Entire big wall setup left all over SF of Washington Column over weekned

I was doing the South Face of Washington Column this weekend. There were two ropes fixed for the first two pitches. Between pitch one and two was a red bag FULL of cams, nuts, slings, etc. Someone had left their entire aid rack, two ropes, and all their big wall stuff at the base. It was there thurs through Sunday.

Why would someone leave their entire gear for bigwall sitting at the most popular noob big wall route on a weekend? I’d love to hear why they would do such a thing. Seems rude and impolite to leave it for so long. I don’t care if they plan on doing the route in a day, don’t leave all your gear for an entire weekend all over the beginning of the route.

I was not happy aiding the second pitch and having to move their rope out of the crack every time I wanted to place a piece.

I usually air on the side of being nice, but that screams booty to me.

randy88fj62 wrote:...the most popular noob big wall route....

This.

I would say leaving your entire rack out for several days is stupid, not rude. Perhaps naive, but mostly really, really dumb.

If you want rude, jug someone else's fixed lines so you can jump on a route ahead of them and snag the good bivies. Or even better, like what happened to me once, make sure you move the lines so they rub back and forth over an edge when you jug so you trash the rope while you're at it. Oh, and then be really unapologetic about it.

Fat Dad wrote:I would say leaving your entire rack out for several days is stupid.

+11000

We left the two ropes and entire rack. It would be bad karma to take the gear. Wish I knew who these people were and could find out why they would leave all their gear.

geez, what do these people think they are in eldorado canyon? ;D

I'll admit to having left ropes fixed to the pitch above dinner ledge for a couple of days once, and we may have even left some water stashed on dinner ledge. Sounds weird to leave all that gear laying around though, If it's bothering you, it couldn't hurt to pull the fixed ropes, coil them, and leave them at the base.

I can't figure out why someone would haul a lot of stuff to the base to not take it on the climb, I remember that approach sucking, but it might have been the 100lb haul bag on my back.

Just putting this out there: maybe there was an emergency? I did a quick skim of supertopo and didn't see anything relating to this. But instead of immediately concluding that people left there gear "stashed" maybe we should be asking if someone is alright. Just sayin.

randy88fj62 wrote:It would be bad karma to take the gear.

Absolutely, and props to you for leaving it where you saw it. However, there are probably lots of folks out there who don't have the same set of scruples.

Maybe I might leave some gear stashed in a haul bag or maybe an atom smasher, but not just hanging out in the open. Just tempting fate.

On everyone's first bigwall climb in high bigwall season? Pure arrogance and narcisim. Take it down and coil it.

Or better yet, pull it up and coil it.

I thought about the idea of there being an emergency but the two fixed ropes were perfectly anchored with new cordolettes in perfect form. There was no rush to what they were doing. Both ropes were brand new too.

I covered their rack with a downed branch and leaves in an effort to help other people not tempt fate and steal the gear. I could never take the gear, bad karma is not something you want when climbing.