Ugh... I can't believe I dropped...

Still actively being contributed to is the posting - Best Booty Found. I'm curious, what's the best/worst item you've dropped mid route?

My best contribution to the climbing world would be my helmet. Dropped while looking down, in squatting position, taking care of business. Under normal circumstances this might not be a big deal. Unfortunately, I was perched near Thumb Rock on Liberty Ridge - Mount Rainier. I watched that helmet slide like a turtle on its back into the unknown.

For those in need, there's a near new Petzl Elios somewhere on the Carbon Glacier.

My partner once dropped my video camera halfway up El Cap. Looking back the only regret is that is wasn't recording, we later recovered the mangled camera and the tape inside was intact - that would have been some awesome footage!

Saddest thing I've dropped was my ushiba titanium nut tool.

Other than that, I've left but not dropped anything.

Evan

chapstick off the second pitch of hair city two weekends ago... sorry if I hit you.

I didn't even realize it was gone till I got down and it was sitting there, end up, showing someone had either seen it fall or thought it was trash.

My friend dropped a camera off the second flatiron two years ago and I knocked a couple rocks down by some poor boulderers while i was trying to get it. This was before I started climbing. Never found the camera, but a few months later someone else found it and called him. It still worked!!!

the f-bomb

The item I dropped wasn't a big deal, it was more where it went:

Fumbling with gear on Women in Love on Cathedral, kinda freaked out, I dropped a #9 BD stopper. When my partner yelled up to me, "Dude, you almost killed Jimmy Surette!" Turns out he was right below us on Wild Women and was helmetless.

Fessing up here: I dropped an entire set of BD hexes on a lead of Brinton's Crack at Devils Lake (D'oh!). They actually landed on and stayed on a ledge about 10 feet below me, but I didn't want to downclimb so I just ran out the rest of it. Not dangerous or costly, but embarrassing for sure.

I flung an entire biner full of RPs off the third pitch of the Yellow Spur a number of years ago. Luckily, they wound up in a bush near our packs. Hell, that was a day's pay worth of hardware!

Maybe the most entertaining "drop" story I know came from a day long, long ago when I was soloing the Third Flatiron. I was concentrating on what I was doing when I heard a curious scraping rattle above me. I could tell it was gear, but it didn't sound quite like a lead fall. A second or two later, a quiet, weak voice muttered, "Uh, rack? Rack?" Some guy had sat down at a belay 'stance' (obviously not the bolt!) and had laid his gear sling down on the rock preparatory to building an anchor. Gravity and all, it proceeded to slide down the rock out of his reach. A partner soloed out and rescued it for him, amongst more mutterings of post-climb refreshments.

Dylan Colon wrote:Fessing up here: I dropped an entire set of BD hexes on a lead of Brinton's Crack at Devils Lake (D'oh!). They actually landed on and stayed on a ledge about 10 feet below me, but I didn't want to downclimb so I just ran out the rest of it. Not dangerous or costly, but embarrassing for sure.

Droped a couple of carabiners here and there....

2 weeks ago i drop a biner... I though it was clipped to the sling but it was really clipped around the sling. So when i though the sling over my shoulder... There went the biner, Luckly it landed on a ledge 3' below.

Another one 2-3yrs ago was a biner off the top half of road side attration at the RRG.

I dropped my glasses from about the 8-9th pitch of the Nose, El Cap. Fortunately, I'm near sighted so we succeeded in completing the climb. Once we got down, driving out of the Valley was more of a problem. . . .

My worst "drop" by far was this winter. I was rapping off some low angle ice with a 4-5' vertical step in it. I had my tools cliped into the my ice clippers, along with several screws. As I was descending the one small step I lost balance and slowly tipped over into the ice, catching my tool on that side funky which put a torsional twist on the plastic clipper. Next thing I know 4 or 5 screws, one tool, and half of the clipper are sliding away below me...

Luckily they all slid to a stop down in the snow below.

it's not the most interesting thing to drop but i did it with authority. i was seconding a climb in Eldo (can't remember what climb it was) and i was trying to work a #7 stopper free. my partner had practically fused the thing into the crack.

i try all the normal taps and twists to no avail. so, i hook my nut tool through the 'clipping' end of the wire and give that thing a huge upward yank. it came loose and then some. a nut tool and stopper would've made a great medieval weapon...it worked like a catapult.

that stopper flew. fortunately, it was winter and the canyon was pretty much empty. had it been busy, people on the opposite side of the canyon would have been in more danger than anyone below.

The rope - psych! Anyone ever hear of someone losing the handle on the cord? The thought of that used to scare the bejabbers out of me when pulling rap ropes. I tied it off and then backed up my backups for awhile.

I'm not exactly seasoned with glacier travel. Last summer I was faceplanting my way up the glacier begging for the North Chimney. I'd brought my phone along as our only camera and somewhere in the midst of my faceplanting I dropped my phone (I guess out of a pocket) thinking it to never be seen again. I was psyched about getting a new iphone to replace it until some do-gooder picked it up and called my wife telling her where I could come pick it up. I hate that phone.

One time while grabbing some gear off my harness I saw something out of the corner of my eye come off and disappear beneath me. For the entire remainder of the climb I had to wonder about what I dropped and almost assuredly lost. When we finished and descended to the base in the dark we finally figured out what it was. My stupid toothbrush was hanging in the tree right next to our packs.

In meltout ice conditions, I dropped an ice tool that slid over and off the top of Wildcat canyon in about '83, which plunged down into a 5 ft. deep pool of murky meltwater. Had to get it back, so I went in the water in skivies and dragged the bottom with my foot in search of the tool. As my blood began to freeze in all extgremities and turn to paste, I could feel my heart pumping the sludge and realized I would probably die of cardiac shock in the next few minutes if I didn't get out of that water. Took alot to rewarm the body. Came back 3 weeks later after the flood meltwaters had receded, and got lucky; found the tool in a foot of water, ready for the taking. I think I began the use of leashes shortly after.

Many years ago (read 30+) as I and my partner were about to start up the Standard NW Face of Half Dome, a party on the 6th pitch dropped their entire rack onto the snow patch at the base. Please note that over-crowding is not merely a recent thing. Because their were so many parties on the route, even in the late 70s, it took only about 1 hour for the boys to retrieve their gear through it being passed back up the line, and move on!

My best drop was a Nalgene water bottle from the top of some climb in South Dakota. I was giving my partner back most of his gear when I unclipped the bottle without thinking. Next thing I know it's rolling over the edge. It fell roughly 90 feet straight down and exploded like a water balloon when it hit.

Dropped my ATC while prepping the belay on the third pitch of Holdless Horror in Tuolumne. Glad I had learned how to belay with a Munter hitch.

Dropped my original Trango Jaws belay device off of Crimson Chrysalis at Red Rocks. I really liked that thing too...