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Brosef
Big Wall climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 26, 2015 - 01:56pm PT
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Dear Supertopo users(particularly those climbing in the Fishers and/or Mystery Towers),
Sometime between Labor Day weekend, 2014, and January 16, 2015 a large stash of climbing and camping gear was stolen from what (we thought) was a well hidden location in the area between the Titan and the Mystery Towers. This was not near any of the known bivy spots in this area. The gear included a full desert iron aid rack, a double set of cams, double set of aliens, over 20+ draws and screamers, ropes, and camping gear. This gear had been painstakingly hiked out to this location over months in preparation for a trip in the area. Needless to say, when the gear was gone, we were disheartened and disappointed. Neither the BLM nor the Sheriff's office removed the gear.
This leads us to suspect that either ne'er-do-wells (ie, meth-heads, scavengers) stole the gear, or climbers did. Given that the gear stashed included a cast-iron skillet and a cast-iron dutch oven, we suspect it was the former as no climber would hike that stuff back out from where it was stashed. This gear was well off any trails that any casual hikers would be on, and in a location where only a small select group of climbers would ever venture. If, for some reason climbers moved the gear, or took it assuming it was abandoned, I can assure you it was not. I would like to believe that it was an honest mistake. If this is the case, please pm me with the current location of the stash, and all will be forgiven.
However, if this gear has been intentionally taken by climbers and it is not returned, I will do everything in my power to determine who took the gear. A lot of blood, sweat, and time went into getting the gear out to where it was, and the trip we had planned was ruined and had to be postponed. Even worse, this had been a trip that I had been looking forward to after two deployments overseas. We have pictures that will allow us to identify all of the gear that was stashed. Any information leading to the identification of any individuals who removed the gear will be graciously rewarded.
Please pm me with any information.
Stay safe,
Joe Forrester
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Daphne
Trad climber
Northern California
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:02pm PT
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I sure hope you get a lead on getting your gear back, but as a woman who leans toward the hippie and who has many hippie friends, I really object to you lumping me and my friends in the ne'er do well category with meth-heads and scavengers.
edit: Thanks for the apology.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Denver, Colorado
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:04pm PT
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Check if there are pawn shops in Moab. A non climber would try to sell it and pawn shops are supposed to be able to trace their sales. Although it's a long ride to the Fishers on a dirt road, who else would go there?
+1 for Daphne, please don't dis hippies.
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Brosef
Big Wall climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2015 - 02:05pm PT
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I did not mean to overly-generalize against hippies, and I apologize, sorry about that. I removed the reference. The rest of my comments stand.
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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
the pitch above you
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:14pm PT
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Yeah, man, like didn't you get the memo? Hippies are a protected class on the taco. Don't harsh their mellow.
In all seriousness, hope you get your gear back and the thieves get their just rewards - like a #6 camalot enema.
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ClimbingOn
Trad climber
NY
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:24pm PT
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That sucks that your gear is no longer there. Still, abandoning thousands of dollars of gear for months on end on public land...Not something I would have done.
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Brosef
Big Wall climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2015 - 02:25pm PT
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Wasn't intending on leaving it that long. Got deployed twice.
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SicMic
climber
across the street from Marshall
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:48pm PT
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We...we...us.
Perhaps your friend could have gone to fetch it over the four months that you were away. I'm prepared to sympathize with your plight, but am having trouble doing so. Hope you can get the gear back or recognize this valuable lesson.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 26, 2015 - 02:53pm PT
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Hope you find your stuff. You did check (I'm sure you must have, I'd have been digging and yelling and running around like a, like a, like a meth-head) that it was not buried by fresh mud from this fall's storms or washed down a drainage a few hundred feet or so....??? Strange things happen around there.
That's a huge loss. Never heard of stashed gear vanishing. The place is changing. Hope the stuff shows up.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 26, 2015 - 03:35pm PT
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Jeremy is a homo and I told him so. Can't leave your sh#t laying around forever.
