Did you have your gear stolen????

[bwwakaranai]

So my friend used to climb, recently got married and is now moving out of the area in 2 weeks. He called me today and said he had a present for me and handed me a bunch of gear which he acquired from his good friend who is a pawn shop owner. I said hell yes as it is quite a bit of gear and has been stagnant in his closet for a long time and it's not doing anybody any good just sitting there.

 

As much as I'd love to just add it to my collection and call it mine I should at least attempt to return it to it's rightful owner. So I surfed through the last 5 years of lost and found reports on this site and checked every post that said lost or stolen gear and found zero matches.

 

It could be that someone quit just like a couple of my friends have and pawned off their gear, there's no way of knowing, but if you were ripped off and you can describe what was taken from you in detail, PM me and if it matches I would very much enjoy handing this gear back to you. I've been ganked twice so I know how it feels. You really, really want to hurt someone...badly when it happens to you. This gear has a specific mark on it so it would be pretty easy to know if its yours.

 

Anyways, I figured if I don't find any matches in a few months then it might as well be used and Ill of course keep a couple things for myself and the rest will go to friends who are just building their climbing arsenal. Does this seem reasonable????

[rob]

Contrary to popular stereotype, pawn shops don't typically deal in a lot of stolen goods because they usually have the contact info of the seller and unless the shop is unscrupulous, thieves tend to avoid them. At least, that's what my friend who works at a pawn shop has told me.

 

It's been years, sounds like you're trying to be honest but if nothing obvious jumps out I don't think you are under any obligation to give it away to needy climbers. You sound like a good guy, though and I think it's cool you're jumping trough hoops. It makes me wish karma were a real thing and not superstitious mumbo jumbo

[bwwakaranai]

Well thanks Rob, I appreciate the comments. You're right about the pawn shop owners. He's a very generous and honest guy and I know he would do everything he could to avoid purchasing stolen goods. It's likely that somebody just hung up the ol' shoes so to speak. Hopefully by giving away the gear that I'm not using rather than selling it, my karma meter will remain +++

[JasonG]

You shouldn't feel bad about using the gear Brandon. You've done your best and, as rob pointed out, it was likely legitimately pawned.

 

Climb on!

[Alex]

One thing you might consider is re-slinging any older cams etc, to make the safety factor ++. I've found older gear still as bombproof as the day I bought it, but nylon is nylon...