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Colorado Thief caught in the act at Smith

Original Post
Billcoe · · Pacific Northwet · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 930
chris deulen · · Denver-ish, CO · Joined Jul 2004 · Points: 1,710

WOW! That's freaking awesome. He's looks exactly how I had always pictured a draw thief! Was he sh*tting his pants there at the end?

Hank Caylor · · Livin' in the Junk! · Joined Dec 2003 · Points: 643

AWESOME! Why was he clipping all those draws to his own harness while you were talking to him.

I know I'm an Administrator and should act accordingly around here, but I so would have pounded the crap out of that maniac. Too bad Bob D'Antonio isn't here to weigh in on this as well.

SubantZ · · Georgia SON!!!! · Joined Feb 2009 · Points: 5
Billcoe wrote:http://www.vimeo.com/18267416
Weel if you were not lazy you would not have to worry about your draws being stolden. SIMPLE TAKE YOUR GEAR DOWN. Leave it as you found it Bad enough there are bolts on the wall...
Angela Mabe · · Flagstaff,AZ · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 185

awesome!! that was handled brilliantly, way to keep your cool :)

Kirsten KDog · · Edgewater, CO · Joined Jun 2010 · Points: 80

Wow, that is unbelievable!! Caught red-handed. You guys were really nice and calm to him despite the circumstances. Was that chick with him? Was he even a climber?? What a weird situation, did he really think no one would call him out if they saw that?!

Chris Plesko · · Westminster, CO · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 485
SubantZ wrote: Weel if you were not lazy you would not have to worry about your draws being stolden. SIMPLE TAKE YOUR GEAR DOWN. Leave it as you found it Bad enough there are bolts on the wall...
Regardless of your feelings about bolts and draws left up, this is THEFT plain and simple. If he wanted to make an ethical point he could have left the draws all clipped together on the first bolt.

BTW SubantZ, your profile says you climb sport. BoltZ what?????
Aaron M · · Westminster, CO · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 140

It’s the draw stealing leprechaun!! LOL

I bet he was a hippie just looking for pot or gas money!

Draw stealing leprechaun

-sp · · East-Coast · Joined May 2007 · Points: 75
Angela Dembik wrote:awesome!! that was handled brilliantly, way to keep your cool :)
You know, I'd love to think I would have kept my cool, but I really think it was probably better they found this douche bag rather than me.

Because if I hadn't given him the neck-punch he so rightly deserved, I would at the very least, have made him donate ALL his gear, his shoes, burned his stupid hat, and then held him down while I shaved his thieving hipster beard.
Aaron M · · Westminster, CO · Joined Oct 2007 · Points: 140
JasonH wrote: Now, look here Gumby - I realize that you can bumble your way up slabs with a knee-high tube socks and seven different belay devices clipped to every loop on your harness and then proceed to the nearest bar, harness still on, and start to loudly talk about the way-rad 5.9 offwidth you and your bro "totally crushed" (on TR of course) before logging onto your favorite website and lecturing others about ethics (solid, well-grounded ethics based on MONTHS! of experience). But really dude, no one cares about your gumby opinions. Fixed draws are a long-established tradition at places like Smith Rocks (dating back to the 80s) and no one, not even the park service, has a problem with them (aside from mental midgets with internet access). You see, its the bumblers like you and the dimwitted things you write that encourage half-lobotomized, fez-wearing thieves to act. It was just lucky that this clown ran into some extremely nice locals who were willing to lecture him instead of pounding him. We can only hope you get caught by similarly nice climbers who are willing to listen to the three-legged hamster in your head spinning its wheel as your mouth spits out stupid excuses. Unfortunately, I think the Smith thief will likely seem like a rocket scientist compared to you. Now you go get yourself some "stolden" draws!
WOW!!

Whether this was on the mark or not, it is awesome! Do you just keep this stored away and paste it in for special occasions or did you just write this?

Awesome!
James Beissel · · Boulder, CO · Joined Aug 2004 · Points: 905

Way to keep your cool.

This could have easily gone in a drastically different direction
if had occurred at, say the Red River Gorge in Kentucky:

wlwt.com/r/25762204/detail.…

TBlom · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2004 · Points: 360

Climbing for 18 years. Not a noob.
I still think leaving your gear all over the cliff is presumptuous and tacky. A total "high end elite" practice. I don't leave my car unlocked because I don't want my crap taken... Just my $0.02

Not everyone believes it is your right to leave your crap on any old cliff. I would not personally remove the gear of others, and I do not condone taking someone's gear. But I still think leaving draws hanging on a route is like pissing on a tree to claim it.

