Gear Stolen from the Top of El Cap

I'm going to float an optimistic theory that this is the result of a confused porter taking the gear by mistake. Maybe they aren't tuned in to the whole online / social media thing and haven't realized their mistake yet...and are bumming around the valley holding it for safekeeping for someone that hired them..

Most criminals just aren't this discriminating. My friend had his car broken into recently and the thief took everything under the sun, tried to buy $200 of chimichangas at a Mexican restaurant (on a card that was already canceled) and then presented my friend's government ID to try to access a military installation, at which point he was promptly arrested by military police and thrown in the slammer.

That is a typical criminal MO. Just curious Weston, was the remaining gear packed back in the bag in any kind of orderly way? Or was it dumped in hastily, strewn about? Not that that definitively proves anything but just another piece of evidence.

Okay, finally was able to take actual stock of the missing items. Most stuff was marked with orange nail polish, but not all. Unfortunately, I can’t agree with the theory that it was an accident. I will not be setting up a go fund me, or anything to that effect, though I really appreciate the support from the community—instead I’d encourage people to donate to the Access Fund, Middle East Children’s Alliance or simply to another organization that puts some good out into the world. People are out there with bigger struggles than a broke climber losing his gear. At the end of the day, I’m still pretty lucky in life, and I’ll be okay.

Middle East Children’s Alliance

Access Fund

Gear Missing:

Big Cams:

• #5 and #6 BD Camalot, Circa 2020 (the ones with clips that hold the lobes back)

————

Totems - Marked with two Orange dots on the cables on each side. Half had photon carabiners, half had Helium carabiners:

• 2 Black Totems
• 2 Blue Totems
• 2 Yellow Totems
• 2 Purple Totems 
• 1 Green Totem
• 1 Red Totem

————

Aliens:

• CCH 1/3 Alien with Purple Sling (Modern Black Size). This cam in particular is something I’ve never seen another person own. If you see this one anyone’s rack, please tell me.
• Fixe Blue Alien Original Style
• Fixe Green Alien Revo

————

Black Diamond:

BD Z4 Offset, Red/Yellow (McDonalds colors)

000 Gray C3 

00 Purple C3

0 Green C3

————

Nuts:

• 1 set of DMM Offset Alloy Nuts, plus 2 extra Yellow ones
  
  
• 2-3 Sets of Brass Nuts. Some are modern DMM offsets, some are vintage RPs, some are BD non offsets. Bunch of stuff.

————

Miscellaneous:

• Metolius Orange Wall Bucket
• Blue 9.8 60m rope, brand unknown (Could actually still be on top of Tangerine Trip, but it was dark and I was depressed and couldn’t find it in the dark)
• Petzl Micro Traxion + DMM Small Locker
• Petzl Pro Traxion + Petzl William Screw Lock
• Unknown Number of Alpine Draws and Quick Draws, many with Petzl Ange L and ange S carabiners. Approximately 12 missing combined. Most alpine draws have red mammut slings. Most missing draws were Ange S quickdraws with old thin dogbones.
• Unknown Number of Missing Lockers
• Every Missing Cam is also missing its carabiner

thanks for the update, Weston, and that is very magnanimous of you :)

FYI: unfortunately this likely won’t apply to OPs situation but renters insurance will generally cover gear stolen from your car. For anyone who’s worried about this in the future for themselves.

Check your policies Weston and maybe you can get this covered.

Weston Swrote:

They seem to have stolen the highest value items and left everything that would resell for under $50. Feels like they knew the value of what they were taking and strategized the highest value for lowest weight to carry down. Suggests to me that they were climbers.

If they had taken every cam, I’d agree they could be randos, but they left metolius and camalots (except the big ones) and took the totems and traxions and brassies and C3s. They knew what that stuff was.

Doesn't have to be climbers. T wall parking is somewhat infamous for some folks that drove down all the way from Ohio (or some pretty far state like that), just to smash and grab climbers gear out of the cars. A day's effort to snag a couple grand of gear might be worth it for those kinds of miscreants. First night I ever came to chat, I came pretty late and resorted to the t wall campground. Every time I heard a noise, or a car drive by, I had a big knoife clutched in hand ready to go to war. One of the more stressful nights of my life.

hi Bailey, I just wanted to say that I DID leave my food and trash in a bear canister.  that means bears can't get it, ravens can't get it, and rangers are ok with it.  its considered proper storage in the back country.  and I did take my waste case down with me. 

phylp phylp  you're definitely right, I need to get more experience on el cap.  I'll get to work on that right away. LOL

Bump for visibility. I’m a friend of Weston’s, and last I heard the gear still hasn’t been found, which sucks big time. It is easily several thousand dollars worth of gear. 

On a related note - it’s nice of some of you to offer to chip in for a gofundme to replace the stolen gear. Understandably, he doesn’t want to do that. 

That said, I know Weston is currently looking for work as a software developer. While I’m sure he wouldn’t use this forum to promote himself, I’m here to do exactly that. I figured the Northern California forum is crawling with people who work in tech, so it’s worth putting out a call to see if anyone is looking to contract some development work. I know the job market sucks right now, and any leads would go a long way toward helping him earn some cash to replace his gear and keep chasing his climbing goals.

Slide into those DMs folks. Thanks!

I would be so pissed if this happened to me. Fuck who ever stole your gear.