Bear spray halts brown bear mauling of Alaska trail-running champion

Three-time Mount Marathon champion Klaire Rhodes, 28, was mauled by a brown bear on 13 August 2026 while running alone on the Wolverine Bowl trail in Chugach State Park. She deployed bear spray — a pepper-based deterrent — halting the attack, then self-rescued to the Prospect Heights trailhead. Her worst injury was a deep puncture wound to her left hip. She titled her Instagram account of the ordeal: "Bear spray works."