That being said, if you want to keep your gear, do not leave it hanging in public to be grabbed. I have bailed from routes and left bail gear. I have never found that gear; someone bootied it. I don't complain because I chose to leave my stuff there.

Clean up your crap and it won't get stolen.

Lee Smith · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2003 · Points: 1,545

Don't look now, but here comes the "abandoned gear" vs. "fixed draws" debate.

Lanky · · Tired · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 255
Lee Smith wrote:Don't look now, but here comes the "abandoned gear" vs. "fixed draws" debate.
Oh goodie!

TBlom · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2004 · Points: 360

So the gear thief is definitely a moron. But this has become more common. Do we really have a right to leave our gear hanging around though? Something about the people climbing 14s makes them think the cliff is theirs to deposit their junk on. At what time limit are said draws "left". If I left my stuff hanging, I would not expect to see it again.

Maybe the elites should clean up their crap like the rest of us moderate losers.

Ian Caldwell · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2010 · Points: 0

So here is the whole story......

On Christmas Day I headed over to Big R to get in a quick workout before over eating Christmas dinner. I noticed that 1 quickdraw was missing from the second bolt, since I had been on the route 3 days before. I then noticed that the draws were also missing from Coleslaw and Chemicals and there were a bunch of drag marks in the dirt between the two routes. It appeared to me that someone cleaned the draws from Coleslaw and then had their belayer pull them over to pluck the second draw of Big R.

So Monday I decided to replace bolts on Overboard. While I was driving to the park Tim Garland called and told me someone was stick clipping up Big R. I arrived at the park and he was still stick clipping. He was not very experienced and it took him a long time to get to the top and set up the rappel. I just watched to see what he was doing. Then he started lowering and started cleaning the draws from both Big R (mine) and Starvation Fruit (Ryan's).

Tim Garland and Stan came over to help me out and we confronted the guy. He told us he was aid climbing and that the biners were worn out. We was going to take them and he would use them if he could "salvage" anything from them. He told us he was from Colorado Springs and all the places that he climbs at do not have fixed draws and if anyone leaves draws "they get taken down". He also admitted to taking the draws from Coleslaw a few days earlier. He gave us back all the draws.

He said this was his first time at Smith and had not even hiked to the main climbing area. He said he was leaving.

Ty Meadows · · Moab, UT · Joined Jun 2009 · Points: 55
Tevis Blom wrote:Climbing for 18 years. Not a noob. I still think leaving your gear all over the cliff is presumptuous and tacky. A total "high end elite" practice. I don't leave my car unlocked because I don't want my crap taken... Just my $0.02 Not everyone believes it is your right to leave your crap on any old cliff. I would not personally remove the gear of others, and I do not condone taking someone's gear. But I still think leaving draws hanging on a route is like pissing on a tree to claim it. That being said, if you want to keep your gear, do not leave it hanging in public to be grabbed. I have bailed from routes and left bail gear. I have never found that gear; someone bootied it. I don't complain because I chose to leave my stuff there. Clean up your crap and it won't get stolen.
+1
I don't want to be climbin' on someone elses jingous gear that has been exposed to the elements and who knows what else. That being said, I hope this douche bag gets his. He looks like Freddie Crugers son!
England · · Colorado Springs · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 270

Did I hear someone say something about local ethics?

Tea · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 223

Well...thieving IS lame (so is that hat he's sporting)...but then again...so is leaving your shit everywhere in my opinion.

Funny vid though...especially that he keeps clipping your draws to his harness as you are explaining that they are in fact...YOURS!...lol.

"and then held him down while I shaved his thieving hipster beard."

+10 for the ginger hipster hate....+20 if you had thrashed him to a steezy Steve Aoki beat bumping from his girlfriends Ipod.

Angela Mabe · · Flagstaff,AZ · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 185
Tevis Blom wrote: If I left my stuff hanging, I would not expect to see it again.
Sooo are you saying you would leave draws if you were to project a 13/14 or would you re-hang them every time you went to work the route? granted you should always have in the back of your mind that they will be stolen, which is unfortunate. just curious
wankel7 · · Indiana · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 10

JasonH that was awesome!

So what was this thief going to do with the draws? Sell em on MP?

So, did he willingly give you the draws he stole?

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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