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trad gear = booty. swiping sport draws is plain tacky. why don't you take the hangers, chain, and cleaning biners off routes too while you're at it, eh? oh wait, guess some folks have already got that covered.

cleaning biners get swiped all the time...

and why is a bail cam booty but a bail draw is not ? is this another one of those funky "rules" that climbers make up..?

Ok, I'll bite... it's a philosophical difference really: crap is supposed to be hanging all over a sport route, so another draw or two just makes the rig that much more convenient to lead & clean...of central value to "snapshackling" (in the British vernacular). A piece of gear in the middle of a trad route, on the other hand, is abnormal and most often signifies a previous party lacked adequate cleaning skills or a nut tool, so the bootier must earn his plunder. Any ol' fool can unclip a biner from a hanger, so the concept of "booty" loses all meaning in the context of swiping draws from a sport route...it's just a tasteless transgression, rather than a proud pillaging.

An obvious bail anchor on a trad route, well...admittedly that's kind of a "ghrey" area. In my younger, less scrupulous days, I once bootied 2 big brand new BD cams, 2 perfect slings, and multiple shiny biners before the committing squeeze of a notorious offwidth in Yosemite and hid from the victims for weeks afterwards, scuffing up the shiny 5 & 6 on all the best valley OW's before giving into conscience! But I have since recanted the shameless, swarthy ways of the ruthless buccaneer... Two years ago we bootied bail anchors almost all the way up the DNB on Middle Cathedral and then returned all the treasure to their rightful owner...admittedly, she was kinda cute tho

When you bolt a route it becomes "public domain". You can't lay claim to the gear anymore than the next guy. When your anchors get swiped its lame, but you gave up the gear for the route and its no longer yours. You can kick the ass of the gimp who took it but thats a whole other matter. As far as draws or bailers being on a route, if you don't take it with you then it also becomes public domain. If its there when you get back to it then thats great but it should be viewed as more of an exception than a rule.

As far as as to booty or not to booty. That is the question.

"swarthy" means dark-skinned

Does that mean he likes fat white girls?