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xtremst80
Aug 1, 2007, 5:47 PM
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So Me and a group of friends were climbing last weekend at devils lake on the east bluff when another climber on a route next to me told me it looked like someone was messing around on the anchor above me. I down climbed the 20 or so feet in fear that something was wrong with my anchor. I hiked up to the top to see what was going on and there it was......someone stole one of the cams I was using as an anchor. WTF?? Ive heard stories at the lake of gear getting stolen, but part of my anchor that I was climbing on??? Has anyone else experienced such a thing??
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NSFW
Aug 1, 2007, 5:58 PM
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No, that’s unbelievable. Was the piece weighted? How many pieces in your anchor?
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alpinismo_flujo
Aug 1, 2007, 6:01 PM
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That totally fucking sucks...what ass would steal climbing gear or worse as it was being used and consequently put you in DANGER.
Hope that little bitch gets caught or worse..
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svilnit
Aug 1, 2007, 6:08 PM
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There's a few areas to go climbing around here, the ones that have a trail at the top I won't use gear in. I'm always worried some little kid will see something shiny and try to take it with him.
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pug
Aug 1, 2007, 6:10 PM
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I've only been to Devil's Lake once, but I have heard stories of that happening there.
Best to lead and top belay your second, or leave someone on top to watch your anchor...perhaps from the bushes, with a baseball bat, in an effort to put an end to that nonsense....
(This post was edited by pug on Aug 1, 2007, 6:12 PM)
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moose_droppings
Aug 1, 2007, 6:25 PM
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Time to start racking a #45 colt.
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moose_droppings
Aug 1, 2007, 6:27 PM
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I would think that if caught they could be charged with attemped murder.
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Jbitz
Aug 1, 2007, 6:36 PM
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I have had a similar experience of someone taking a biner from one of my tree anchors. The other tree anchor had no gear other than some static rope (they would actually have to try and figure out how to untie a bowline).
This happened while I was out in the Great Falls area just west of DC where there are many tourists hiking around. I know of several other people that have had similar experiences on the east coast.
I now make more of an effort to use as little of the shiny stuff as possible for my top anchors, so as not to attract the attention of Souvenir hunters.
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SkaFreak
Aug 1, 2007, 6:38 PM
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Or at least reckless endangerment
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majid_sabet
Aug 1, 2007, 6:38 PM
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jail with a felony.
(This post was edited by majid_sabet on Aug 1, 2007, 10:16 PM)
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morlebeke
Aug 1, 2007, 6:44 PM
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I was on the balanced rock wall sunday, and it made both me and my partner uneasy to have that many people walking by our anchors (and walking on our ropes at the bottom... clods!). I had to chase one guy away from my rope as he was playing with it. The excuse was he didn't know it was mine, like he wouldn't have done it had he known he'd get caught.
Unfortunately people like that exist, and plain ignorant of the danger. I guess the lesson is to have the master point inaccessible from hikers, girth hitch trees/boulders that can't be messed with easily, or place gear over the edge where it's away from opportunistic eyes and devilish hands.
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lena_chita
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Aug 1, 2007, 6:45 PM
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Wow, that's unbelievable! I've only been to Devil's Lake a small handful of times, but I have never heard of such a thing happening there or anywhere. To mess up with an anchor that is obviously being used-- WOW.
I can't believe a climber would do that. And a non-climber? Surely if I were a hiker on a family hike with my kids, and they saw shiny cams, I would have told them not to mess up with someone else's things, even if I knew nothing about the purpose of the said things. I mean, O.K., metal thingies stuck in the crack, slings, 'biners, rope, and I probably saw people climbing as I walked past them. Doesn't take too much brain power to determine that I should leave their set-up alone.
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wanderlustmd
Aug 1, 2007, 7:04 PM
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lena_chita wrote: Wow, that's unbelievable! I've only been to Devil's Lake a small handful of times, but I have never heard of such a thing happening there or anywhere. To mess up with an anchor that is obviously being used-- WOW. I can't believe a climber would do that. And a non-climber? Surely if I were a hiker on a family hike with my kids, and they saw shiny cams, I would have told them not to mess up with someone else's things, even if I knew nothing about the purpose of the said things. I mean, O.K., metal thingies stuck in the crack, slings, 'biners, rope, and I probably saw people climbing as I walked past them. Doesn't take too much brain power to determine that I should leave their set-up alone.
