STOLEN rack from base of the Diamond

Last Thursday (8/5/21) I left a rack of gear (red C3 to Ultralight #4, offset nuts, 11 runners) in the boulder field above Chasm Lake on Longs Peak with the intention of returning this week to climb another route.  This morning came back to the cache to find only the rope, all the gear is GONE.  Gear was stashed about 15 yards uphill from the first large bivvy boulder you get to after the lake.  Most gear marked with teal nail polish.  

If you perhaps "found" this gear, or know someone who did, please get in contact.

If you live in the Front Range and want to stash your gear, maybe don't.

Maybe RMNP Rangers cleaned up your "cache"?  I'd ask them if it was maybe turned in lost & found as well.  

Might also be marmots, I never underestimate them.  

Point being the only "crime" might have been your illegal cache?

Call the Rangers

Hope you get your back

M Appelquist wrote:

Did you leave a dog tied to it?

BOLO: Marmot with teal claws.

Not sure I follow the marmot comment. It was well-hidden under a rock out of sight, but in the vicinity of the bivy boulders. If you were looking for rocks that might have gear under them, you could probably find it, but it wouldn’t be visible unless you were actually looking under rocks (i.e. looking for gear that other parties may have stashed). This post is simply letting people know that something was taken and to keep an eye out and contact me if anything is found. Regardless of the Parks’ policy on gear stashing (or whatever abstract LNT “ethics” people seem to be caught up on) taking something that doesn’t belong to you is a shitty thing to do, period. Especially when stashing is common practice and a pile of cams under a rock is hardly ruining the pristine alpine ambiance and untouched wilderness of Longs Peak. 

greg miller wrote:

That sucks but reality of “stashing” gear. I lost faith in humanity long ago. But in really it’s not that hard to hike your gear in, isn’t that why ultralight gear was invented, just think of it as earning even more beers at the end of the day.

I’m aware that it’s really not that hard, I’ve carried my gear up and down there many times. However, if you’re going up three times in 10 days it definitely seems like the more efficient option. I’ve stashed gear at many areas around the country and have never had any issues. I guess I had a little too much faith in my fellow climber to not be a total scum bag and take someone else’s shit. Lesson learned, I’m leaving Colorado lol.

greg miller wrote:

Lol but you left gear trusting others to “respect” your stash… yes it’s a shitty thing to have done to you, but to others it might be abandoned gear… or trash. Hope you get your gear back.

Pretty inconceivable that any sane person would honestly think that a person would abandon a full rack of cams, so I’m not sure that justification holds water. 

Notice construction sites have the gear hanging in the air by a crane? Until you can do something like that; don’t leave your gear unattended.

you’re mad people aren’t following your imaginary rule of “don’t steal stashes”.... right after you just openly blew off any care that your stash might be illegal where you did it. That’s pretty hypocritical.

Paky Callahanwrote:

Pretty inconceivable that any sane person would honestly think that a person would abandon a full rack of cams, so I’m not sure that justification holds water. 

People find bails of weed and kilos of cocaine washed up on the beach of my hometown. Those are worth a lot more than this mans rack of cams. Anything is possible, even accidentally finding $10,000 of cocaine on a beach; that also clearly holds ocean water

This has been an extremely disheartening response. Not sure if the MP community just full of trolls or just legitimately shitty people, but goddamn am I eager to get out of this state. Thanks for the empathy and support, digital climbing community. 

Let us know how it goes when you stash your rack near popular spots in other states, to prove this is a Colorado problem. 

Most of us don’t live in Colorado. You might fuck up and accidentally live near one of us.

Paky Callahanwrote:

I’m aware that it’s really not that hard, I’ve carried my gear up and down there many times. However, if you’re going up three times in 10 days it definitely seems like the more efficient option. I’ve stashed gear at many areas around the country and have never had any issues. I guess I had a little too much faith in my fellow climber to not be a total scum bag and take someone else’s shit. Lesson learned, I’m leaving Colorado lol.

I see nothing wrong with stashing gear personally. If you’re going to do it, at least do it well. I have stumbled upon a few gear caches around chasm lake. Neon dry bags popping out of the boulders off the trail and near bivy sights.

I just had some climbing gear stolen that is irreplaceable and while I can certainly empathize with your situation if you think Colorado is the issue you are sadly mistaken. Thieves and other shitty people exist in every state and in every community. Your partner was expressing the same feelings in their thread. The attitude you two have isn’t going help you get your gear back. Take some ownership over the situation. When you decide to cache gear anywhere your are assuming a level of risk that your gear won’t be there when you come back.

