UKC

Top British climbers Greg Boswell and Nick Bullock have been hitting social media feeds and mainstream news headlines after fighting off a grizzly bear whilst climbing in the Canadian Rockies yesterday evening. The attack took place high on Mt Wilson, where the bear jumped on Greg and bit into his lower leg.


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In reply to UKC News:

Bloody hell with double brass knobs on top and I'm very glad to hear both you guys lived to tell the tale! And jeez wishing young Greg a full and speedy recovery...
Cheers
Dave

In reply to UKC News:

I'm glad the bear survived

More seriously, best wishes to Greg for a speedy recovery!

In reply to Skyfall:

I was wondering... where did the Bear go to seek refuge after the Greg attack?

Also, I'm sure I remember reading that a bears jaws produce a ridiculous amount of pressue... hi5 to Bozza for prying them things open with his "bear" hands!!! What a hero!

I'm buying that man a pint when he gets home

In reply to UKC News:

What grade was the bear attack?

In reply to UKC News:

This evening I will be visiting a friend here in the Italian Dolomites. Last June he was almost ripped to pieces by a brown bear within a couple of kilometres of our village, technically within the city boundaries of Trento. He was running alone with his dog and fought for his life like a demon. At one point the bear had the top of his head in its mouth, shaking its head and basically ripping his scalp off. He managed to grab its ears and tear at them with all his strength to make it let go. He survived thanks to the arrival of a mountain biker along the same track making the bear escape. He had literally hundreds of stitches, all his lower teeth broken, and pieces torn out of his abdomen and right arm. He is still undergoing surgery to try and recover some functionality in the arm. And he is seriously traumatised.

In reply to Erstwhile:

This guy?:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11670464/The-bear-at...

In reply to UKC News:

Greg Boswell: Lad.

In reply to Erstwhile:

I hadn't realised there were bears in the Dollies and I've been going for years.
Now faced with trying to get rifle on to a Ryanair flight as part of hand luggage.

In reply to McBirdy:


HVG (Hard Very Growly)

In reply to Michael Gordon:


HVS (Hairy Very Scary)

In reply to UKC News:

So yeah, I know everyone's having a bit of good natured banter about this, and Greg will be laughing about it soon enough, but worth remembering both Nick and Greg were in fear for their lives. Grizzlies are f***ing huge and I can only imagine how terrifying it would have been to be chased down by one. As Nick says in his blog,

"in my mind...I watched it shrug an axe as easy as a person squashes an insect"

Something to compete with Tommy Caldwell's tale of being kidnapped by terrorists, at least. Wishing Nick and Greg the best for a speedy recovery, and hoping the experience doesn't put them off from climbing in the Canadian backcountry.

In reply to UKC News: Id rather thought the bear just luckily let go of his leg than he prized apart its jaws, he knows himself hes lucky to be alive.Good luck greg.

In reply to blackcat:

I have the torn up glove to prove it dude. It was more of a thumb in the mouth and the rest of my hand on its snout, but that was the only way it was letting go!

In reply to Greg Boswell:
For future reference, this is how you fight off a bear Greg

youtube.com/watch?v=84bBzAxLXFY&

In reply to Greg Boswell:

Legend. Hopefully you have a speedy recovery and don't miss too much of this Scottish season.

All the best,

Col.

In reply to UKC News:
Honestly Greg I was in ma garage listening to scot sport on the radio & next thing I know the tranny is saying that a you've been mauled by a grizzly! But kicked some sense into it! Brilliant, best climbing story ever. Must of been all that training with running fae angry staffys growing up in Fife! Respect dude, so jealous ( of the tale not the wounds)

In reply to UKC News:

Made it to the news out here. Parks have closed the area and said it was likely a defensive attack as the bear was denning.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/grizzly-bear-attack-climber-scottish-...

Glad everyone is safe!

In reply to Chris Harris:

That's the spirit. Fight grade inflation. In the old days probably only HS (Hairy Scary).

Seriously though glad those guys are ok, sounds terrifying.

In reply to Dave the Rave:



Benedict Cumberpatch also gave a good demonstration of how to beat the shit out of a bear on Graham Norton just the other night - a really huge one too.......... Everyone's at it.....

In reply to UKC News:

Good job he was a climber. The bear has his leg in its mouth and has lifted him into the air, and he goes and reaches up to prize its jaws open? You need a core of steel to do extreme sit-ups like those!

In reply to Oldsign:

The bear may make good training?

In reply to UKC News:

Fighting a grizzly bear off with bare hands? Pah, an easy day for a lady.

http://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_2014_files/AJ%202014%2023... (p.240, half way down).

In reply to UKC News:

Jeremy Vine is just about to discuss this on radio 2, I wonder if Bosllock will be on too?

In reply to UKC News:
no surprise the bear went for the guy with the annoyingly bright headlamp- but it seems it may have saved him from further mauling..

In reply to ChrisJD:

Yes

In reply to George Ormerod:

Interesting read. Nick Bullock's site seems to have gone down so perhaps this is why. They seem to think the bear had no intention of killing them and if it had wanted to it would have succeeded.

Best comment:

There's no neck hair tingling fear quite like the one you get when the grizz you've been watching from afar, stands up, turns your way, and sniffs the air - even when you're (pretty) sure you were downwind.

This close encounter is unimaginable. Hope he heals well and the sleeps get back to sound and restful soon, too.


Have to say the whole thing sounds absolutely horrendous. A true epic that will go down in climbing folklore for a long time.

Anyone seen Grizzly Man? Great documentary by Werner Herzog about a guy who went to live with the bears in Alaska. All went well for quite some time until one of them saw him as a meal.

In reply to UKC News:

I hid in a small mountain hut in Alaska from a bear for a couple of hours before it got bored and left. Scary and exhilarating at the same time. You don't realise quite how big they are till close up.

In reply to Erstwhile:

Bear attacks are not something one thinks about in western Europe, even in places where their presence is known. Hope your mate recovers fully and isn't too traumatised by it all, it sounds horrific.

iircc, Ice Solo, formerly of this parish, once had a punch up with a bear in Japan and got pretty torn up.

In reply to stp:

....and Whillans only had a Yeti to content with!

In reply to Removed User:

Indeed - there was a gripping write up of it floating around somewhere, maybe not on UKC though.

In reply to UKC News:

So no Clif Bar endorsement anytime soon then.

In reply to Removed User:

I went looking for it the other day but the site it was on seems to have departed the internets.

In reply to UKC News:

Amazing pic showing bears aren't all bad....

https://500px.com/photo/47504216/beauty-and-the-bear-by-aleksandra-truhache...