Climbing Gear Stolen - Training for Half Dome & Nose

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TradisRadCA

Trad climber
San Francico
Topic Author's Original Post - May 1, 2015 - 04:46pm PT
EDIT: We got half the gear back!!! More in thread below. And yes, we're idiots for leaving it in the car.
_

Thursday evening my entire bin of gear was stolen from the back of my climbing partner's red Subaru outback in the NOPA neighborhood of San Francisco. It was packed because we were headed to Yosemite Friday.

My partner and I have been PSYCHED and training to do Half Dome in a push for our birthdays (at the end of May) - we had also hoped to climb The Nose in June. For the past year, we've been diligently pushing our free climbing grades and teaching ourselves aid systems for whatever we can't free. Unfortunately, all our cams and aid gear are now gone. I don't even have a harness! Needless to say it's a huge setback.

I feel stupid for not having renters insurance and for leaving it in the car. We are MORE than happy to pay whomever took it a cash reward - we just want the gear back. There are memories and plans associated with that gear....

Anyhow, below is a list of what was taken. All the cams and biners were marked with bright pink tape. All the slings had pink marker on the tag. All the aid gear had pink tape. Hoping y'all can help us keep an eye out for it and let us know if anything pops up being sold or discarded somewhere. Thank you all.

 The Heartbroken Duo

Grigri
La Sportiva TC Pros Size 40.5 (devastated here.. as they were broken in)
Double rack of BD cams from .4 to #3 (12 cams total)
One #4
Full set of aliens (black, green, yellow, red, blue - no grey)
one offset aliens (Blue/green) - new
two offset bd (grey/purple, blue/grey) - new
Brand spanking new Women's deluxe Metolius harness
two sets of BD nuts
two ATCs (one guide)
10 BD Posiwire quickdraws
20ish slings and 30ish BD neutrino biners
2 Petzl ascenders
2 BD daisy chains
1 Petzl Protrax
1 Petzl min trax
1 rotor swivel
1 nut tool
1 fifi hook
1 blue gear sling
1 metolius PAS 22
8 locking biners including several Petzl Attaches

Guernica

climber
dark places
May 1, 2015 - 07:18pm PT
^ ha! Indeed.


That does seriously suck though, best of luck.



apogee

climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
May 1, 2015 - 08:19pm PT
Ian nails it. Hard.
zBrown

Ice climber
Brujò de la Playa
May 1, 2015 - 08:23pm PT
It's been a long time since I lived in The City, but standard procedure back then was take everything out of the car and leave it open so you wouldn't get your window broken.

Probably still a good procedure.

What is the dollar value of your loss and ... nevermind ... no time for bad jokes.

Too bad Dan Osman has left this world, he knew how to deal with this kinda sheeit.
Jeremy B.

climber
Northern California
May 1, 2015 - 09:41pm PT
Definitely still proper procedure; nothing should be left visible, even if it's just an empty Kleenex box.

Edit: I still lock the car though.
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
May 1, 2015 - 10:03pm PT
That really sucks.

I live in NOPA in SF and will not leave anything in the car for an hour in broad daylight, let alone over night. My 2nd day in the City, more than 20 years ago, my car was broken into because I had a quilt in a garbage bag in the back, all of which was left. SF is terrible for theft. I've had more car breakins than I can count, and they used to steal the car too, until I bought a Club for the clutch pedal. Usually the glovebox contents are dumped. I don't leave anything in my car. Only a few things in the glovebox of no value.

Yesterday I came home to a poster on the front door showing a woman in front of our apt. building, who has been breaking in/going into lobbies and stealing packages. Seen in the neighborhood twice now in 6 days. She was driving 2 stolen cars.

edit - re. ßÎØTÇH's DanO suggestion below.... you need to set a trap, with tracker. leave the car in the same spot....
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
extraordinaire
May 1, 2015 - 10:28pm PT
A reenactment of DanO's Oakland epic is in order.
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
May 2, 2015 - 07:49am PT
That DanO story is one of the best I've heard.

Bump for luck
msiddens

Trad climber
May 2, 2015 - 08:19am PT
Crap- sorry gals
elcap-pics

Big Wall climber
Crestline CA
May 2, 2015 - 08:31am PT
You will find the same thing can happen in Yosemite too... gear gets stolen all the time.... just be prudent and cover and lock stuff out of view.
kunlun_shan

Mountain climber
SF, CA
May 2, 2015 - 10:20am PT
Here's the DanO story referred to above:

http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1579167&msg=1583109#msg1583109
Guernica

climber
dark places
May 2, 2015 - 11:19am PT
Oh hell yeah, thanks for the link k-s. I had forgotten just how crazy that story was.

Sounds like the OP needs to have a chat with Dennis and Niatia!
TradisRadCA

Trad climber
San Francico
Topic Author's Reply - May 2, 2015 - 01:27pm PT
Gentlemen (and ladies) of Supertopo - thanks for the kind responses.

