Seeking Your Opinion - Losing Gear

[dkl]

I always assumed stuck pro was the fault of the leader. Situation A definitely seems more complicated to me, especially if there are financial limitation for 1 or both parties.

[DPS]

I always assumed stuck pro was the fault of the leader.

I was raised Catholic, so I assume everything is my fault.

[GerritD]

I would always offer to split or pay in full myself. I don't really see a scenario where I would ask a partner to pay for something in full, even if it was their "fault." Some amount of mistakes are to be expected while climbing and I could easily have dropped my partners sleeping bag into a crevasse.

 

I recently left all my own gear when fleeing a route in a thunderstorm and I refused to accept any split of the costs. Part of the reason is that if I am leaving all of my own gear I feel like I can dictate that the rappel anchors perform to my own level of safety at my own expense. Personally I would rather pay my way to safer climbing whenever possible and I won't hesitate to leave a cam on rappel.

[MrGecko]

I definitely agree that parties should discuss it before hand as there may be financial constraints on one or both parties and from evidence in this thread, fundamental differences in opinion. However, if money is not a question and both have adequate resources I feel that personal gear losses should be at the expense of the individual who was in control of it at the time. Stuck gear and ropes aside - as its impossible to say someone's skill or lack thereof resulted in a pulled rope getting stuck or that a leader placed gear poorly vs. the skill of the 2nd is lacking.

 

I look at it this way, if I neglect to follow simply securing someones gear on a ledge when it is a simple thing to do and it results in a loss, then I would expect to compensate them. Same goes if I was to borrow a friend's cell phone or SLR camera for a trip. If I go on a trip and take their camera and subsequently lose or damage it should they pay 1/2 or get zero reimbursement? They had no control over the item when they weren't even present.

 

Accidents happen but neglect to follow procedure has consequences and subsequent personal responsibility.