Gear Tampering?

[DavidHiers]

Hi,

This topic came up in a recent conversation, so I thought that I'd rattle the cage of the assembled brain trust...

 

Is any one aware of a climber being injured when a non-climber tampered with their gear? I'm thinking of places like Rocky Butte and Broughton Bluff that have walkup trails that provide easy access to anchors. All those bright shiny things might tempt some schmoe that's watched too many Jackass episodes.

 

I can't find any mention of this kind of injury in the accident journal, so it seems to be somewhat rare.

 

Thanks,

 

David

 

Edited May 11, 2008 by DavidHiers

[ashw_justin]

I have never heard of this happening either. I guess people are wiser than this.

 

However, I once climbed at a crag where you approach from the top and normally climb by setting up a clean gear anchor first (there are no bolts and nothing to simply sling with rope or webbing) and then lowering/rappelling down to the start of the pitch. The thought of anyone intentionally tampering with my gear placements worried me less than the thought that any of several other climbers that were buzzing around at the edge of the cliff might trip over my anchor setup and cause damage to it and/or themselves.

[billcoe]

Hi,

This topic came up in a recent conversation, so I thought that I'd rattle the cage of the assembled brain trust...

 

Is any one aware of a climber being injured when a non-climber tampered with their gear? I'm thinking of places like Rocky Butte and Broughton Bluff that have walkup trails that provide easy access to anchors. All those bright shiny things might tempt some schmoe that's watched too many Jackass episodes.

 

I can't find any mention of this kind of injury in the accident journal, so it seems to be somewhat rare.

 

Thanks,

 

David

 

This is why you always have to LOCK your biners.

 

Thats all I have.

_________________________________________________________________

edited to add this story

 

Ok, one more, Talbot Beilfeld did a well written artical with a bunch of crap exactly like this in it @ 1986 for Outside magazine. He included my earlier incident wherein some kids were unclipping my shit as I solo toproped below. He made it seem all dramatic, and I'll admit to some small sweat beads until I toped out, but after I heard the distinct clipping noises I started yelling up. At that, one kid poked his head over the edge, appeared shocked to see a human being below and they were all gone by the time I got up there.

 

Now thats all I have and I mean it now.

 

 

For now anyway, thats all.

Edited May 13, 2008 by billcoe

[catbirdseat]

I heard a story about a kegger on a lofty ledge on El Cap long ago in which they took precautions any time they saw someone getting a little too drunk. They'd tighten the person's tie-in locker with a leatherman so the subject wouldn't accidentally "wander off".

[DavidHiers]

That'd up the pucker factor!

[area51]

Wasn't John Sherman's famous sling found to have been cut by a knife, and that the cut was hidden in the knot???

[catbirdseat]

No, that's not what I heard.

[hafilax]

Does trundling count?

[Ishmael]

I have never see or heard of any non-climbers screwing with anchors ect.

[EWolfe]

A past co-worker (redneck carpenter type) was telling me about shooting at "some shiny things on a cliff" out by East Flagstaff. I recognized the place as a climbing area called The Barrio, and gave him an earful for shooting at anchors.

[Moof]

I think John Long's "Close Calls" had a couple noteable stories.

 

One was a guy on the Lost Arrow spire getting ready for a tyrolean traverse (you pre-rig the far end before rapping into the notch to do the 2 pitch climb). He saw a hiker looking at his gear and started going apeshit at him, and calling out his questionable parentage. The hiker, realizing his strategically strong position flipped the bird and cut the rope. The dude had to wait for SAR to bail him out.

 

There are also plenty of equally scary tales of tourons hucking rocks off the top for grins and giggles, not realizing anyone is below.

Edited May 13, 2008 by Moof

[hemp22]

i don't have any examples of non-climbers actually screwing with gear & causing a problem - but if it were going to happy anywhere, it'd probably be Rocky Butte (meth-riddled brain thinks all them shiny clippy things are worth somethin for scrap metal).

 

I think trundling or tossing rocks is a whole different issue, but there are certainly examples of where that had bad results (Pete Absolon is a notable recent one).

[Jens]

I've clipped plenty of bolts that have been hit by bullets.