Home Forums Accidents, near-misses and mishaps Tiger snake bite on Shaven Cat, Bob’s Hollow

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #8946 Reply
    Shev
    Guest

    Hi folks,

    Please spread the word that it is highly dubious to climb on Shaven Cat at Bob’s Hollow, since there is a tiger snake living in one of the holds perhaps five or six bolts up. A climber was bitten on the hand there today, and had to be rescued from the crag by ambulance and fellow climbers. As far as I know he is stable.

    Can I also add that it is always a good idea to take a first aid kit and mobile phone to any isolated crag! Climb safe!

    #8947 Reply
    Borg
    Member

    hope everything went ok sting,

    could be a network of small tunnels behind where the snake came through so could be good to be wary of climbs next to shaved cat for a few days.

    we have marked the climb with tape and skull and cross bones snake warning in case he decides to stay for a few days

    #8948 Reply
    Harry Butler
    Member

    Tiger snake up a cliff? Unlikely. Good to err on the side of caution though….

    #8949 Reply
    Shev
    Member

    If you think about it, Bob’s isn’t so much up a cliff as down a series of caves and holes. It was around midday, and Shaven Cat was in sun. If I was a snake, now that I think about it (which I don’t like to, since I was on the same climb two days before!), I’d go hang out where the sun beats steadily on the rock like that.

    Sting got a visual when it bit him, and the snake remained visible, entwined around the stalactite inside the hold, for a time. Other climbers took photos with their zoom lenses, and the stripes were apparently obvious. The ambos seemed to concur from photos that we were dealing with a tiger snake.

    I should point out, it was a small snake, perhaps a teenager, which doesn’t exactly make it safer, since apparently (and this is from the ambos, I’m no snake expert) younger snakes haven’t always learned to issue a dry warning bite, and though they have less venom they are more likely to release it all. It also adds the rather lovely thought for me that it has brothers and sisters somewhere …

    Not trying to be argumentative, by the way, but I would prefer like you said that people err on the side of caution. After all, it’s almost impossible on climbs to visibly check each hold before sticking our hands in them.

    #8950 Reply
    Graeme
    Member

    Has anyone been on Shaved Cat recently ? I am going down Easter Monday and wanted to tick this one off the list.

    #8951 Reply
    Dena
    Member

    Stripes do not automatically make the snake a tiger. And brown snakes may vary quite a lot in appearance and appear striped. The only way for positive identification is the specific characteristics of head, mid body, anal and sub-caudal tail scales or when they swab the bite site for use in snake id kit.

    #8952 Reply
    Shev
    Member

    It’s definitely important to make sure you’re completely sure with snake identification – I never did check with Sting as to what kind of snake bit him. And like I said, I’m no expert.

    However, if you’re talking about the dugite, which is the kind of brown snake most common to the area, then it’s really important to point out that these snakes are still potentially deadly, and my main point stands – carry a phone and some basic first aid gear!

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
Reply To: Reply #8947 in Tiger snake bite on Shaven Cat, Bob’s Hollow
Your information:




Scroll to Top