We've never encountered any marmots quite as aggressive as yours. But the most persistent marmot we've encountered was just below Lamarck Col - we both woke in the night to sounds of chewing, to find that he was chewing on my boyfriend's boots outside the tent. After shooing, he kept coming back till we finally wised up and pulled the boots inside. This is probably the same marmot that was digging around in the spot where I peed after dinner.

Last summer in Desolation a pair of marmots came running from about 100 yards off about 5 minutes after my guy and his nephew peed on a rock. We initially thought they were coming after the packs we'd left sitting, but they made a beeline for the rock.