If you guys come and climb with me in CA I will loan you a sh#t load of gear, provided you don't leave it laying in the weeds for six months!
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 26, 2015 - 03:40pm PT
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Have you tried Moab gear Trader, 435-355-0333 , to see of anyone has approached them with your stuff?
Were the authorities at all perturbed that you stashed gear on public lands?
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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 03:44pm PT
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If it was a place only a select few climbers would even venture to, I would doubt meth heads would(unless it was some tower out behind a secret meth kitchen on public land, I suppose....).
It would be great if it was washed down a ways as mentioned above.
My suggestion: Post the details on identifiers, as this would help someone who happenchanced upon the stuff(after it was swiped) to take notice.
One thing though, that surprises me, is how people think climbers don't steal from climbers, or that this is some new disturbing trend. There have always been selfish, nasty people out there and climbers have never been exempt from this category. If one would think "But they don't steal from CLIMBERS," well, then that is no better than an Honor Among Thieves concept.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Jan 26, 2015 - 04:25pm PT
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The thieves weren't hippies.
Most likely lawyers.
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coolrockclimberguy69
climber
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Jan 26, 2015 - 04:37pm PT
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Really bizarre to have a gear stash raided way out there.
Was any of the gear marked? Was there any "unique" items that would be easy to identify? I live in the area and will keep my eyes peeled.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jan 26, 2015 - 05:29pm PT
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Don't know the OP, but I call TROLL. Who leaves thousands of $$ worth of gear stashed for 6 months? Why didn't one of your partners recover it?
edit: V V okay, I jumped to a conclusion that is incorrect. Apologies and hope you get your gear back. That is a tough loss.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 26, 2015 - 05:32pm PT
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Not a troll. I got an email from Jeremy about this.
Leaving gear out too long, yes. Troll, no.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Jan 26, 2015 - 08:17pm PT
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Any stash - mountains, beach or whatever has never been secure.
You should know that.
It behooves the stasher to know the place, and people that frequent the place.
OP is wrong.
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Brosef
Big Wall climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 27, 2015 - 07:41am PT
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Thanks to those who provided constructive suggestions. No doubt that gear stashed can be stolen, just surprised that it would happen in a place where so few go, and how anyone that far back would knows what it took to get the gear back there.
And yes, we searched all the washes that it could have gone into, with a great deal of scrutiny.
Most of the iron had blue spray paint on it, as did many of the carabiners.
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this just in
climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
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Jan 27, 2015 - 08:04am PT
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That really sucks. I'm sure you guys are monitoring the local Craigslist. I don't see tweakers hiking out with the gear. They might have tried, got tired and buried it somewhere cause they got paranoid they heard something and someone was surely after them.
Cmon though with the "if you leave gear you're asking for it to get stolen" comments.
My guess is it was climbers. Or hippies, ha!
Hoping for the best.
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i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
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Jan 27, 2015 - 08:25am PT
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Utaho'?
Since this stuff could have been 'found' any time in the last 6mos I would suggest going back through old 'for sale' threads on mountainproject.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Jan 27, 2015 - 08:36am PT
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Hurts... As someone who has left gear stashed, I feel for you. I trust climbers, at least the generation of climbers I grew up with.
Sounds like a crew picked it up.... if you struggled to lug all that stuff way out there, it would be almost imposable for one person to find it and carry it out alone.
Welcome to climbing 2015.
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Jan 27, 2015 - 08:43am PT
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Wait. Are you saying this was Jeremy's stuff???
Have you checked with his Mom to see if she might have these keepsakes in her care?
And, will this now possibly bring him back to post here on ST?
Arne
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jan 27, 2015 - 09:21am PT
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That sux Joe. Sorry to hear about that.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Jan 27, 2015 - 09:36am PT
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No doubt that gear stashed can be stolen, just surprised that it would happen in a place where so few go
Long ago there was a feeling that you were sharing the Fisher Towers with a select few folks who were in on the same secret. Everyone would respect each other. Now there's so many people, that respect has gone.
