Albert Watson, 69, was hiking up Lone Mountain, just outside of Las Vegas, late last Friday afternoon as he had done many times before. This time, however, was different.
He was swarmed suddenly by bees that wouldn’t leave him alone. He sprinted up the mountain, rather than down, which can be very dangerous when panicked. But, he wasn’t able to shake the bees before being stung nearly 300 times.
“I was really thinking that maybe the farther I got up, the wind might disperse the bees, I really thought about that,” Watson said.
At the top of the mountain Watson found other hikers who helped him call for help. He was airlifted off the mountain a short time later.
Las Vegas Fire and Rescue couldn’t confirm what kind of bees had attacked Watson. However, entomologist Grady Jones said that almost all the honey bees in the valley are Africanized, or ‘killer’ bees.
Africanized bees are attracted to CO2 and are very territorial when people or animals get close to their hives.
“At that point they become extremely aggressive, it becomes their home and all the science fiction types of things you hear, most of them are pretty much true when it comes to the Africanized bee,” Jones told FOX5 News.
After all that, Watson was neither mad at the bees nor deterred from hiking the area. “I’m not mad at the bees, I like bees,” he said. Is he going to go back to Lone Mountain again? Yup, he plans on it.
I have nothing but respect for this man.
Watch the video below:
Lead image by motleypixel
About Matt Gibson
Matt Gibson is three-time Canadian expat now living in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he manages the blog for Flight Network, writes the About.com Snowboarding Guide, and writes about his exploits on his outdoors and adventure travel blog.
|
 |
I read about dealing with bee attacks last week. Honey bees, there are lots of things you can do. With Killer beers, you’re screwed.
I like bees, too, but 300 stings… Even if one isn’t allergic, I suppose that’s at the very least painful. Brave man.
Good thing he didn’t have a bee allergy or thats one tale, he wouldn’t be telling. I think I’d want to know exactly where that hive is before returning.
BAMF, that man is a BAMF.
Wow this is like my worst nightmare – glad to see it’s a happy ending.
Yeah, that sounds awful. He handled it pretty amazingly.