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Gear stolen @ Rocky Butte


Jim_T

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Hi all,

 

A friend had his pack and gear stolen from Rocky Butte last night (Wednesday June 2). The pack was on a ledge near the top of Silver Bullet Bluff, and when we got back up, it was gone.

 

This was a blue Ice Pack, with a set of Camalots, DMM Wallnuts, all with blue & red markings (not to mention his wallet, ID, keys, etc). If you see this gear being sold somewhere, please let me know. Or if you were at Rocky Butte last night and saw something/someone suspicious, send me a message.

 

Finally, be careful with your gear at this place!

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sorry you didnt know that Rocky Butte is one of the worst places ever to leave your gear. The nazi swastika painted on the rock should have been your first clue. I’ll keep an eye out and see if anyone can find your stuff. everyone else should put your gear on your belts at your truck before going to the route you want. peace and good luck

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Thanks everyone - yes it was obviously a bad move leaving the pack there. We thought it would be safe halfway down the cliff, out of view from the top, but clearly there are people just looking for that type of thing.

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Sorry about the pack loss Jim. I hope it was actually just a kid stealing the pack for the pack and money and not someone stealing climbing gear. Not that either is ok but I just like to think of climbers as having a little bit more scruples or at least respect for other climbers. I have heard of at least 4 break-ins in and around portland in the last year where climbing gear was stolen. that really makes me sick.

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Damn:..................sucks.

 

I remember the first time I had my pack stolen up there: it was on my motorcycle at the top, I was bouldering on the vertical part - within view, back to the bike. I never saw it again. Still long for the coat that was in there.

 

The most blatant theft I heard about probably was when Kelly Warden had a rope pulled up and stolen which was set up on Birds while he was down below and had his back turned. I think that was just last year.

 

Hope your stuff turns up, was it marked in any way? I put my name and the date on my runners in felt tip, for instance. (They get old faster than you can imagine, and it's nice to know when you bought them for retirement purposes).

 

Bill

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  • 1 month later...

Had some biners and webbing of my own snagged today (Used as a TR...walked back around to get it and it was gone)

...as well, another group of climbers had some QD's on chains yanked while they were working another route.

 

Seems to me someone is walking along the top lurking and stealing.

 

Keep your eyes peeled folks.

 

(lots of hangers missing as well...bolts aren't chopped...just stripped of the hangers...what's up with that?)

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Had some biners and webbing of my own snagged today (Used as a TR...walked back around to get it and it was gone)

...as well, another group of climbers had some QD's on chains yanked while they were working another route.

 

 

 

(lots of hangers missing as well...bolts aren't chopped...just stripped of the hangers...what's up with that?)

 

 

There's bolts with no hangers all over up there at various places, some of those studs have been there for many many years. Are you saying someone pulled some hangers or chains recently and left studs or perhaps you might have just noticed the stud for the first time but it might have been that way for 15 years?

 

What routes were the draws on and what route were you on? Was that Saturday or Sunday?

 

Sundays usually get lots of Christians, and although I won't speak ill of them myself, I've climbed with a couple and they were as good as they get IMO. However, my friend Kelly is 100 percent certain the young folks throwing rocks at his group on video bluff were Christians cause he caught them. I've heard the rock throwing story from others who witnessed it. Basically it's this: rocks got tossed down: climbers start screaming up to the miscreants to stop it immediatly, people could get hurt blah blah: then more rocks get thrown acoumpanied by laughter, Kelly Warden runs up to the top of the cliff and catches a group of them, who were unrepentant till he starts screaming at them.

 

I couldn't believe Kelly didn't get physical and kick some a**. I'd be sorely tempted after chasing and catching - literally catching, the people responsible.

 

I'd like to think Kelly has been too busy to get out there recently, and not just sick of this kind of crap up there.

 

Hell, I even bought a helmet which I hope is rated to 1 Heinikan bottle. Of course I don't think its rated to take either a video monitor, TV or one of those shopping carts which periodically get pushed over the top. Pretty sure it would be fine against underpants, condoms and hypodermics though.

 

Anyway, curious what routes were you guys were on?

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Hi Bill,

 

This was this past Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

We rapped in near Toothpick Wall (off a tree using webbing and biners as a TR).

Having only been there a few times with ~T (who says "hi" by the way), I wasn't 100% sure where we were until we got down.

 

From there, we worked our way over to Silver Bullet Bluff.

 

That's where the draws from another team were stolen off the chains an hour or so earlier.

 

The missing hangers I'm referring to are on Gunsmoke and Bite the Bullet.

Having just moved up here a few months ago, I have no idea how long they've been gone.

 

I'm considering having some signs put up, warning other climbers of the hazards and gear theft that goes on there. The folks that I spoke with had no idea.

