Fear of bees, wasps, hornets etc.

Does anyone else have an irrational fear of stinging insects or is it just me? How do I cope lol 

Jesus Crimpin Christ wrote:

Does anyone else have an irrational fear of stinging incests or is it just me? How do I cope lol 

Stinging WHATS?!? Jokes aside not really.

I do.  I was solo aid climbing at night (don't ask) up this really thin crack when I saw one, then three, then a dozen wasps poke their heads out of a crack. They all line up motionless with their wings up, ready to attack.

I was able to down lead back to my last decent piece and then pendulum over to a parallel crack.  Cleaning the pitch, they were still there, on alert.  I made it by without incident.

But yeah, if a flying stingy thingy is hassling me, I have about 15-30 seconds worth of self control where I can keep it together and act cool, then I'm running/flailing/swatting.

You only need to get stung once by a paper wasp to realize your fear is not irrational. 

"On the Crag, there is No Escape."

Irrational fear is something a climber needs to get a grip on.

Reasoned fear is what keeps a climber alive. 

I've no irrational fear of stinging insects. I fell into a yellow jacket nest as a kid and they gave me plenty in return. But as an adult, when the Sierra yellow jackets go into meat-bee mode in late summer and fall and start buzzing every time you have some sort of protein out, I am not worried or afraid in the least they are going to sting me. This is a perfect example of rationalizing fear.

In my climbing life I once rapped, not quite in, but came down about 1 foot away from a hornet's nest hole in the ground. I damn near fell off a small cliff trying to get away from them when they swarmed me. Holy fak those hornets pack a STING! I'd give a hornet nest wide berth and other stinging wasps too.

So no on the irrational side, but a healthy yes on the rational fear side of things.

I’ve quietly panic’d a couple times anchored mid-route when I could hear but not see a swarm moving nearby. It takes weaaayyyy too long to know which direction they are heading.

Had a few wasp stings while leading/belaying and it was never too bad, so I'm not really afraid of individual bees/wasps/etc, but the thought of an angry swarm descending upon your mid-route belay or running up on a wasp nest as a leader is pretty horrifying. In southern NM and west TX, near where my in-laws live, almost every crag seems to have a serious issue with killer bees. 

We've beat a retreat on occasion out at the local Las Cruces sport crag, and the killer bee attack on climbers at Hueco is a pretty harrowing reminder of the risks.

The same colony of killer bees still lives in the crack on that buttress, so while I've been champing at the bit to lead all the routes on that wall, I'll definitely pass on the ones that skirt the hive. Better safe than sorry IMO, though I've talked to a few people who've led the routes in spite of the bees.

BITD in the Gunks, quite a number of us would have a can of wasp spray rigged with a sling on our rack.

Cherokee Nunes wrote:

I've no irrational fear of stinging insects. I fell into a yellow jacket nest as a kid and they gave me plenty in return. But as an adult, when the Sierra yellow jackets go into meat-bee mode in late summer and fall and start buzzing every time you have some sort of protein out, I am not worried or afraid in the least they are going to sting me. This is a perfect example of rationalizing fear.

Wait are you saying that meat bees won't sting you, or just that you're not afraid of them stinging you? Because I'm pretty sure they'll sting you if you piss them off.

Somehow I made it up Wings and Stings without getting stung once. I've heard others haven't been so lucky.

Bill Lawry wrote:

I’ve quietly panic’d a couple times anchored mid-route when I could hear but not see a swarm moving nearby. It takes weaaayyyy too long to know which direction they are heading.

Jesus this is 10000% why I HATE drones... every time I hear one, i think it's an African bee swarm and panic and immediately start to flail and bail, and it always happens while rope soloing to make it exciting. Had a swarm fly over me as a kid and the sound must trigger some good ol' trauma lol 

Does anyone else have an irrational fear of stinging incests or is it just me? How do I cope lol 

Parapraxis much?

Jesus Crimpin Christ wrote:

Does anyone else have an irrational fear of stinging incests or is it just me? How do I cope lol 

It's not just you. I have a fear of incels, too.

OP, you live in AZ so your fear is not irrational.  Can't remember the year, but you may remember when that poor Tucson climber and his dog were both killed by a swarm. We have them where I live too. The can of insect spray is a good idea.

I also have a terror of spider bites.  Every time I do gardening, I get them crawling on me, but I'm covered from head to toe, and I usually kill them before they get to the 2 sq in. of exposed skin near my face. Goddamn black widows everywhere.  

And don't get me started on the topic of ticks.

I'm terrified of monkeys, so not thrilled about parts of the upcoming Thailand trip..

phylp phylp wrote:

And don't get me started on the topic of ticks.

Yep, Ticks are way worse!

Jimmy Strange wrote:

Avoid smiling at them. Cover your face and genitalia if things go wrong.  

You just made it worse dude.. faaack!

Hank Caylor wrote:

You just made it worse dude.. faaack!

The big ones have absolutely massive teeth. I made the mistake of bringing a bag of chips to eat and a big one sat down beside me and just calmly ate as I handed him chips. The whole time I was terrified he'd sink his teeth into my neck. There were like 50 smaller ones sitting around me as well but the big one kept them away.

Aw shit Hank them monkeys are going to love you just like the rest of us do. You'll have them base jumping in no time! The Flying Monkeys of Tonsai.

You know it's the fear that attracts them and makes an encounter with them more likely. More specifically keeping thoughts of them or an encounter with them in your mind. Have a good quality bug net with you, I keep mine in my front pocket for quickest deployment, plus some Benadryl and then go about the business of having fun climbing and forget about them.

Not long after the tragic event alluded to above, the death of the poor guy and his dog in Arizona, we were climbing Dappled Mare on the Lost Horse Wall when suddenly I heard what sounded like a buzzing beehive. The sound created was as if a sensitive microphone had been placed right up to a hive. The effect was almost cinematic.

Within seconds I realized just how vulnerable we were   2 pitches up with no where to go should we be suddenly swarmed. Thank God not one bee appeared. Probably the scariest thing I ever experienced climbing, or ever, for that matter.