled the rope through and managed to get everything but the crash pad. We decided to leave the pad go home wait a little bit and on the way back pick up some anti bee spray. We got the pad all wet with the spray but killed most of the bee's. I hope the spray won't affect the pad but it was the first time I left something behind for a long time. This is a reminder to everyone to always have spray in your backpack and to always inspect the cracks before climbing them.
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wonderwoman
Aug 13, 2012, 8:25 PM
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Had you, by any chance, spilled something sweet on your crash pad? Sounds strange!
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ninepointeight
Aug 13, 2012, 8:40 PM
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That's a pretty funny story but do you really think everyone should carry bee spray? That doesn't exactly happen every day. It probably won't ever happen to most people. It's probably a lot more common for people to get stung on lead in which case do you really need a can of poison to do battle with the bees you accidentally disturbed? Climb past quickly and try not to disrupt them any more. They are just doing what they do. What color is your bouldering pad?
(This post was edited by ninepointeight on Aug 13, 2012, 8:41 PM)
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Marylandclimber
Aug 13, 2012, 9:50 PM
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I was thinking the same thing I don't think so but the pad was all black and i think it was just on the nest and they didn't like it there.
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billcoe_
Aug 15, 2012, 3:36 AM
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Marylandclimber wrote: I just wanted to share a story that happened to me the other day and to remind people to always bring wasp/bee spray. I was trad climbing a small 30ft climb at Rock State park Maryland and I used a crash pad to protect the first 10 feet. When i got to the top I setup a rappel and started rappelling. When I was 10 feet off the ground I realized to late that my crash pad was covered in bee's. I rappelled straight into them and ran away with a few stings to my ankles. We waited around 10 minutes and they weren't leaving at all. We pulled the rope through and managed to get everything but the crash pad. We decided to leave the pad go home wait a little bit and on the way back pick up some anti bee spray. We got the pad all wet with the spray but killed most of the bee's. I hope the spray won't affect the pad but it was the first time I left something behind for a long time. This is a reminder to everyone to always have spray in your backpack and to always inspect the cracks before climbing them. You gotta be nuts about carrying spray everywhere. You must not be pulling any mileage if you think that putting that crap in your pack and hauling it all over the place all the time is something everyone would want to do. Maybe in Maryland it's OK cause you are right next to your car, but around here in the west, you might be doing miles of occasional ugly bushwhacking. Next, if you are talking bees, that generally refers to honey bees: they are generally peaceful and easily avoided and we should just leave them be(e). In the SW that may be Africanized bees, and that's a different kettle of fish. Yellowjackets on the other hand, (if that's what you mean by "bees') hate us as much as we hate them and should be whacked by anyone who sees a nest near a public area in my view. They have a place in life, but not around me:) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_jacket Getting near a Yellowjacket nest in late summer/fall can be near deadly and a even single sting will wreck a buddy of mine up pretty bad. Yellowjacket discussion here. http://www.rockclimbing.com/..._latest_reply;so=ASC He carries an epipen, which might be a better thing for most of us to carry. http://www.epipen.com/how-to-use-epipen Take care!
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Marylandclimber
Aug 15, 2012, 4:29 PM
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For the East Coast it seams reasonable but i'm not familiar with the west at all. I got a chuckle from the yellow jacket part.
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rgold
Aug 15, 2012, 4:45 PM
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Back in the 60's and 70's, wasps were so bad in the gunks that most people carried a spray can with them on the climbs! I still have an old can somewhere set up with a big bank clip for clipping to a swami belt and a sling like a hammer sling. We'd be hanging on with one hand and zapping nests with the other hand on the lead. Those wasps have almost disappeared, but have been replaced by Yellow Jackets, which as billicoe says are far worse. Their stings really hurt, and because their nests are built in the ground (or in dirt on ledges or in cracks), and are not visible constructions tacked onto the rock, they are almost impossible to spot until you've disturbed the nest. ( If you see a yellow jacket or two around and stand very quietly, you can usually spot a steady stream of them going in and out of a hole in the dirt that marks the nest site.) If the pad was suddenly covered with "bees," I think it is most likely that it got thrown down on or very near a yellow jacket nest in the ground and caused a general alert.
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shimanilami
Aug 15, 2012, 7:08 PM
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Marylandclimber wrote: ... and i think it was just on the nest and they didn't like it there. I usually try to avoid putting my crash pad on bees' nests, rattle snake pits, alligator infested swamps, hot lava, and the like. Admittedly, I am just a simple man.
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shimanilami
Aug 15, 2012, 7:20 PM
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billcoe_ wrote: You gotta be nuts about carrying spray everywhere. You must not be pulling any mileage if you think that putting that crap in your pack and hauling it all over the place all the time is something everyone would want to do. I don't know, Bill. You never know when it might come in handy. http://www.youtube.com/...p;v=NemlZxNYs0o#t=6s
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Marylandclimber
Aug 16, 2012, 1:47 PM
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Haha! Hot lava But I didn't know it was there .
