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can I have my portal edge back?

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

It rained non-stop last August through September in Colorado, then they had that biblical flood that pretty much cut the road to Estes from Boulder for several months (I'm not on Front Range so don't remember the exact timeline, please correct me if I'm wrong). Then winter happened. It kinda makes sense why the OP waited till this July to go retrieve his gear. Shit happens, life happens, you guys are a tough crowd.

The fact that somebody selectively picked through the gear and dumped the rest, makes them thieves, lazy thieves that is (could have made a couple of trips to take all of his stuff down). Where were all the stewards of the land the rest of the year, while the ropes and other stuff have been laying around and littering the landscape?

Paul-B · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 115
doligo wrote:It rained non-stop last August through September in Colorado, then they had that biblical flood that pretty much cut the road to Estes from Boulder for several months (I'm not on Front Range so don't remember the exact timeline, please correct me if I'm wrong). Then winter happened. It kinda makes sense why the OP waited till this July to go retrieve his gear. Shit happens, life happens, you guys are a tough crowd.
Hmmm... well it seems myself and plenty of others have had no problem accessing the area all fall/winter/spring/summer. The cirque was down right crowded early spring when I did Kieners. The flood cut 36, it did not isolate Estes, it just added 30-40 minutes to the drive- not a big deal for several thousand dollars worth of gear.
BigFeet · · Texas · Joined May 2014 · Points: 385

This has become interesting.

If what was stated above is correct then it appears humans suck, but such is life.

I would say, all parties involved have some blame, unfortunately.

Injury, possible weather, procrastination, complacency, possible thievery, etcetera has added up to a very sad affair.

Maybe the ledge is returned along with the other articles. Maybe not.

Speculation, but if all of the good booty was taken and the non-sellable/known usable items were left strewn along the site of where the cached items were left would it not be someone who knew what they were looking at? This is just a question that was raised in my mind.

Does this have an ending? Hopefully a good one. In the least a learning experience.

Good luck OP, sincerely.

Chris White · · Boulder · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 15

If your using my port a ledge that's great, still want it back. It's not yours. If it's just sitting in your closet, garage, or shed that's even worst because i make good use of it.
Please, if you read this and have heard of someone that has a A5 (tighten down straps on both sides of bed) port a ledge that's not there's, let me know. The climbing community is not that big.

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
Chris White wrote:If your using my port a ledge that's great, still want it back. It's not yours. If it's just sitting in your closet, garage, or shed that's even worst because i make good use of it. Please, if you read this and have heard of someone that has a A5 (tighten down straps on both sides of bed) port a ledge that's not there's, let me know. The climbing community is not that big.
It's hard to take you seriously when you're acting like a 13 year old girl. Man up and don't delete posts for one,

I'm personally all about folks endevouring to return gear, in fact, in some cases, I find the act of "bootying" gear to be thievery.

But shit, you didn't do a phenomenal job trying to get your stuff back, so maybe don't get too high and mighty when you didn't really try that hard to begin with to get it back yourself
Chris White · · Boulder · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 15

Not a Troll. Someone really took my portaledge. More i think about it, the more B.S. it is. Don't need to explain myself. It's just B.S.

JHans · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 0
Ray Pinpillage wrote: So at what point is the property left by the OP considered litter? If you parked your car on public property for a year it would get towed and the wrecking yard would file for title. Is this different because you're a climber and relate to the OP? Seems hypocritical, I don't think you approve of people leaving their property on public land but somehow this is different because of the type of property left.
This is garbage. Stop talking like you're a lawyer -- you're clearly not. Your hypothetical is very different than the situation here. You would not be legally justified in stealing a car out of a parking lot that had been there for a year. The car would be towed by a licensed company. Did the person who took this gear have a license to take it?
Ray Pinpillage · · West Egg · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 180
LHans wrote: This is garbage. Stop talking like you're a lawyer -- you're clearly not. Your hypothetical is very different than the situation here. You would not be legally justified in stealing a car out of a parking lot that had been there for a year. The car would be towed by a licensed company. Did the person who took this gear have a license to take it?
Yarp, where have you been?
JHans · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 0

There is so much ridiculous hand-wringing going on here. A big deal has been made out of the fact that he didn't go back soon enough to get his stuff. What difference could that possibly make here? From what we know the gear was taken within a few weeks of it being left. It's not like the person who took it went back week after week for months and finally decided that this gear was truly abandoned. Also, there was significant gear there; no reasonable person would have thought it had actually been abandoned. And who cares if he didn't find out it had been stolen for about a year. That has nothing to do with the rightness of taking the gear.

Instead of looking for reasons to nit-pick and criticize someone who had a bunch of gear stolen, everyone on here should condemn the person who took it. That way (1) hopefully it can be returned to the rightful owner who clearly never had any intention of abandoning the gear and (2) this won't happen in the future. If you're not here to condemn the person who took or don't have any leads on where the gear is then you should shut your mouth. Too many people on here find the smallest reason to be a tool to people they don't know on the internet.

