Rock climbing is challenging enough without having a wild animal trying to attack you. However, that is exactly what happened to a climber in Japan while traversing a rock ledge in Mount Futago. The heart-pounding footage was uploaded to YouTube, showing the climber bravely fending off a mother Asiatic black bear, using all the right tactics.
In the corner of the video, you can see a small black bear cub in one portion of the clip. The bear was likely trying to protect her baby and saw the climber as a threat. The climber didn't hesitate to defend himself. He began yelling, screaming, punching, and kicking at the bear, trying to get her to back off. The bear retreats for a second but immediately returns to attack him again. The climber is still holding on to the rock ledge, essentially trying to avoid getting eaten. The bear continues the attack for about 30 seconds more, lunging and swiping at the man. The man continues to defend himself, kicking and yelling until she finally retreats along with her cub into the thick brush.
The man handled the situation perfectly, making sure he was loud and aggressive in his defense. In the caption, the climber says he has trained in mixed martial arts and karate, skills that can't hurt while fighting off a bear. The climber also wrote, "I invaded bear territory, but since they attacked me, I defended myself with self-defense. I learned karate when I was a child, but I liked mixed martial arts now, so maybe I could use hammer fist instead of punches."
He also wrote that he usually carries a bear bell with him, but "I mute it when descending rocks because it is noisy." He also wrote that he went back to the summit as the bears climbed down, then he came back down the way he came. Overall, he survived the attack but sustained a few injuries. His hands had scratches and cuts, and he sprained his right wrist from hitting the rock and bear. The incredible footage was recorded by the climber on a GoPro HERO10.
