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ok, i went to the gorge monday and after goofing off at military for a while, I got into a screaming match w/ my partner over weather or not it's ok to swipe draws left on a route. There were two routes up with draws on every bolt. He seems to think they are fair game if there is nobody around, but i think the only way to take gear left out is if someone has left a single draw behind, or a biner, becuase they had to bail. I pointed out to him that it was probly a redpiont someone was coming back to finish. I think if he had to buy his own draws he might understand. Dont worry i wont let him touch your gear
But if you bail off something and leave a biner/draw/or webbing on a single bolt, would anyone agree that's loot, or just leave that too. after all I hate looking at a wall and seeing slings/biners hanging all over the place. Especially how it looks to non climbers. It gives us a bad name to leave shit all over the wall. What do you think, is it ok to swipe single pieces of gear left behind?

Well, I think that if it is one piece then it is "booty" and is fair game. Anything more than that and you are stealing someone elses gear.

Obviously, a route full of draws should be left alone (smack your 'partner' for all of us, just to be sure (s)he gets the point). Regarding single biners/quicklinks/slings - sometimes these are bail remnants, but sometimes they are needed for lowering off longer routes. Ratty wads of slings or even random single slings can be an eyesore, but be sure that you know the route well enough to know wether that stuff is necessary or can be 'cleaned up'.

Yep, one piece = booty, route full of draws = project

Mj

Same type of situation happened to me once. I was climbing at torrent falls when someone came up to me that I didn't know and said, "Hey Dude, Someone left draws on this route over here, and I am going to rappel down and take them." I had to explain to them that is stealing. It was a long arguement, but I finally convinced them it was wrong, and what the ethics are.

The thing is that people don't consider how they would feel if the situation were reversed. I am sure the people who would rap down and take all the gear are the same ones who would bitch if they left their draws up on a project and had them stolen.

On super steep climbs people leave single biners for cleaning purposes. The Mule and Twinkie often have them and then they get taken. A biner on the first bolt of the roof on Twinkie lets the climber/cleaner modify that huge back and forth cleaning epic.

As a personal rule of thumb, I never take gear off a route. Booty, to me anyway, is gear lost on the ground or on a multipitch belay ledge. This method keeps my concious clear and prevents others from pointing the finger at me. I figure as much as gear costs, you should get in the habit of tracking your inventory.

Damn, no wonder I lost all my draws. I kept leaving a draw on the second bolt of Face Up to that Crack 'cause I was working for the redpoint. Time after time I would come back to send that route and my draw would be missing. If only I had left a draw on every bolt.