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billcoe_
Aug 17, 2012, 1:57 AM
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Marylandclimber wrote: Haha! Hot lava But I didn't know it was there . In Hawaii (big island) they have signs directing you away from it depending where you're at, but of course, every once in a while some dumb haole non-local walks past the sign, the solid crust over the lava that you are not suppose to stand on breaks and pffft....all over. Some of the new rock right on the waters edge is actually forming cliffs that are boulderable while nearby the lava is off gassing and steaming like a SOB as it hits the ocean and solidifies. I don't think the fumes do anyone in in Hawaii although Mount Hood has killed climbers via venting fumes. The Mt Hood thing is tough cause it's a fumarole that is like an oversized ant-lion trap. As the year goes on the snow starts to looks like it's swirling into the hole at the bottom. It's a pretty interesting and stunning visual effect and although I've seen it many times don't have a photo. Anyway, people get mesmerized and drawn in...our innate desire to explore...and the sulfuric fumes have next to zero O2. Anyone going down there suffocates. What keeps this from being a very common thing is fourfold. 1st) About everyone just wants to get to the summit, theyre already tired and don't want to expend the energy to get down into the bottom of the fumerole. 2nd) It's the most popular spot to sit and catch your breath. There have been people who went down, collapsed, and got pulled out by others who were watching the drama unfold from above. 3rd) it's usually windy, and the wind pushed the fresh breathable air with oxygen into the trap and pushs out the sulfuric fumes. At the ski slopes 2-3000 feet lower, it often smells like a nasty fart for that reason. 4th) During spring, the most popular time to climb, the fumeraole is mostly covered up by the 20-30 feet of snow that accumulated over the winter, although the smell is often present. By late July early August, hardly anyone except for a few diehard idiots is still climbing the big mountains due to rockfall dangers, not many climbers climb up to 10,000 feet just to get that view. When it's 100 degrees down in the valley in August, it can be a fine time to get a lap on the mountain. Depending. And no bees either:-)
(This post was edited by billcoe_ on Aug 17, 2012, 2:01 AM)
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jdensign5
Aug 17, 2012, 6:46 PM
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HaHa, bee/wasp spray, that is funny. No way I am ever gonna tote the extra weight around, but to each his own, a funny thing to suggest, made me laugh. And yes, yellow jackets hurt very badly. I had one sting me on my ach tendon and I couldn't even walk for 2 minutes.
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knudenoggin
Aug 24, 2012, 6:33 AM
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rgold wrote: Those wasps have almost disappeared, but have been replaced by Yellow Jackets, which as billicoe says are far worse. Their stings really hurt, and because their nests are built in the ground (or in dirt on ledges or in cracks), and are not visible constructions tacked onto the rock, they are almost impossible to spot until you've disturbed the nest. ( If you see a yellow jacket or two around and stand very quietly, you can usually spot a steady stream of them going in and out of a hole in the dirt that marks the nest site.) If the pad was suddenly covered with "bees," I think it is most likely that it got thrown down on or very near a yellow jacket nest in the ground and caused a general alert. Ah, some sense! Yes, if **bees* (or yellow jackets --of whatever species) were drawn to the pad by color / scent / or just a desire to crash, they'd hardly be keen to sting you. (Esp. honeybees, as they'll die for it.) Yes, by time June rolls around, yellow jackets which typically have quite populous nests are usually able to be spotted --nest locale, i.e.-- by watching an area to see any "bee-line" trajectory of such an insect --can be just one that tips you off to look more closely. (They are sometimes like those WWII Douglas? torpedo bombers, as they carry off a load of soil from excavation of the nest site.) Rather sad to read "those wasps have almost disappeared". I recall noting with sadness the absence of the common, suburban polistes wasps --what I presume you had in the Gunks (open, single-comb, paper nests ; orange&yellow-ish wasps; usually brown variety had more secluded nests)--; I recall watching some parasitic fly stand w/focused attention at one starting nest, awaiting the solo queen's inevitable departure which would leave the nest vulnerable to the egg-laying parasite, and the queen to nurture nothing of her young. Sad. Mostly these wasps prey on caterpillars. More recently, I became aware a polistes wasp colored like yellow jackets --same black & yellow, not the orange-ish w/brown--, and having like behavior in scavenging just any ol' *meat*. One time, one alighted on my hand, and as I was reaching for the camera to get a photo, she BIT me --"I want a piece of you!" OW. Shook off, no photo, sorry. Nearby, yellow jackets have come to scavenge the rejected, aged, dead honeybees at a hive in a walnut tree. A european hornet came to take some live one in mid-flight ; a bald-faced hornet came to ... hard to figure what --some damn inept attempts to catch a fly; later, mingling w/the bees to lick whatever was at hive entry! Shocking was how UNinterested honeybees were at their nest cavity --moving away from or just ignoring my finger. !? Don't try this with the wasps, 'cept maybe late September, and cool. *kN* ps: If you're on a street or "bike path", watch out for these guys: http://www.lissgallery.com/..._pages/Beecycles.htm 2nd pic is at night, of the humming mass at hive's entry in the hollow.
(This post was edited by knudenoggin on Aug 24, 2012, 4:01 PM)
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