UKC

Its a funny thought, I was bouldering yesterday and the break I wanted to use as a good hold has now become the residence of a large eight legged Arachnid.

The hold didn't look inviting at all, the web was huge and sinister, I wasn't sure if the break had swallowed the spider or the spiders web had swallowed the break. Given that a lot of people are squeamish of spiders, how do you deal with such situations, especially if you have a particular strong phobia ?

Just interested really.

L

In reply to lone:

I fall off.

In reply to lone:

I don't have much of a bug phobia, but I can imagine how nasty climbing could potentially be with one.

I remember climbing a jamming crack at Chair Ladder that was absolutely full of those massive lice things you get on sea cliffs. Every time I shoved a hand in, hundreds of them poured out all over me (it was a hot day, no shirt on) - it was gently ticklish but with a twist of utter disgustingness. Made me laugh though!

Chee Tor is covered in cobwebs (and woodlice) - I recommend arachnophobes giving that place a wide berth!

In reply to lone:

Not particularly fond of insects and spiders (at most a mild fear), but I can deal with them on a route - better than the alternative of falling off!

Saying that there are a couple of climbs at St Bees Head that I'd not repeat due to creepy crawlies - The appropriately named "Halloween" which had a huge spiders nest at the top out, and "Ancient Mariner" which I've not actually climbed. My Partner went first, lay-backing up what looked like quite a pleasant crack when he touched a small plant growing in it. The plant exploded with jumping creepy crawlies which rained down from above. After that, there was no way I was considering an ascent!

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Oh No ! I know what you mean about those Lice things, they can get big, but I suspect are harmless

In reply to lone:
In the UK, mtfu.... would be the insensitive suggestion, and as a non arachnophobic who doesn't get the fear of spiders thing.
In other countries, maybe consider face climbing rather than cracks?

Or, make an eliminate so the spiders work isn't destroyed, but some spiders make new webs daily - so how to tell if its still in use?


The jumpy out of crack things tend to be silverfish. Ladies have a worse time than gents with these little surprises.

In reply to Kevster:

That's a good point on the spiders making new webs, so you know if someones home or not

In reply to lone:

In extremis my arachnophobia seems to temporarily disappear.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Many years ago I decided to do a night time solo of Red Wall at Porth Clais. I scrambled down, pulled on and all those little jumping things started teeming out of the cracks, along with weird albino woodlice type creatures. It took quite a lot of mental fortitude not to let out a girly shriek and fall off!

My worst climbing spider experience is probably doing the approach traverse to Red Wall at Gogarth. Scrambling along the grass slope, all around me were massive webs with really malevolent looking spiders eyeing me up. I'm pretty chilled with bugs but they definitely added to the aura of the place.

In reply to pasbury:

Same here - I generally don't like spiders, but become quite brave when the alternative would be to fall off. My girlfriend however has been known to loose all points of contact when confronted with a sp*der in a crack, regardless of how far away the last gear was. I also know a girl who suffered quite a serious injury when a woodlouse caused her to bail off a route.

In Thailand I did take a bit of a whipper when a snake looked me in the eye from a deep horizontal break.

In reply to lone:

The exit to a cave called Afton Red Rift (it's a rift, which is red, near Afton) in Devon is full of massive black orb-spinning spiders... You don't notice them on the way in for some reason and have to creep past them all on the way out!

http://www.cambriancavingcouncil.org.uk/cavelife/devon/spiders.html

In reply to lone:

youtube.com/watch?v=DTWYQhTT388&

In reply to lone:

Came across these on one of my very few outdoor bouldering trips, on a rocky beach. Put me off using any cracks. Horrific.

In reply to lone:

Must be tough. I don't have a worry about spiders. Snakes on ledges or in undergrowth at the base of a crag - now that is a very different matter (for me)!

In reply to lone:

Tarantulas and camel spiders are hazards in some climbing venues elsewhere. Give me the British spider any day!

In reply to lone:

Come down to Hastings and climb the granite bock sea walls at low tide. the joints, which make lovely and interesting holds where the pug has been washed out abound with multi legged sea creatures that come scuttling out when you put your fingers in them!

In reply to John Stainforth:


Yes, I was going to say I don't have a problem here but you tend to be a bit more careful stuffing your fingers into cracks in Australia or South Africa!

In reply to lone:

This topic is giving me the willies! Which is another thing you don't want to find in your crack.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Well said that man.
Have you seen my Arapiles Part 1 video? - Some of the sp*ders down here are flippin' MASSIVE!
Sh*t yeah, 'let go and jump' ...
Cheers,
Andy, (shuddering at the thought).

In reply to lone:

I once found a spider egg sac in a crack at Symonds Yat, just where I wanted to place a nut. I moved the sac carefully, to another secure nook, and then used the crack for my nut. This was for an anchor on the ground so I wasn't in a rush. As I am very arachnophobic I gave myself some brownie points for fortitude.

In reply to AP Melbourne:



Actually it's not just the big ones you need to be careful about; redbacks (Australia) and button spiders (SA) are the real danger. I remember sheltering from a cloud burst at Wall of Fools by lying under a low roof only to realise I was nose to nose with a redback on the ceiling above me.

It's true that the big hairy ones are pretty intimidating though.

In reply to lone:

From "Rock Climbs in Hong Kong" by Brian Heard:

"Spiders can be quite poisonous, but as the really venomous ones are hand-sized and vividly coloured, they are generally easy to see and avoid."

In reply to lone:

My climbing ability magically shoots up a couple of grades and I make it past without having to use that hold!

On the topic of spiders and climbing, here's a relevant excerpt from "Andy Pollitt at Mt Arapilies"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CG9Lq6yUGk&t=1m27s

In reply to lone: at font once found the shady side of a group of boulders covered in thousands of harvestman type critters. Did not want to climb those boulders.

In reply to Dave Garnett: You should have seen the huntsman!!! : )

In reply to lone:

We had a club trip staying in the Don Whillans hut at the Roaches. There was a huge spider, complete with egg sac in residence on the kitchen ceiling (real rock). Later it was identified as a meta menardi cave spider.
It never moved far, so at least we all knew where it was.

In reply to lone:

My arachnaphobia is fairly bad, however so far if I've met anything on a route my subconscious seems to be good enough to put falling off a cliff as more dangerous than spiders. On at least one occasion I've forgotten all about a runout as I chased a spindly bugger away with my longest draw...

That said I'm still convinced that if I suddenly meet one big enough and close enough, I'll instinctively bail - if that ends up killing me I'll be bloody annoyed about it!

In reply to lone:

Don't go to Winterbourne Down if you are an arachnophobe.

In reply to lone:

Benelli's Express at Rocha da Pena in Portugal feature's many large and interesting pockets. One of those contains a bees' nest. They have seen off all of the spiders and climbers too. Fastest that I've ever reversed and stripped a route. Only got stung a few times