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What is your take on asking for your lost gear back?

Bill Kirby · · Keene New York · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 480
Scott McMahon wrote: always to a triple idiot check even for small stuff let alone the big items.

I usually throw everything in my pack at the end of everyday. I sort it out back home. Everyone's gossiping, drinking smoking and reflecting on the day so it's good opportunity. I've never lost anything by doing that. Well until I trusted my gear to the wrong person. I could see if the second couldn't clean it but shit just vanishing? Now I'll be taking your advice Scott.

Before I ask I'll say I'm cool with the booty rules. I don't mind if I lose a couple pieces due to bailing. I'm not a person who likes to save their money anyway. I understand my part of the game as the one whos going be losing gear. Ive found all kinds of gear so I understand the balance between losing and finding. I usually don't keep most of the stuff I find. The only thing I don't get is.. I bail and I don't get the gear back. I man up try the R rated crux, fall, hurt myself but I deserve to get the gear back? Please explain.

Lastly, I found a pair of tools in the snow beside the approach trail in Cascade Pass last year. Booty right? I couldn't stop thinking it belonged to one of the kids climbing next to us a few hours ago. I dropped them off to the Mountaineer because I'll buy new tools but that could be a season ender for some.
FrankPS · · Atascadero, CA · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 276

I've lost my courage before and didn't expect it back. I'm often still looking for it.

Mark Thesing · · Central Indiana · Joined Apr 2010 · Points: 60

I've left behind gear as booty that I never had any expectation of getting back. I have on the other hand experienced a few situations that I couldn't justify.

The first was a guy that hand taken a ground fall resulting in a compound fracture. He was about 35 feet up when he fell and pulled one piece on the way down. The piece below it was a cam but it was too low to help and then there was nothing else below that. While we were working getting this guy carried out, some kid climbed up and pulled the cam. When he got to the ground he gave the guy's partner the biner on the cam but claimed the cam as booty. I was dumfounded.

The other occasion happened to me. One day I finished a climb just as it was getting dark. As we left the cliff, my partner was carrying my rope out. By the time we got back to camp it was completely dark. We had to break down the tents, pack up and get out of there. When I got home and unpacked the car, I found my rope was missing. Apparently what happened is when we got back to camp my partner put his stuff and the rope down to help breakdown camp. When we were loading up the car, he completely forgot to put the rope in the trunk. I could understand not getting the rope back if this was in the middle of nowhere and there was no place to leave it, but this was at Seneca Rocks and Gendarme (the local climbing shop) was about a 5 minute walk from where the rope was left or less than a minute drive.

Trad Princess · · Not That Into Climbing · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,175
Chris Massey wrote:Finally, and thread full of people who actually "get it". We should all go climbing...
Don't jinx it - she might be taking a break from posting diving pictures, and reading this...
Ben Griffin · · Chattanooga, TN · Joined Feb 2007 · Points: 310

I've had a couple of instances with losing and gaining gear. I was soloing at X-Rock and pulled out #3 and 2 #4 BD Camelots, all with extended runners. I went to gear shops and posted a message saying I had there gear. They found the message and I returned there gear. They gave me a gift card in return. I also gained quite a bit of karma, which is proven further into the story.

About a month later, I was climbing at Indian Creek with a couple of friends. We climbed our first day and camped. I woke up in the middle of the night with a kidney stone moving through me! To make a long story short, my friends rushed packing our camping stuff and blindly threw my climbing pack/my life into the back of my truck to rush me to the hospital.

The climbing pack fell out of my truck around Dove Creek. An amazing climbing couple ended up with my pack in Dove Creek. They posted lost gear bulletins, at the gear shops in Durango. I didn't even notice my gear was missing yet because I was still recovering. A friend contacted me about the bulletin and called the people immediately. I also made immediate plans to go back to the creek to retrieve my gear/my life. I picked up the gear and we climbed together the next day. Thanks for looking out Sandy Shwartz!

Tronald Dump · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 10

over cam, or get a piece stuck and you and your partner give up on it.... its mine.

Your bringing a newb up the rock for the first time and he forgets to pull a piece.... I'm a cam seeking missile.... if youre still around and I pull it, I'll give it back, otherwise.... its mine.

Leave your runners draws lying around and your gone..... there mine..... leave your draws/runners lying around and your still there I'm gonna stink eye you til you clean up your mess, or leave..... then theyre mine.

Your girlfriend left her pink ATC at the bottom of the climb.... it's mine... but i'll give it back, just let me get her number.

Bail from weather.... you shoulda been paying more attention and that shits mine.....

Injuries/mishaps/etc...... if you were doing something stupid and have to bail.... shits mine. If it was a force of nature/you did everything in your power to stay safe and shit still happened..... its yours.

