Rescue My C3 from Bear's Reach

Hey there, we were at the Leap today, and my Yellow C3 didn't make it home. It is at the Bear's Reach first pitch belay. My partner said he had it wiggling all over the place, but it wouldn't come out. No dice with the parties behind either.

Maybe the temperature change will free it up tomorrow?
If you can save it for me, I will hook up a 6er of your choice, or whatever you want!
Reap the good karma, and the tasty brew!

PM, or reply here!
Thanks!
Daryl

Admins, here's an idea: A new forum, called "lost gear", and the capability to filter it out just like "for sale"

Dankasaurus wrote:Admins, here's an idea: A new forum, called "abandoned gear", and the capability to filter it out just like "for sale"

Fixed it for ya. ;)

Daryl is a good guy, hopefully someone enjoys tasty cold ones and good karma!

Maybe it is good karma to return someone's wallet that they left at Starbucks.

But climbing has always had a rich history of keeping gear you find. If you climb long enough you aquire plenty of booty , and you lose gear here and there as well.

It seems there is a recent surge in people loosing gear, often based on their own poor placements or planning, and then going on the internet to plead for it back.

I don't get it, it would just strike me as super embarrassing to ask someone else to return the gear that I left behind ...

I dunno , I'll be quiet now .

vincent L. wrote:Maybe it is good karma to return someone's wallet that they left at Starbucks. But climbing has always had a rich history of keeping gear you find. If you climb long enough you aquire plenty of booty , and you lose gear here and there as well. It seems there is a recent surge in people loosing gear, often based on their own poor placements or planning, and then going on the internet to plead for it back. I don't get it, it would just strike me as super embarrassing to ask someone else to return the gear that I left behind ... I dunno , I'll be quiet now .

Wow, there's a thought that's never been posted on a lost gear thread...

You have changed my whole view on lost gear...

oh, wait...

All I'm saying is let's be able to filter out the booty/abandoned gear pleadings from the forums.

Thanks for the props Weston, I appreciate the positivity!

None of the other posts have suggested that whomever got the thing out is interested in an exchange. I try to adopt the attitude that "They come and they go". I did score 2 nuts that same day, (and checked the board at the campground), so it is a wash.

By the way, the message board at the LL campground is covered in messages like "recovered your rope from... call me", or "found shoes at ... identify and I will return". I left a note there, and here. I figured it was worth asking, as it is a popular route at a popular area. I am not ashamed to ask for assistance occasionally, and I don't think we should denigrate people who do.

In related news there's an APB on my stuck red link cam at Dear John Buttress. If you can get out my stupidly crammed link cam, have at it. But please work out your karmic balance on a personal basis, I'm just happy to be forced into retiring that cam.

It may require a hammer and chisel to bust out, so I'll bring those up next time if nobody gets it out.

When I leave gear, I Leave My Gear. That means it's not mine anymore because I couldn't figure out how to retrieve it. I'm not gonna get on my internet knees to get it back. Personally I feel ashamed when I Leave My Gear and just suck it up... Even in the event of an injury because getting hurt climbing ain't cool.

Randy W. wrote:When I leave gear, I Leave My Gear. That means it's not mine anymore because I couldn't figure out how to retrieve it. I'm not gonna get on my internet knees to get it back. Personally I feel ashamed when I Leave My Gear and just suck it up... Even in the event of an injury because getting hurt climbing ain't cool.

That's largely my take as well. Once left as booty, it is entirely up to the bootier what is done.

More important is letting more proficient booty bandits get to work on removing it. Largely, I feel terrible about diminishing somebody else's experience of the climb. So, when I come back I'll give it another go, but I'd like others to know it will probably be a struggle in my instance, not just some follower inexperience, etc. that will be easily removed.

So now that this thread has already gone completely off tangent...

How easily do people give up getting their gear out? I've spent over 30 minutes working out a cam, been benighted, bloodied my knuckes, chipped at crystals with my nut tool etc just to get a piece back.

Knock on wood I haven't lost a cam or a partners cam, but I've put in some serious WORK getting them out. Not that it doesn't happen, but I've taken an odd view that getting gear stuck is kind of a fail, whether it was my fault with a bad placement as a leader or as a second not being able to handle the task.

It seems like alot of people seem give it 3 minutes and call it "stuck".

Scott McMahon wrote:It seems like alot of people seem give it 3 minutes and call it "stuck".

Not this people.

It is a skill and commitment thing, and I've fortunately only lost one other piece over many years (due to a partner on a traverse I didn't want to reverse and took his word it was stuck - a yellow C3, coincidentally enough).

I have had some mighty accomplishments removing gear which feel as good as sending a climb! You learn that gear removal is its own skill and game. I've also had two instances more skilled bootiers in my party helped me out, although I think my removal skills have grown a lot since then. Basically, it is the mindset that you WON'T leave behind gear that gets the job done. Although, as in my case, you sometimes have to admit defeat to a locked in devil of a fixed piece.

My fixed piece involves the configuration of the link cam that I screwed by placing semi-blindly (for no good reason, just stupid laziness). Basically, you overcam a link cam down to its lower lobes and it becomes a very complex beast to remove as the segmented lobes work against each other, etc.. Also, you get that big head width, increasing the complexity of the terrain you are maneuvering around in the crack. This ease of fixing is one reason I am beginning to phase out my links in the first place.

There are many factors to fixed gear though, including the need for speed in the alpine, so it's a bit simplistic to reduce the motives for leaving a cam behind to just lack of effort.

Also, I don't think it was too off tangent to mention another fixed piece at the same crag, but to each his own ;).

Colonel Mustard wrote: There are many factors to fixed gear though, including the need for speed in the alpine, so it's a bit simplistic to reduce the motives for leaving a cam behind to just lack of effort.

True, just my opinion from many of the posts I see on MP, which start with "my partner couldn't get my cam out". I've had a partner lower me down on a more moderate route to retrieve a cam. Of course this is simply my opinion and sheer good luck I guess I haven't had gear be completly unretrievable.

I could not imagine how difficult a link cam would be to get unstuck with all that surface area and moving parts.

Scott McMahon wrote:I could not imagine how difficult a link cam would be to get unstuck with all that surface area and moving parts.

Oh, man, they can be a fucking nightmare. I think with a careful system of marionette strings and maybe a helping hand or two I could have gotten it out (an unlikely proposition, true).

I got one stuck link cam out when the trigger wires on each side severed at the same time (due to the nature of the placement). It involved two nut tools, slinging lobes to yank with my teeth at the same time, and determination but I got it out on lead. Omega Pacific was cool and replaced the wires free of charge though.

Link cams are cool because of their unique design, but that design can work against you, especially when you make an asinine placement like I did.

My dog once got his junk stuck in this other dogs girl parts! I had to retrieve that gear no matter what!