I hope you get your gear back, truly. It sucks having shit stolen. Just don’t make comments about how CO climbers are shitty people when you’re asking that same community for help. And leaving your gear up there is on you guys. That was your choice.

this sounds familiar…

I complained about CO climber culture for some time before recognizing that it mostly comes down to numbers. NM has its share of bona fide douchebags, but the odds of encountering one on a given day are relatively low, especially if you avoid popular places. I also submit that generally decent people are more likely to behave badly in large groups. As a function of both trends, if 20 or 30 people descend on area, you're pretty much guaranteed to experience crappy behavior. And if you're like me, the assholes are a lot more memorable than the unassuming ones who just want to climb.

Stealing gear is lame. Stashing gear in a popular area is dumb. I appreciate the OP's advice in the 1st post, but submit that it applies elsewhere. Make a habit of stashing your gear at Yosemite or RRG and let us know how that works for you. Some dirtbag will be grateful.

It's anecdotal, but the only place I've had stashed gear messed with was in CO. A marmot shredded a water filter setup I'd carefully hidden below El Diente and gave me the stink-eye when I returned. My sense is that marmots have grown quite surly in CO. I don't blame them.

Sorry about your gear, OP. I hope you recover it. As is my wish for all climbers who live elsewhere, I hope you make peace with where you are rather than move to where I am. Nothing personal; there are just too many of us.

Logan Petersonwrote:

I complained about CO climber culture for some time before recognizing that it mostly comes down to numbers. NM has its share of bona fide douchebags, but the odds of encountering one on a given day are relatively low, especially if you avoid popular places. I also submit that generally decent people are more likely to behave badly in large groups. As a function of both trends, if 20 or 30 people descend on area, you're pretty much guaranteed to experience crappy behavior. And if you're like me, the assholes are a lot more memorable than the unassuming ones who just want to climb.

Stealing gear is lame. Stashing gear in a popular area is dumb. I appreciate the OP's advice in the 1st post, but submit that it applies elsewhere. Make a habit of stashing your gear at Yosemite or RRG and let us know how that works for you. Some dirtbag will be grateful.

It's anecdotal, but the only place I've had stashed gear messed with was in CO. A marmot shredded a water filter setup I'd carefully hidden below El Diente and gave me the stink-eye when I returned. My sense is that marmots have grown quite surly in CO. I don't blame them.

Sorry about your gear, OP. I hope you recover it. As is my wish for all climbers who live elsewhere, I hope you make peace with where you are rather than move to where I am. Nothing personal; there are just too many of us.

Says stashing gear is lame then proceeds to talk about about stashing gear…. 

This is a good lesson for all the n00bs out there. The climbing community is not the wonderful, totally trustworthy, awesome group of folks you think it is. 

Mark Westfallwrote:

Says stashing gear is lame then proceeds to talk about about stashing gear…. 

Almost. I said that stashing gear in a popular area is dumb. I have done dumb things and hopefully learned something. You caught me, and have earned a golden star. If it wasn't abundantly clear to you that I was admitting to a mistake, you might re-read the post.

This is the /thread post from your other thread, maybe we can end this one here too mountainproject.com/forum/t…

Philip Magistro wrote:

There is no need to make this a pissing contest about who climbs harder or who has more alpine experience.  Suffice it to say my experience and that of many of the folks weighing in is more than adequate to give those opinions weight.

The difficulty of the objective at hand doesn't change the rules, and believing otherwise comes from a place of entitlement that is inappropriate when it comes to use of public lands and especially protected Wilderness areas. 

Yes, taking another climber's stash is generally regarded as in poor taste amongst the community who frequent that area.  It's not uncommon for climbers unfamiliar with the local ethics surrounding illegal gear stashes to remove those as "booty" or turn them in to the Ranger Station. 

That said, the Diamond has become more and more of a backyard crag, while still remaining a coveted destination climb for many.  That means that if you leave gear up there, there is a good chance someone who either doesn't know that many locals stash gear or doesn't approve of that tactic may remove it.  My understanding is that after 24 hours that equipment is legally considered "abandoned" and removing it is not theft.

Regardless, my earlier comments about stewardship should mean more than the Code of Federal Regulations to climbers, who interact intimately with and care deeply about the environments in which we recreate.  

Just carry your gear.

It's definitely disheartening to see the some of the responses here. It's pretty unreasonable to find an entire rack in a boulder field and think it's fair game to take. I understand the lnt principles, but leaving a few pieces of metal and plastic for a few days isn't going to destroy the environment. If you're really that gung-ho on it, at least try to get the gear back to the owner. Sure, if everyone and their dogs stashed gear for weeks at a time, it'd get out of hand. But would it really have much more of an effect other than being an eyesore?

I've cached things before, and I'll continue to do it. Certainly not for a week at a time. And obviously location matters a ton. The more people you have in an area, the more likely someone is gonna take your stuff. It's not Colorado's fault that is has one of the larger and more concentrated climbing populations. Ultimately, whenever you leave something behind, you're risking it being taken.