Anything left on in or around the rock gets picked up whether its booty or trash.... I'm taking it..... I always bring a trashbag cragging with me, and always carry out more than I bring in.... I think boooty is Karmas way of paying me back for cleaning shit up.

In the areas around Seattle.... exit 32/38 etc..... you get a lot of gym climbers getting out on rock and doing stupid stuff and not realizing it. sorry bro.... if you can't finish up that climb that was way over your head because you can climb 5.11 in the gym..... your draws mine!

I see lost gear posts mostly in the equivilant to .... "sorry my stupid bro left like 30 ciggerette butts and 2 empty 2 liters of mountain dew at the base of no name crag, can the next person that gets up there clean up after us?"...... only that I throw out your trash, and keep the good stuff to myself or 9 times out of ten I give the stuff away to cute trad chicks, or climbing newbs that I'm mentoring.

Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425
Tronald Dump wrote:over cam, or get a piece stuck and you and your partner give up on it.... its mine. Your bringing a newb up the rock for the first time and he forgets to pull a piece.... I'm a cam seeking missile.... if youre still around and I pull it, I'll give it back, otherwise.... its mine. Leave your runners draws lying around and your gone..... there mine..... leave your draws/runners lying around and your still there I'm gonna stink eye you til you clean up your mess, or leave..... then theyre mine. Your girlfriend left her pink ATC at the bottom of the climb.... it's mine... but i'll give it back, just let me get her number. Bail from weather.... you shoulda been paying more attention and that shits mine..... Injuries/mishaps/etc...... if you were doing something stupid and have to bail.... shits mine. If it was a force of nature/you did everything in your power to stay safe and shit still happened..... its yours. Anything left on in or around the rock gets picked up whether its booty or trash.... I'm taking it..... I always bring a trashbag cragging with me, and always carry out more than I bring in.... I think boooty is Karmas way of paying me back for cleaning shit up. In the areas around Seattle.... exit 32/38 etc..... you get a lot of gym climbers getting out on rock and doing stupid stuff and not realizing it. sorry bro.... if you can't finish up that climb that was way over your head because you can climb 5.11 in the gym..... your draws mine! I see lost gear posts mostly in the equivilant to .... "sorry my stupid bro left like 30 ciggerette butts and 2 empty 2 liters of mountain dew at the base of no name crag, can the next person that gets up there clean up after us?"...... only that I throw out your trash, and keep the good stuff to myself or 9 times out of ten I give the stuff away to cute trad chicks, or climbing newbs that I'm mentoring.
haha...so everything is yours then.
Buff Johnson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2005 · Points: 1,145

Some stupid bastard had the bright idea to try and return a used number 4 girlfriend. I told the lad -- Finders keepers me harties.

Rrrrrr

Magpie79 · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2011 · Points: 0
Ray Lovestead wrote:What I'd like to know is who removes all that crap from the rock? I watched a guy permanently bury a #3 cam on a classic route and it really ticked me off to see it happen. Given enough time, every crack in the country will be stuffed to the gills with noob gear.
Some cracks are so stuffed with stuck gear that it is like a sport climb!

I do post if I find lost gear, because it is good karma and everyone screws up once in a while. (Better to screw up by losing gear rather than getting hurt). That said, so far, nobody has claimed any of my finds. I sleep well.
J. Serpico · · Saratoga County, NY · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 140

Rescue or injury, it should be returned. Can't really think of any other reason you could or would leave behind more than a piece or two. I once drove away without my brand new trekking poles... My bad.

Weather... Well, I once cleaned an entire pitch of a 5.3 in the Gunks as we were being poured on. When I say a pitch, I mean 10 pieces of gear and a 3 piece belay anchor with cord. I get wanting off, but below the anchor was a tree, which was and still is stout enough to rappel on, and you can clean the route on rappel. Anyway, me and another guy climbed and cleaned the whole route in torrential rain, rapped off the tree. I had no issues with this because they had multiple options to clean the route, and chose not to. I'm not a complete dick though, I returned a GPS and cell phone, some $600 prescription Tag Heur glasses, and many other things over the years.

Tim Stich · · Colorado Springs, Colorado · Joined Jan 2001 · Points: 1,520
Ray Lovestead wrote:What I'd like to know is who removes all that crap from the rock? I watched a guy permanently bury a #3 cam on a classic route and it really ticked me off to see it happen. Given enough time, every crack in the country will be stuffed to the gills with noob gear. Anyone know how to remove that gear? Grinder? Somehow remove the pins in the cam lobes? Ray ps. Yes, I've had a piece get buried. It walked and my buddy couldn't retrieve it. And yes I felt bad.
You can buy metal saws that are just a short holder unlike the really stout ones. With that you can cut through any aluminum cams with effort. You can also simply put a cold chisel to the metal and break the cams off at the hinge. It's not impossible to clean up the routes.