Robbie Mackley · · Tucson, AZ · Joined May 2010 · Points: 85

Something's got left behind, and some of those things got picked up. End of story.
Booty exists between the base and summit. I consider anything else off limits, as someone else may be relying on that gear for survival.
However, leave/cache gear, leave a note in a ziplock bag and hope people read/respect it. Otherwise don't be surprised when it's gone.
-Mackley

Ray Pinpillage · · West Egg · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 180
LHans wrote:...someone who had a bunch of gear stolen...
Who had gear stolen?
JHans · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 0

This wasn't some random cam that got stuck or a small piece of gear that was abandoned-- those items are different in terms of "booty." This was clearly a stash of a large amount of gear. There was no intention to abandon it and anyone coming across is would have clearly known that. Any attempt to justify stealing this gear is wrong. It's not even a close call. There was a huge discussion a few days ago about when it is okay to take "booty" off the wall.

This falls well outside of what the consensus was in that discussion. The person who took it needs to return the gear and people need to recognize that taking a stash of gear -- that the person is clearly going to come back for-- is not okay. You may not think it's okay for them to leave it there, but that in no way justifies you stealing it.

Ray Pinpillage · · West Egg · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 180
LHans wrote:This wasn't some random cam that got stuck or a small piece of gear that was abandoned-- those items are different in terms of "booty." This was clearly a stash of a large amount of gear. There was no intention to abandon it and anyone coming across is would have clearly known that. Any attempt to justify stealing this gear is wrong. It's not even a close call. There was a huge discussion a few days ago about when it is okay to take "booty" off the wall. This falls well outside of what the consensus was in that discussion. The person who took it needs to return the gear and people need to recognize that taking a stash of gear -- that the person is clearly going to come back for-- is not okay. You may not think it's okay for them to leave it there, but that in no way justifies you stealing it.
Know how I know you're not going to leave your shit out on public land like the OP?
Anonymous · · Unknown Hometown · Joined unknown · Points: 0

People leave bags at the base of the mountain all the time while climbing. If i see something sitting at the base (or on a ledge / near the top) i would leave it. If i see gear hanging on the wall that is all in a line like it was left on purpose i would leave it.

If i find a random piece of gear all by itself i would take it, if others are around that were climbing in the area i ask if it they left it and give it back encase they did. If noone claims it i take it home.

Now if i am climbing in an area a week later and the bags are all still there (or if it is getting dark in an non-overnight area i will pick up any bags i find and take them with me. I would look around and try to see if someone got hurt or is at the base missing gear. If noone is there i would take it because it was abandoned. If it is a multi day climbing area i would probably leave it but if found the next weekend i would likely go ahead and take it if noone else is around.

You left the gear there for a year. Most people if they find it would look around for someone who may have left it, however there are those who would just take it and gear left for a year is not going to stay on the mountain.

You knew the gear was there and you are telling me noone else in the world you knew could have gone and picked it up for you within a few weeks? We all leave / lost gear and most of us probably find gear. Hopefully it all equals out in the end but if you are going to leave a ton of gear for a year and tell noone i don't feel sorry for you.

Chris White · · Boulder · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 15

I wish i didn't post this on a "internet climbing forum". I will ask some climbing guides and some other people that might know and find out what went down. I assume the gear was taken and given to someone else. I am starting to consider myself a person who doesn't even climb anymore. Maybe i should take up Tennis again, I was pretty good when i was younger. And again I still find myself daydreaming about splitters, crimping and being on the big stone.
-Chris.

Chris White · · Boulder · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 15

Alright, I don't care anymore. If the bag stayed up there all winter the Marmots (maybe Pika's) would have made hell of it. There's Two that live close to where the bag was. I am not going to lose sleep over it anymore.
Enjoy,
Chris.

Jamespio Piotrowski · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 5

Chris, it is obvious that the people here don't have your portaledge (although given pinpillage's ethical position, it's possible he does and isn't saying, but seems unlikely he'd both remain silent and remain engaged in this thread). That means the people here are merely having an amusing debate/discussion of the ethics of the matter. If you don't wish to participate that's fine, but you don't get to be bent out of shape about while, at the same time, refusing to provide some explanation of the story behind your missing portaledge and how it came to be missing.

So, you're either in or you're out.

Robbie Mackley · · Tucson, AZ · Joined May 2010 · Points: 85

Be sure not to leave your tennis racquet on the courts, then expect it to be there a year later.

Paul-B · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Mar 2011 · Points: 115
Robbie Mackley wrote:Be sure not to leave your tennis racquet on the courts, then expect it to be there a year later.
Twisting an ankle on the tennis court is a very real possibility. If SAR evacs him perhaps the situation would be more justified.
Kevin DeWeese · · @failfalling - Oakland, Ca · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 981
Robbie Mackley wrote:Be sure not to leave your tennis racquet on the courts, then expect it to be there a year later.
The headband and the waterbottle were brought to lost in found after three weeks, the tennis balls and white tennis shorts were strewn all over the court, so it doesn't matter that he waited a year before coming back to get his lucky racket. Also, the headband and waterbottle were thrown out by the employees working the front desk after a month anyways.
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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