Keys/Wallet/Cell...what to do with'em

Andrew R wrote: Wallet and house keys stay in the car. 

Recall what has been pioneered in Red Rocks:
1. if they find a wallet, they no longer steal the credit cards - they just copy the 3 pertinent numbers and then use it on-line, leaving the card in the wallet - the owner thinks s/he lucked out with not having their credit cards physically stolen, so they delay or even don't bother checking card activity....until the next bill.
2. a house key can easily be duplicated - from a digital photo of the key. Registration (for the address) and garage door opener makes it even easier.

Short answer: if the car is at risk of a break in, leaving wallet and keys in the car is one of the worst things to do.

if you guys are really that worried just put them in a waterproof stuff sack and stash them a little off trail....seems pretty simple to me....

Abdullah Mourad wrote: I leave everything in the car except phone and car keys, which fit nicely in to this chalk bag - https://www.backcountry.com/mammut-multipitch-chalk-bag.

This is exactly what I do. I'm surprised more companies aren't making chalk bags with zippered pockets, it's super convenient.

I always thought that was a condom pouch?

:P

Marc801 C wrote: Recall what has been pioneered in Red Rocks:
1. if they find a wallet, they no longer steal the credit cards - they just copy the 3 pertinent numbers and then use it on-line, leaving the card in the wallet - the owner thinks s/he lucked out with not having their credit cards physically stolen, so they delay or even don't bother checking card activity....until the next bill.
2. a house key can easily be duplicated - from a digital photo of the key. Registration (for the address) and garage door opener makes it even easier.

Short answer: if the car is at risk of a break in, leaving wallet and keys in the car is one of the worst things to do.

As someone who is fairly educated on computer security as part of my day job, I'm happy to see proper levels of paranoia about personal data leaking into the climbing community. :)

With the information on your driver's license, it's possible to open new bank accounts and credit cards--which will take even more time to unravel than fraudulent activity on a card you actually opened.

Harumpfster Boondoggle wrote: I always thought that was a condom pouch?

:P

Yes, but let's be real--anyone this paranoid about losing their personal data doesn't need condoms. :P

For the most part I do single pitch climbing, so all of that stuff is in my pack.

If I’m worried about break-ins at the car, and don’t want to leave the stuff in the pack... I go minimal. 
My house has a keypad entry, and there is usually someone home, so a bundle of home/work keys stay at home. 
Wallet stays home, I just bring a drivers license and one credit card, wrapped in couple bills of emergency cash and held together with a rubber band. It’s light, flat, and fits into a chest pocket in my fleece. I normally don’t bother with a chalk bag, but my chalk bag does have a zipper, so that’s another option. 
My husband abandoned the wallet altogether several years ago. He goes with the drivers license, 2 cc’s, cash, rubber band option as his wallet every day. 

Lena chita wrote: For the most part I do single pitch climbing, so all of that stuff is in my pack.

If I’m worried about break-ins at the car, and don’t want to leave the stuff in the pack... I go minimal. 
My house has a keypad entry, and there is usually someone home, so a bundle of home/work keys stay at home. 
Wallet stays home, I just bring a drivers license and one credit card, wrapped in couple bills of emergency cash and held together with a rubber band. It’s light, flat, and fits into a chest pocket in my fleece. I normally don’t bother with a chalk bag, but my chalk bag does have a zipper, so that’s another option. 
My husband abandoned the wallet altogether several years ago. He goes with the drivers license, 2 cc’s, cash, rubber band option as his wallet every day. 

What about medical insurance cards?

I bring my ID and debit card and phone, plus my car key (if I drove). Those items go in my pack or the little zipper on my chalk bag. I put the rest of my keys and wallet in my glove box and lock it. I worked in security for a decade and the #1 thing you can do to prevent break-ins is to make sure to hide or remove all belongings. An empty vehicle is not enticing enough to smash a window in the off-chance you find something. That's not typically how S&G's work. 

Marc801 C wrote: What about medical insurance cards?