Tronald Dump wrote:Bail from weather.... you shoulda been paying more attention and that shits mine.....
Ha ha ha. Great list of shit that's yours.
Mark Dalen · · Albuquerque, NM · Joined Dec 2011 · Points: 1,002

I'd like to tell a couple stories involving major quantities of left behind gear. But first let me point out this is only an issue because sites like this make it so easy to ask for it back. Back in the day (1970s) you'd have to post something at the local climbing shop &/or put it out there by word of mouth. Word of mouth is how I heard about a friend who had lost his whole ice climbing rack at the foot of Treasure Falls. It seems after topping out he thought it would be a good idea rather than carry it down to toss his rack off the top. Well it went deep in a snowdrift & he never saw it again. He was offering a reward so that was enough to stoke me & my partner for a weekend trip up to southern Colorado. We'd always wanted to do Treasure Falls, anyway. We climbed the falls & then spent the rest of the day excavating maybe 10 cubic yards of snow around the base - all for naught. To this day I picture some kid saying: 'Daddy, what're all those shiny things?' 'I don't know son, but I bet somebody misses them.'

Then there was another partner, this time halfway up the Muralla Grande in the Sandias when storm moved in. We thought we could ride it out but after a half hour hail had piled upon on our ledge six inches deep. It took more than half his rack to build anchors for the four rappels to the ground. I left town right after thinking he might post a notice in the climbing shop. I learned later that he had gone back up himself a week later & retrieved all his gear, then sold it & quit climbing.

What is the guideline in all this? It's all booty until you hear otherwise. If you hear otherwise then you have a decision to make. I reckon if I heard some guy wanted his stupid wired stopper back, I would give it to him. But I would never expect him to do the same in return.

Thanks for letting me share my stories ...

Trad Princess · · Not That Into Climbing · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,175
docsavage wrote: It's all booty until you hear otherwise. If you hear otherwise then you have a decision to make.
I like it.

I found a new shell jacket on Baldy and got it back to the owner, and a like-new Brooks Range down jacket on the north side of Shasta (blew over from the other side near the summit) Tracked down the owner of that as well. Fit me perfectly, but it felt good to give something back to someone that probably thought they'd never see it again.
Tom Nyce · · Flagstaff, AZ · Joined Nov 2010 · Points: 45

I found a pair of climbing shoes at the crag once. I put a note on the bulletin of one of our local sports stores, with my phone #. The owner saw the note and called me. I was short partners at the time, so I held the shoes "hostage." I said I'd bring the shoes to the crag, and we'd climb together that day.
I got a long term climbing partner, and a friend, out of that deal. Well worth the trouble.

doligo · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2008 · Points: 264

A question to people who think "weather bail" gear is not booty: if I say go climbing a 10-pitch route on a 90F day and run out of water and have to bail, would you return my gear? If not, why would you treat it other than a gear left by someone who bailed from a little rain drizzle?

Bill Kirby · · Keene New York · Joined Jul 2012 · Points: 480
doligo wrote:A question to people who think "weather bail" gear is not booty: if I say go climbing a 10-pitch route on a 90F day and run out of water and have to bail, would you return my gear? If not, why would you treat it other than a gear left by someone who bailed from a little rain drizzle?
It's all booty to me. weather, rescue, being a dumbass, whatever. I return shit because either A, I don't want your shit or B, the price of buying new shit would make the average guy with the average life have to sit out the rest of the season. Again I'll reference the time I found tools. To me that's different that the time I found two lockers and webbing or the time I found two tricams in a crack five feet from each other. That doesn't mean I wouldn't give back the cams or the biners if I knew the owner wanted them back.

You don't wanna give my shit back then don't. I don't give a f*** about spending ten dollars on a new #11 nut. I'm still going to ask though.
Trad Princess · · Not That Into Climbing · Joined Jan 2012 · Points: 1,175
Bill Kirby wrote: It's all booty to me. weather, rescue, being a dumbass, whatever. I return shit because either A, I don't want your shit or B, the price of buying new shit would make the average guy with the average life have to sit out the rest of the season. Again I'll reference the time I found tools. To me that's different that the time I found two lockers and webbing or the time I found two tricams in a crack five feet from each other. That doesn't mean I wouldn't give back the cams or the biners if I knew the owner wanted them back. You don't wanna give my shit back then don't. I don't give a f*** about spending ten dollars on a new #11 nut. I'm still going to ask though.
gittem, Kirby.

gittem!
Tom-onator · · trollfreesociety · Joined Feb 2010 · Points: 790
Taylor-B. · · Valdez, AK · Joined Oct 2009 · Points: 3,186

Or you can just do this... mountainproject.com/v/india…
Pack a ice axe to Indian Creek to remove your shit-show!

Greg D · · Here · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 883
Jake Jones wrote: rain = slick rock and God's fault.
So, if I climb when the forecast calls for 90% chance of rain, then have to bail... God's fault or my fault?
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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