Been leaving fixed ropes and stashed gear (usually up a climb, but for sure stashed on the ground also) for 25 years round there. Never once worried that the stuff would vanish, between weekend trips, or even when left longer, as it often was. Everyone else climbing there did the same.
Hope you recover the stuff.
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couchmaster
climber
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Jan 27, 2015 - 09:58am PT
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Joe if you have any photos post them up and share them as widely as possible as many places as possible. Blue has a lot of different meanings to differing folks, and a visual might make all the difference in a recovery. Best to you in getting your sh#t, which should have been left untouched, back. May the thieves burn in hell.
SOME BLUE HUES
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LearningTrad
Trad climber
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Jan 27, 2015 - 10:28am PT
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Jan 27, 2015 - 10:19am PT
Burch3y did it.
hOHhhhmann!!!!
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 27, 2015 - 01:31pm PT
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Brosef, a friend of mine said to be sure and check with Marshall at Moab Gear Traders.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Jan 27, 2015 - 01:58pm PT
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TRUE!!
I hope the fellas get their gear back.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jan 27, 2015 - 02:15pm PT
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The Fishers are actually very busy, and footprints can be visible for years in the desert. I'm not surprised your gear was found. Could have been anyone. Probably NOT climbers, IMO, but you never know. Good luck, sorry for the loss.
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Jan 27, 2015 - 02:43pm PT
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Ouch! Sorry for your loss. Did you erase your tracks so the perps could not follow them right to your gear?
Its been said by better men than I 'Anything worth doing is
worth over doing'.
Like concealing stuff, a'la breaking bad... digging a hole for however
many plastic barrels needed and bury 'em. And erase your tracks. A big sheet of card board waved at sandy soil adds that final touch of pristine
'no ones walked here look' after a careful brushing.
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Brosef
Big Wall climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 27, 2015 - 03:03pm PT
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Thanks again those who have taken the time to provide recommendations. Here are some photos. The sad thing is that the gear had become so "Fisher-ized" that any poor bastard buying it would be in for quite a shock. Plus, who ever stole the sleeping bag I had been using out there for years is one desperate soul, that was a funky bag.
To dave729. You are most certainly correct. The project didn't die, just hit a bit of a road bump. There are still few places that are as fun to climb.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Jan 27, 2015 - 04:30pm PT
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That gear is in better condition than some of our stashes in the sands. We usually bring an aerosol can of carb cleaner to get the sand out of the cams before climbing.
Am sure you considered it, but would second that notion of potential flash flood wrecking the cache. It has happened before in other places. The more likely explanation as you suggest is some form of lowlife, in which there are many in the climbing community and society as a whole.
Bummer about your gear. I forwarded Jeremy's letter on to a half dozen climber friends.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Jan 27, 2015 - 05:48pm PT
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Is it possible that the BLM cleaned you out?
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Jan 27, 2015 - 07:10pm PT
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This leads us to suspect that either ne'er-do-wells (ie, meth-heads, scavengers)
Initial suspicions are usually wrong . . . I doubt there are many hard core, off-trail hiking tweekers out there. They don't have the time and energy for such nonsense . . . they break into cars at the trailhead.
As for scavengers . . . pretty unlikely, unless your stash location sucked.
Which brings us to the question of why stash gear for such a long time at all in a frequently visited area? While I sympathize with you, I find your perspective somewhat naive.
Climbers would be the most likely suspects, but are there really such parasitic types out there?
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Jan 27, 2015 - 07:25pm PT
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Climbers would be the most likely suspects, but are there really such parasitic types out there?
Only if you open your eyes and look at the "climbing community" do you see parasites all around.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Jan 27, 2015 - 07:35pm PT
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That is pretty profound albatross . . . care to elaborate?
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rlf
Trad climber
Josh, CA
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Jan 27, 2015 - 07:49pm PT
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I have to agree with Kalimon. Stashing gear for this length of time and then crying foul when it disappears is the return of cause and effect.
Sorry you lost your gear, I hope you get it back. In the future plan your projects with a little more care.
Best of luck to you!
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