Gear taken from Pistol Whipped

Nicola is a rad dude. If anyone knows who took his stuff please encourage them to reach out to him. 

Was it in the way of the climbing?  At the risk of victim blaming, it's not really that cool to leave ropes fixed on a popular trade route long enough for someone to steal them.  Not taking the time to return them to their owner (basically stealing them) is definitely a worse offense than leaving them up there in the first place, but fixing ropes up on a super classic 12- that lots of people probably want to climb isn't that cool either.  Hope he gets his gear back.

Max Tepfer wrote:

Was it in the way of the climbing?  At the risk of victim blaming, it's not really that cool to leave ropes fixed on a popular trade route long enough for someone to steal them.  Not taking the time to return them to their owner (basically stealing them) is definitely a worse offense than leaving them up there in the first place, but fixing ropes up on a super classic 12- that lots of people probably want to climb isn't that cool either.  Hope he gets his gear back.

His rope and cams were there Thursday morning till about noon when the rain came in and we left the cliff. It was absolutely blocking the route. He had a little note at the end of the rope preemptively scolding anyone that messes with it. Seemed absurd to claim the namesake route of the cliff as his indefinitely. We didn't touch it, but it's hard to have much sympathy in this case.

At the least he should have been there first thing in the morning to get his shots or whatever he needed the rope up for.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/120574141/stolen-gear#ForumMessage-120574239

Max Tepfer wrote:

Was it in the way of the climbing?  At the risk of victim blaming, it's not really that cool to leave ropes fixed on a popular trade route long enough for someone to steal them.  Not taking the time to return them to their owner (basically stealing them) is definitely a worse offense than leaving them up there in the first place, but fixing ropes up on a super classic 12- that lots of people probably want to climb isn't that cool either.  Hope he gets his gear back.

I don’t know the details, just trying to help him get his stuff back.

knowing Nicola and his climbing background. I highly doubt it was in poor form it without a good reason.

Understand it might’ve been in the way. I’m not a pro intagramer, if you know me... I was working on the route, went there a few days before to fix and work on third pitch, the note was left not as a sign of intimidation at all. My phone number was there, you could’ve at least have contacted me and addressed the issue... I’m not going forward here. Friends left ropes on el cap when they were working on their pitches and I never made a big deal out of it. If you were climbing the route I apologize if my gear was on your way. 

Nick, I really hope that you get your gear back, and I’m happy to bump this thread. However, it was a really boneheaded idea to leave fixed gear and a rope blocking a very popular route. I haven’t made many recent trips to the Creek, but when I did in the late 90s/early 00s, this was a really popular route then. I imagine it is even more so now days. 

Nick Martinez wrote:

Understand it might’ve been in the way. I’m not a pro intagramer, if you know me... I was working on the route, went there a few days before to fix and work on third pitch, the note was left not as a sign of intimidation at all. My phone number was there, you could’ve at least have contacted me and addressed the issue... I’m not going forward here. Friends left ropes on el cap when they were working on their pitches and I never made a big deal out of it. If you were climbing the route I apologize if my gear was on your way. 

We didn't touch your stuff. I honestly assumed the only good reason someone would leave a fixed rope on that route is because they were updating the anchors, so I left it alone.  I don think most people get service there so leaving your contact info doesn't help much unless whoever took it wants to get it back to you once they leave the creek. I hope they do, that's a lot of rope. There was one other group still up there when we left, so they could have taken it down but it was hailing/raining pretty hard at that point so I doubt it was taken Thursday. The other guys in our group bailed off a #3 on Jolly Rancher (someone probably got that by now). 

Leaving a rope up with placed cams on a classic for a few days at a cragging cliff seems like an obvious bad/selfish idea, but it doesn't make stealing your gear ok. They should have left it at the base. I don't see much of an issue with hanging your rope at the end of the day then coming back in the morning to climb it, but a few days is too long. Good luck with your gear. 

Insert name wrote:

... I highly doubt it was in poor form it without a good reason.

that's the thing though - it was definitely in poor form, and the reason was really weak.  leaving a fixed rope up for a few days on a great route at one of the more popular walls at the creek during peak season just so you can have a photoshoot is lame. hopefully he learned something from it.

It goes without saying somebody would be irritated if you fixed a line on a mega classic for days blocking the jams. If you felt it was necessary to write a note asking people to leave your stuff alone maybe you knew you were in the wrong. It was wrong for somebody to steal your shit but remember you don't have the right to dictate other people's experience at the crag.

Nick Martinez wrote:

Understand it might’ve been in the way. I’m not a pro intagramer, if you know me... I was working on the route, went there a few days before to fix and work on third pitch, the note was left not as a sign of intimidation at all. My phone number was there, you could’ve at least have contacted me and addressed the issue... I’m not going forward here. Friends left ropes on el cap when they were working on their pitches and I never made a big deal out of it. If you were climbing the route I apologize if my gear was on your way. 

The note said a photo shoot and was posted on Instagram.

Nick Martinez wrote:

Understand it might’ve been in the way. I’m not a pro intagramer, if you know me... I was working on the route, went there a few days before to fix and work on third pitch, the note was left not as a sign of intimidation at all. My phone number was there, you could’ve at least have contacted me and addressed the issue... I’m not going forward here. Friends left ropes on el cap when they were working on their pitches and I never made a big deal out of it. If you were climbing the route I apologize if my gear was on your way. 