 

I'm very tempted to go gear thief hunting. I'll have to see if I have some time over these next few weekends.

 

Kelly could have filed charges against those throwing rocks/ etc. (My partner and I did against some idiots who were throwing beer bottles down into Owen’s River Gorge a few years ago after we asked them to stop. At that height with the weight of the bottles and the possibility of injury or death…the charges are very serious.)

 

Regards,

Rob

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Hanger, don't know about Gunsmoke having a missing hanger, didn't remember that route having a bolt on it at all and haven't been over that way for a couple of months so who can say, but that rusty stud on Bite the bullet has been that way for at least 10-11 years. Isn't there 2 on it? I keep expecting to rip my knees on that one bolt at the crux if I fall there, but haven't done it yet. There's still time.

 

Also, re-read your post above, are you saying you rapped down and then went quite some distance away and just left your stuff there for 5-1/2 hours or so? Don't mean to be disrespectful, but for most climbing areas, or most public area like the grocery store, if you leave webbing and/or something like that laying there or hanging someplace and walk away, at some point people will consider it abandoned (ie Booty). That booty point gets debated all of the time on this site, ie, what is or isn't booty, but regardless, it is not unheard of for people to find gear abandoned on routes out there. I had a guy come up and ask me once while we were tossing our gear into the car at the end of a day: is this rope yours? Uhhhh, "no, why, we asked?" Well, it had been hanging off a chain for a week evidently, the guy had pulled it to climb the route and wanted to find the owner. We suggested he leave it there, but he wanted to find the owner, and putting it back would put it at risk of theft (or of being bootyed). So he left a note through the chain with his phone number etc. and I kept seeing that note there for over a month. Don't know if the fella ever remembered he'd left the rope. Point is, best not leave your stuff laying there by itself for hours on end. Most people will just leave it alone (the rope on the chains for a week wasn't touched and I'm sure people saw it) but thats a real mixed bag sad to say.

 

 

 

Speaking of gear lost at the Butte: is this your post?

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65708&highlight=rocky+butte

 

Anyway, Kelly isn't the type to call the police, but you're right, he probably could have, maybe even should have. I wonder though, that if the authorities get enough of those kinds of calls (like the 4 people who pitched off the cliff this spring) if they might close it down. I think most of us wouldn't want to see that.

 

 

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... but that rusty stud on Bite the bullet has been that way for at least 10-11 years. Isn't there 2 on it?

Yes sir...the first one made for a decent slung nut while working Jack of Heart...those kinds of placements is where my login to RC.com (hangerlessbolt) comes from.

 

Also, re-read your post above, are you saying you rapped down and then went quite some distance away and just left your stuff there for 5-1/2 hours or so? Don't mean to be disrespectful, but for most climbing areas, or most public area like the grocery store, if you leave webbing and/or something like that laying there or hanging someplace and walk away, at some point people will consider it abandoned (ie Booty). That booty point gets debated all of the time on this site, ie, what is or isn't booty, but regardless, it is not unheard of for people to find gear abandoned on routes out there.

 

No disrespect taken...was certainly my mistake. It's always been mine (and my partner's) rule of thumb:

 

If it's a single biner on a bolt halfway up a route

A nut/cam/etc stuck alone in the middle of a route

Been there for more than 48 hours

 

All obvious signs of someone bailing...then it's booty.

 

If it's an obvious TR/ Rap station...and the gear looks "fresh"...then it's not. Obviously someone doesn't agree with me.

 

Point is, best not leave your stuff laying there by itself for hours on end. Most people will just leave it alone (the rope on the chains for a week wasn't touched and I'm sure people saw it) but thats a real mixed bag sad to say.

 

Exactly...my mistake being new to the area. Fool me once...

 

 

 

Speaking of gear lost at the Butte: is this your post?

http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65708&highlight=rocky+butte

 

No sir, I go by Hangerlessbolt...climbed Broughton Monday a.m.

 

Anyway, Kelly isn't the type to call the police, but you're right, he probably could have, maybe even should have. I wonder though, that if the authorities get enough of those kinds of calls (like the 4 people who pitched off the cliff this spring) if they might close it down. I think most of us wouldn't want to see that.

 

Including me...I prefer the USMC way of dealing with that kind of nonsense...but given there were 5 of them and only two of us (1 and a half if you really want to get an accurate idea of how willing my partner was to fight)...

I don't know how many of them it would have taken to whip my ass...but I knew how many they were going to use...

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

-Rob

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Ohhhhhh, Hangerlessbolt, got it. Dude, I got it, it just takes me a while. You're T's signifigant other! Dohhh. We should climb together sometime.

 

Say hi back to her, haven't seen her in a long time. If you are free tonight I'll most like be out there. Can be there for sure. Butte at 6:15pm or so? Maybe I should post this in the "events" forum.

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