You're right y'all - it was hella stupid to leave in the car. We know. I've lived in Mexico City and NYC for goddsakes. I should know better. Still sucks.

Ian - spot on dude. Appreciate the nod to the effort of putting a pic on the post. I hesitated but thought, what the hell...I'll take any help I can get to find the gear.

Climbski2 - thanks for the luck bump. We in fact, had some! Not quite the DanO story (which is awesome btw) - however, it was just as doggedly stubborn...in our own way.

Angry, heartbroken and feeling incredibly stupid, my climbing partner, a friend and I decided to spend our afternoon in the Panhandle canvassing the hood. While the two of them worked a grid system going through every dumpster, trash can and suspect suitcase or grocery cart they came upon, I chatted up every homeless dude (and one dudettte) this side of Haight St. handing out my cell phone number like it was dollar bills at a strip club.

Met some great fellows. JR played his guitar for me. Dreaming and Tigerlily gave me background on NOPA street politics and offerred to show me where the local meth house was located. I declined. If only because I had a limited window before I had to go back to work.

Anyhow, met some quality folks, and I'm not being facetious here, who all offered to give me a call if something came up.

Later that evening, I'm cooking mac & cheese and my phone rings. Fred tells me that his friend JR (guitar playing, grocery cart dude) says I'm looking for some gear. He proceeds to interrogate me about where and when it was taken. Then says, yea, I got it. Apparently Fred had seen "someone else" break into the car the night before but then leave the bin two blocks away. Fred, then put all the gear into his shopping cart and proceeded to try and sell it all day Friday on Haight St. Didn't have much luck. He'll give it to me if I meet him in 15 minutes at the corner of Haight and Clayton.

I race outta the house - so quickly that I forgot to turn the burner off (that's another story involving a smoke alarm and a sausage smelling house upon my return -- I'm really earning smart points on the Taco huh?). Anyway, I track him down - he gives me my gear. I gave him $100 for being somewhat honest.

I got about half my gear back. Which is AWESOME! Most of the cams, my harness, all my slings. Turns out, though, Fred sold 4 of the cams, ALL of the aid gear, and every locking biner for $60 to a friend of his who... is a climber.

Jim H. would be proud of that fact, now we have to fully free....err..french free.. half dome. No jumars allowed, he continues to insist.

Anyhow - to the climber out there that bought my ascenders, pro trax, mini trax, 3 cams including a #4, nuts, and 8 locking biners for $60 - I'd love to have it back.
Thanks everyone. Appreciate the support.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
May 2, 2015 - 02:01pm PT
Gotta like the happy ending!

Half Dome in a day is a reasonable prospect if you are climbing well and the route isn't crowded.

Have fun gals!
Guernica

climber
dark places
May 2, 2015 - 04:45pm PT
Holy hell, that is great! Dang, very nice. Sounds like the fates are on your side.

I in fact also did HD inna push, for my birthday, in late may- many years ago though. I can certainly recommend it.

Good luck fellow Geminis!
micronut

Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
May 2, 2015 - 05:08pm PT
Hey gals, the same thing happened to me a few years back and Supertopo posters came through in such a generous way for me. I'd love to pay it forward. I have plenty of wall gear sitting in my bin in my garage right now, with no immediate wall plans. Hooks, iron, haul set-up, jumars, wall ladders, Haulbag etc... Message me and you can borrow any/all of it for your trip. Seriously, I'd love to spread the stoke for your big trip.


Scott

Big Mike

Trad climber
BC
May 2, 2015 - 05:29pm PT
Nice work!!! Did the DanO story inspire you to go canvasing? Very impressed.

Scott, you rule buddy! Hook these girls up. Girls, we would very much appreciate a tr of your adventures, of course.

Great tale of perserverance!
gumbyclimber

climber
May 2, 2015 - 05:47pm PT
DanO was staying at my house when that happened and jumped out of his skin when I opened his truck in the morning to find him in the back after he failed to show up the night before. "You'll never believe what happened last night", he said. Then he proceeded to tell me about holding a prostitute and crack head at knife point in bed to get his stuff back. We had a lot of crazy experiences together but I'm glad to have missed out on that one.
JOEY.F

Gym climber
It's not rocket surgery
May 2, 2015 - 07:15pm PT
Did you get your TC Pros back?

Just a bit of drift hope you don't mind,
I was staying overnight in Bernal Heights with my friends and realized when I got home my license plates were replaced.
The weird part is the front and back plates don't match, and the back one is still valid until Dec 2015.
I don't understand it at all, some ID theft? DMV says only 21 bucks for the fix, but still??

Rooting for your HDIAD push!
Chris Cunningham

Trad climber
San Francisco
May 3, 2015 - 12:10am PT
For the last Fn time...do not leave anything in your car you are going to be sorry is gone!!
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