SNAKES

timt wrote: Actually that is a ratsnake. Can't say with 100% certainty which species without looking up locality data. I suspect it is Elaphae taeniura ridleyi or blue beauty snake. I'm not much for common names, but Ridley's racer sounds like it could be correct. keep the snakes coming!!!

Orthriophis taeniurus ridleyi -- basically just an updated name

Here's a good comparable with a few close-up pics:

Ridley's Racer

Anyway, not a cobra.

There were supposed reports of Mojave around Golden due to 'seeing the green' coloration. So far, everything I've seen are Prairies.

I would rather find one at the crag than here

Snaaaaake!

This is a pic of a rattlesnake curled up between a chockstone and the wall of a slot canyon. The muddy footprint on the chockstone is where I was standing when I noticed the snake. We all had to full-body stem over it, scuuuuuury stuff.

Last time I climbed with my older brother; about three years ago, he was scrambling up some 4th class terrain to reach some anchors for a top rope, and just as he reached the top he nearly stepped on a baby rattler. Reflexively he stepped back, but of course that doesn't work so well on 4th class and fell 20 or 25 ft to the ground landing on his right foot. Totally destroyed his ankle. Doctors said putting it back together was like figuring out a jigsaw puzzle. He's pretty gimped up now, can't do any sports really, or move too fast for that matter. Now every time he tells the story, he finished with "shoulda just let the damn thing bite me, woulda been better off".

Young Copperhead

We have had a few encounters with snakes in Red River Gorge. Mostly Black Racers and Copperheads. Have yet to see a Timber Rattlesnake.

^---thats a good looking copperhead.

We were climbing at the New a few years ago - a black snake fell from above and landed right beside my wife - it had a bat in its mouth. Over the course of a couple climbs side by side there - we watched it swallow the bat and crawl off under a rock. Pretty neat experience.

Careful where you sit in the Wasatch.

snake on approach to lone peak, utah

^--what is that it almost looks like a western hognose.

found at Knob Hill Southern Nevada. Maybe a bull snake, anyone know??

Copperhead at the Gunks.

Gunks Copperhead

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Another Gunks Copperhead. This one is eating a mole on the carriage road.

Timber Rattler in The Linville Gorge
Just about stepped on this guy on the way to the North Carolina Wall!

Rattlesnake at Creekside, Clear Creek Canyon

Saw this guy at Creekside in CCC two weekends ago. He was on the trail here, so we climbed the rock above him to get by. It went at about 5.1 X, with a seriously bad fall zone (the snake didn't look too friendly).

Then, after rapping down from Playin' Hooky, we chatted for a couple of minutes until the same guy started rattling at us from about 2 feet away in a bush. He was about 500 feet away when we saw him on the way in, so apparently he has some kind of vendetta going against climbers. You've been warned.

This is terrifying. Really shows you why you do NOT ever want to be bit by a venomous snake.
youtube.com/watch?feature=p…

You can start it about mid way through.

One day climbing at North Table Mountain in the summer*, in Golden, I almost stepped on three different rattlesnakes, all on the same approach, within the course of about 5 minutes.

I'm pretty sure there was some memo that the snakes got that day to scare climbers.

• What the hell was I thinking, summer at Table? Ah, youth.

On a trip to Red Rocks a girl we were with was slotting a nut about 20ft up then suddenly scooted to the side and said there was a snake in the crack and she'd been whacking it with the nut without even knowing it. She described it as "tan with diamonds down it's back...is it dangerous?" She was from Canada. Her partner told her to clip the nut and keep climbing.

A few weeks ago a caught a rubber boa at Challenge Buttress in BCC. Those things are so cool!

I don't wish them any ill will but I'd rather not be around them. Especially coppermouth rattle-moccasins! We see at least 1 snake every trip to Sinks. Always heightens our awareness of rocks and grasses on the trail. And sometimes influences where we are prepared to climb or go.

Add "no risk of snake encounter" to the growing list of reasons I prefer ice climbing and ski mountaineering to rock climbing.

I saw this little guy (I'd guess less than a foot long) today in Deer Creek Canyon. Cute little baby rattlesnake.

Baby rattlesnake at the Urban Alpine Crag.