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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

lets talk about lost gear 25-Feb-2004 At 4:02:04 PM trent

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Booty is BOOTY. If you decide to leave it then you decide to LOSE it.

Its all part of embarking on an adventurous route. If you have to bail from a route (being it due to weather or physical limits) you have to accept that you may have to sacrifice some gear in order to return to the ground safely.

I think it is unreasonable and detracts from the adventure of climbing to start a route thinking to yourself, "self - if you cant send the crux or it starts to rain and you have to bail, it will be alright. The next person that climbs this route will recover all your gear and safely return it."

If you have to bail, it is completely up to YOU how much gear you sacrifice to the booty gods in order to get down. Skimp on a rap anchor and you run the risk of it failing. Set a bombproof 2 cam, 2 nut belay for each rap and you run the risk of having to sell everything you have to replace them. Its what makes climbing such a unique sport. You make the decisions and you live with the consequences.

If you do leave gear behind that you cant bear to part with find enough rope and rap the entire route the next day to claim back what you abandoned.

Likewise gear that is forgotten at the base of a crag. I have a habit of checking all my gear before i pack up after a day of climbing. I check my cams, wires, draws, slings and ropes. If someone is dumb enough to forget an item from their rack then im smart enough to pick it up and claim it as BOOTY.