Once bitten
Columns: Outside with Tim
Once bitten
Dangerous things come in small packages.
The rope jerked upwards, my belay hand pulled down to arrest the fall, and I was momentarily lifted off my feet. "Ow! I've been bitten! I've been bitten!" yelled my climbing partner. He'd been leading a climb up a pocketed limestone wall that had become one of the few sport-climbing areas in Australia's arid centre. Lowering him to the ground, I could see blood dripping from his middle-left finger. Close inspection revealed two puncture marks a centimetre apart. After giving the accepted first-aid protocol for snake bite, we took him to hospital, and despite no symptoms being felt, he was kept in for a few hours for observation. We never found out who the culprit was. The bite suggested a venomous snake, but—common to first strikes—it wasn't envenomated, and luckily was just a warning shot, a 'dry bite'.