h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last summer on Half Dome, after a great climb we camped down off the shoulder where the lightning warning message is. We were woken in the night by the sound of bears trashing the bear cannisters, throwing our food around the camp. Jumping out of the tent, we started hurling whatever we could find at the bears, clothes, pans, pine cones, but it was by pinging my roll of gaffer tape on the end of the bear's nose which finally persuaded the bear to slope off into the night. Moral of the story is - no climber should leave home without gaffer tape!