Dangerous situations?

woodjob wrote:

The most important rule for me is \"never climb alone\" or be alone out there while climbing!

- martin

That's a tough one to follow for most rec climbers. There aren't enough of us to have a partner for our climbs. Over 4 years of climbing probably 75% of my climbs were alone. When I first started climbing an arborist friend kind of freaked when he heard I was going out climbing alone. His training around work climbing is never go in a tree without backup in the tree or on the ground. That makes a lot of sense. For rec climbing, having climb partners all the time is not going to happen. For me it would have meant that I would not be a climber. It's a good practice if you can do it though. When you climb alone you have to double your safety mentality, every move go slow, think about the implications of each step you make.
-moss

Culinarytracker wrote:

Recent experience brings another item for the death wish list...

Blindly feel around hollow branch collars and other openings.

That's a big one that Treeman covers in his beginner tree climbing course. Consider every opening into a tree has a potential home of wildlife. Do not climb up to an opening and look in, if you value your face. Imagine from a wildlife point of view, some large critter comes along and looks into your house or worse sticks their hand in. The resident of the hole can only think that something is trying to eat them. Response? Attack comes to mind.
-moss

moss wrote:
Consider every opening into a tree has a potential home of wildlife.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone here has had an experience with wasps/bees/hornets while climbing?