No kidding. The only time I could (sort of) understand it is in the scenario Svilnit described above, when I toddler etc. sees something shiny and goes  "playtime!"
But parents should be watching, so even then it shouldn't be a problem (even though it is).
Morons.
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shrug7
Aug 1, 2007, 7:06 PM
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That does suck. There are usually a lot of hikers and climbers on the east bluff this time of year.
Though I think the type of hiker that would hike the CCC really wouldn't know what a cam is.
Did you report it to a ranger? Not that I think they could do anything about it.
Also...just to add. I recall in May I was there on a weekend. and there was a screaming kid running (screaming "I have brain damage") around the east bluff. His parents were off climbing who knows where. He was throwing rocks, trying to knock tree trucks over. f-ing insane. So a kid like that......could have...
(This post was edited by shrug7 on Aug 1, 2007, 7:14 PM)
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markc
Aug 1, 2007, 7:25 PM
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It's a shame the guy that warned you didn't scare the thief off. I've heard about protection being removed from anchors on extremely rare occasions. I hate to say it, but I wouldn't necessarily blame non-climbers out of hand. Maybe your anchor looked really solid without that piece, and someone saw an opportunity.
I don't have to build gear anchors for toproping very often, but I try to go as passive as possible. Passive gear is going to be harder for a non-climber to casually remove, and less tempting than a cam to other climbers. I also like to incorporate natural features in at least one limb if possible. Glad to hear you're okay.
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twan
Aug 1, 2007, 9:08 PM
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moose_droppings wrote: I would think that if caught they could be charged with attemped murder.
Or I would...
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ocary
Aug 1, 2007, 10:23 PM
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To the OP (note: I did not read all replies). Cam theivery from in-use anchors has happened before at DL. At one point I heard a sting was setup where a shiny new gear anchor system was set and lookout was setup nearby; thieves were caught. Sounds like the asshats are back.
The attempted murder / reckless endangerment concept has been well covered in other threads by arm-chair litigators.
I blame Chicago for the DL problems. Even the band Chicago sucks. Phil Collins... pshaw... gaaaag. :)
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dingus
Aug 1, 2007, 10:46 PM
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ocary wrote: The attempted murder / reckless endangerment concept has been well covered in other threads by arm-chair litigators.
Yes its true. And the armchair AG won the conviction, getting a jury of armchair peers to convict on all counts. The armchair judge sentenced them to 6 weeks in a, you guessed it, armchair.
Oh and they were banned from rc.com. We take our armchair justice very seriously in these parts. Dude.
DMT
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billcoe_
Aug 1, 2007, 10:58 PM
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Yup, some of the shit out there is scary as hell.
At my local shithole, where you are down below and the asswipes are all on top, I have my old near retired shit gear to use for anchors, and I still try and put an upwards over the edge so that someone can't just drag my shit up to the top.
Marking all yer gear also makes potential thieves recalatrant to walk with your stuff. If they're climbers, they know that if they are seen with the gear they will get an asskicking, and if they are just meth heads, they know that any pawn shop will either:
A) Not buy the crap, so they are forced to walk around with hot, identifiable stuff, or
B) Report them to the cops.
Hope you get it back.
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veganclimber
Aug 1, 2007, 11:14 PM
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alpinismo_flujo
Aug 1, 2007, 11:37 PM
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dingus wrote: ocary wrote: The attempted murder / reckless endangerment concept has been well covered in other threads by arm-chair litigators. Yes its true. And the armchair AG won the conviction, getting a jury of armchair peers to convict on all counts. The armchair judge sentenced them to 6 weeks in a, you guessed it, armchair. Oh and they were banned from rc.com. We take our armchair justice very seriously in these parts. Dude. DMT
Dam! Dingus you need to take your show on the road. You could make a grip of cash. Funny as ever...dam funny dude!
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Basta916
Aug 2, 2007, 12:36 AM
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dingus wrote: ocary wrote: The attempted murder / reckless endangerment concept has been well covered in other threads by arm-chair litigators. Yes its true. And the armchair AG won the conviction, getting a jury of armchair peers to convict on all counts. The armchair judge sentenced them to 6 weeks in a, you guessed it, armchair. Oh and they were banned from rc.com. We take our armchair justice very seriously in these parts. Dude. DMT
They are lucky to get away with that.....next time they will get five minutes "time out"
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