I have it on my phone. Same as car insurance. Ohio allows electronic proof of insurance cards, I just open an app on my phone, and there it is.

My medical insurance company has not mailed me an insurance card in years. You can request one mailed to you, or print one from their website, but why?

The only reason I would be seing the dr while on a climbing trip would be emergency, so even if they aren’t willing to accept electronic proof of insurance, they still can’t deny service, and I can provide a printed card later. 

Upstate Climber wrote:

Wherever you climb sounds pretty fugged up. I was just subtly joking about locking car keys in the car. Anyway, good luck to you in whatever dystopian wasteland you live in

#douevengolfbro

I prison tuck everything. Water bottle is a bitch though... 

Nate Tastic wrote:

Water bottle? Doesn't that make you the  bitch? 

No, but the other stuff I do does. 

Weight was never an issue to me.  I just need to find a convenient way to carry those items.  The pocketed chalk bag sounds like a good idea.  I should down-size my huge phone (stupid iphone 6).

Amazing that many of you can climb with keys and water bottles up your butts.  Though you might lose those items while stemming or cruxing.  (Don't grunt too hard.)  I can also see that as a liability in terms of taking out your belayer as your keys, a dangerous projectile, fire out at high velocity, blowing a hole right through the seat of your pants.

I agree that you can't let anything be visible inside a car.  My wife and I had a car with a drop-down TV/DVD player thing in it for the kids.  After work one day, I come out to the parking lot to see that someone broke in and tried to rip it out of the roof.  They failed, but destroyed the player and tore up the roof pretty badly.  They must have given up because it was taking too long.  Made off with the stereo, though.  If they just became software engineers, they could pay for their drugs that way.  And the drugs would help them write more creative code.

I just bring them. I have a wallet on my cell phone with my ID and 2 CC so if I lose my phone I'm well and truly hosed (high risk, minimal reward scenario)

I really doubt that amount of weight is what's keeping me down on a multipitch compared to the rack, rope, water, etc.......

Mark P. wrote: I just bring them. I have a wallet on my cell phone with my ID and 2 CC so if I lose my phone I'm well and truly hosed (high risk, minimal reward scenario)

I really doubt that amount of weight is what's keeping me down on a multipitch compared to the rack, rope, water, etc.......

I’m not concerned about the weight at all. Just the bulk. Women’s pants often don’t come with pockets big enough to carry a wallet, if there are any pockets st sll. 

Nate Tastic wrote:

Is there a purse that doubles as a multi pitch pack? Can I assume the purse is why many wms pants don't have pockets or small pockets? Or is it something else? 

if I would be carrying a pack, there is no issue. The need to put things into pockets is only for a climb that is long enough that both climbers get off the ground and can't do anything about a pack left on the ground, if someone decided to rummage through it. But is not so long that you need to bring water, snacks, etc. Something that is 2-3 pitch, KWIM?

As to why women's pants don't have large pockets, or have no pockets at all, i'm guessing some of it is fashion. Bulky pockets make for bulkier appearance, which most brands assume (probably rightly) that women don't want. If you look at a brand that makes the same item in men's and women's version, sometimes they have even the same name for this model item, but women's item is cut more fitted, so there is less room, and the item in the pocket sticks out more, just because the clothing item is more fitted.

Some of it is just size. If you take the same model of a clothing item, and shrink it down to fit a woman, particularly a smaller woman, the pockets are often shrunk proportionally to keep the same "look". (not just pockets, btw. Off-topic, but the size of the rear gear loops on my Metholius harness was absolutely ridiculous. I've looked at bigger sizes of the same harness, compared to mine, and what they do is, as the waist belt gets smaller, they shrink the back gear loops to accommodate. So I could hang maybe 2 quickdraws on my back loop. lovely!)

And most women carry a lot more than just a wallet/keys/phone with them (hairbrush, make-up kit, etc), so purse is convenient. And purse itself, of course, is a fashion statement item.

So I'd say multiple considerations, But which of these things is the cause, and which one is the effect, I do not know.