Honestly, it isn't cool to leave ropes fixed on el cap when working those routes either.  Maybe if it's an FA or FFA, but the days of it being acceptable to fix a thousand plus feet of a popular wall are solidly in the past.  The main reason behind this shift is to minimize social impacts to other climbers, so it's not hard to see how leaving ropes fixed on a 3 pitch 12a that's the popular namesake route of a popular cliff (as opposed to a 30+ pitch 5.13) might have a greater negative impact on other people's experience and is more selfish.  I still hope you get your stuff back and agree with others that whoever took it down should've just left it at the base, but you're not exactly blameless in this.   I think this conversation is honestly pretty healthy as it helps form norms for the climbing community at large. (ie don't leave fixed ropes on popular moderates for longer than 8-12 hours overnight)

This guy’s attitude on the instagram note and here tells me an attempted conversation would have likely been a waste of time.  Let’s call up a selfish noob and argue with him about his 12- project - or just bootie all his gear - tough call.  That said, I would have left a pile at the base.

Bill Schick wrote:

This guy’s attitude on the instagram note and here tells me an attempted conversation would have likely been a waste of time.  Let’s call up a selfish noob and argue with him about his 12- project - or just bootie all his gear - tough call.  That said, I would have left a pile at the base.

Do you know Nicola or anything about him? He is a Super nice/humble guy and a talented climber. Just about any local Yosemite climber would say the same about him.

His back story would likely explain why you think his note is rude (He is from Brazil) & he almost died in a Base accident years ago (recovery and life happen).

https://gripped.com/routes/profile-of-a-yosemite-stone-monkey-nick-martinez/

Insert name wrote:

Do you know Nicola or anything about him? He is a Super nice/humble guy and a talented climber. Just about any local Yosemite climber would say the same about him.

His back story would likely explain why you think his note is rude (He is from Brazil) & he almost died in a Base accident years ago (recovery and life happen).

https://gripped.com/routes/profile-of-a-yosemite-stone-monkey-nick-martinez/

So the fact that he has been around the block and still thinks leaving ropes and gear on a classic route in the crack gym of the world during spring break is OK makes me think he felt entitled to it somehow. Maybe its the head injury.

Another thing is the one person supporting him is anonymous and from hell.

Last time I was at PW was to do Jolly Rancher. We got there early, no one else around, and found a ton of gear on the route. A rope was up about 3/4 of the way and there were at least 15 cams on the wall. It really sucked that we went all the way out there and then found this bullshit. However, we quickly guessed that due to no gear being cleaned on the way down this must have been a bad leader fall and a hasty retreat. So we left it and went down the wall to climb something else. Not long after a few guys came up the approach trail and we asked them about it and they said it was theirs. Nobody hurt, they just ran out of daylight and planned to come back first thing the next morning (which they did). We didn't give them any shit and told them we were glad they were OK but they did apologize profusely and I think they understood that what they did risked pissing people off. 

I took a nasty fall at Cat Wall once, near dark and left 3 cams up high on the route. Got them the next morning. Shit happens sometimes. It's a judgement call. 

Listen - the creek is a shitshow, full of people from all over the world who travelled long distances to climb the classics. If there isn't a good reason to leave gear behind don't do it - even for a photo shoot ($$$). Also - you should fully expect that anything left behind will get bootied. Yes it really fucking sucks, but there are a lot of desperate dirtbags out there who don't give 2 shits about you.

In the hierarchy of cragging sins, gear theft is far worse than leaving ropes up, and it is dismaying to see people getting far more worked up about the latter.  

Hi Nick, I've spent a good amount of time out in the creek and noticed what must have been your gear up on the wall.  I am curious as to why it was there?  Was there an accident that happened when you were on the wall?  Ethically, it feels like a poor move to leave your gear and a fixed line on routes that are not currently being established or on lines whose anchors are not being replaced. Pistol Whipped is the name-sake classic of that crag and it was common knowledge that your ropes and gear had been left on the route for a few weeks.  Unless there was an accident that made it mandatory for you to leave your kit, this isn't cool.  It was a bummer having to battle your rope and gear while attempting that route for the first time...it detracted from the experience and clean attempt at a gorgeous classic.

It doesn't feel appropriate to leave gear and ropes up on a route for that long. For any parties trying to get on the route after you, it ruins the ability to onsite the line without the hassle of continually flicking the rope out of the crack, removing the cams, and also reducing the onsite attempt as one can see exactly what size pieces fit in the crack before they get there...because the gear is already there.  It is understandable if you put up the fixed line in the evening after all other parties are off of it and then come back the next day to fire it.

Additionally,  I feel that leaving a fixed rope for other parties to navigate around imposes a risk.  As you know, that route is punchy (especially at the cruxes up high).  For those freeing the line while your fixed line is in the crack, it would be easy to get terrible rope burn from a lead fall that leaves the leader falling near or behind your rope.  These established lines aren't anyone's property and they shouldn't be claimed simply by hanging your rope and cams on it.

Leaving a fixed line, cams, and tick marks on a route for several weeks constitutes poor ethics. My intentions of leaving this message are sincere in pointing out a style/tactics that I don't agree with.

REGARDLESS, the gear is still Nick's and I'm glad he got it back. Hope you send!

The person who has your gear has reached out to you already in an attempt to give it back via the phone number left on the rope.  It was not stolen, it was taken down and you were promptly contacted so the kit could be returned.

Rob Dillon wrote:

In the hierarchy of cragging sins, gear theft is far worse than leaving ropes up, and it is dismaying to see people getting far more worked up about the latter.  

Its pretty uncontroversial that people think stealing gear is bad, not a lot to discuss there. Pretty much everyone who said he shouldn't have left his rope up on the route also said it shouldn't have been stolen.

Everyone agrees that stealing gear is bad, but apparently not everyone agrees that ruining everyone else's experience to make your life more convenient is bad. Hence the discussion about the latter, not the former.

Sorry about the gear, sounds like someone is trying to return it.  Ill just add my voice to the "WTF, not cool to hog a route" crowd.  Blocking this route for even one full day would be bad ethics, let alone weeks as some have mentioned in this thread.  What a terrible and selfish idea!