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Leaving gear behind while summiting

Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby Moriarty » Mon May 23, 2022 4:29 pm

malrc wrote:Has anyone on here actually had stuff nabbed?


I've certainly read a message on social media from a chap whose rucksack was opened and the contents scattered, but as it was Glencoe and the valuables were still there it was almost certainly the local Ravens.

Personally, I've left gear in remote areas, but I'd always take time to conceal it. "Almost certainly safe" isn't quite reassuring enough for me.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby malky_c » Mon May 23, 2022 4:45 pm

I've left my stuff in all sorts of places without much concern. If I was on Ben Nevis or a similarly popular area then I'd probably hide it a little way off the beaten track. Usual risks around not being able to find it again have already been covered I see!
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby Fairweather Softie » Mon May 23, 2022 4:51 pm

Left my backpack at a bealach many times and to be fair always in the open
and obvious hoping that anyone who sees it could not mistake for suspicious!

Only time I've ever had problem was on way back down a lady asked if it was my bag, I said yes and she went onto describe things in my bag. Felt a bit violated that she had went through my bag but nothing was missing.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby jmarkb » Mon May 23, 2022 4:55 pm

It depends a bit where you are planning to stay/camp before and after you are climbing Ben Nevis. There are left luggage lockers at Fort William railway station, and there are a couple of left luggage service providers (Nannybag, Stasher) that seem to offer storage at shops/hotels in the town. There are two or three campsites in and around Fort William, where it would be fine to leave a tent.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby al78 » Mon May 23, 2022 6:13 pm

If you a doing the full round of the Fannichs, which have a ridge-like structure with some outlying summits, would you be happy leaving your gear at the cols to climb the outliers?
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby prog99 » Mon May 23, 2022 6:38 pm

al78 wrote:If you a doing the full round of the Fannichs, which have a ridge-like structure with some outlying summits, would you be happy leaving your gear at the cols to climb the outliers?

Yes and have done so.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby prog99 » Mon May 23, 2022 6:40 pm

Moriarty wrote:
malrc wrote:Has anyone on here actually had stuff nabbed?


I've certainly read a message on social media from a chap whose rucksack was opened and the contents scattered, but as it was Glencoe and the valuables were still there it was almost certainly the ravens

Yes , seen them do this.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby James Picksley » Tue May 24, 2022 5:36 pm

Agree with the comments on leaving certain bits of kit (tent, sleeping, etc) in remote areas if it's convenient based on route. But I have never and would never leave my rucksack anywhere. My personal opinion is that leaving your rucksack somewhere to summit is a wholly bad idea, for the reason of safety not theft, but I'm guessing from the thread to date that I'm in a minority of 1 :D
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby jmarkb » Tue May 24, 2022 5:58 pm

James Picksley wrote:My personal opinion is that leaving your rucksack somewhere to summit is a wholly bad idea, for the reason of safety not theft, but I'm guessing from the thread to date that I'm in a minority of 1


Like many other decisions we make in the outdoors, it is a question of assessing the risk involved and whether you think it is justified. I could imagine circumstances where it could actually increase your safety, e.g. if you are carrying a big heavy pack and the summit involves some hard scrambling.

The risk of not being able to re-find your gear is a real one, and can be mitigated by using a GPS waypoint that you can easily navigate back to.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby James Picksley » Tue May 24, 2022 6:26 pm

Like many other decisions we make in the outdoors, it is a question of assessing the risk involved and whether you think it is justified. I could imagine circumstances where it could actually increase your safety, e.g. if you are carrying a big heavy pack and the summit involves some hard scrambling.

The risk of not being able to re-find your gear is a real one, and can be mitigated by using a GPS waypoint that you can easily navigate back to.


I agree risk management is personal so I suspect we'll have from agree to disagree on this particular issue.

To reply specifically:
1) heavy rucksack + hard scrambling= bad planning/ route choice if you're not confident enough to do the scramble with the rucksack.

2) you're assuming you can get back to your rucksack to find it, which is my main point.

For me it's a hard and fast rule. There's enough risk to be found out there as it is, and our lives are spent mitigating it but not having your rucksack with you all the time seems a strange and pointless risk to take.

Cheers,

James.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby simon-b » Tue May 24, 2022 7:34 pm

James Picksley wrote:Agree with the comments on leaving certain bits of kit (tent, sleeping, etc) in remote areas if it's convenient based on route. But I have never and would never leave my rucksack anywhere. My personal opinion is that leaving your rucksack somewhere to summit is a wholly bad idea, for the reason of safety not theft, but I'm guessing from the thread to date that I'm in a minority of 1 :D

I do the same as you, James, when hillwalking on my own (unless it's a very short summit scramble like Helm Crag in the Lake District, and I imagine the Cobbler would be similar). On the other hand when scrambling or climbing with a professional guide, such as on the Skye Munros and on a course in the Lake Disrict, we have left our rucksacks behind for some out and back sections. So, in response to the OP's question, professionals often do this with their clients. Whether that might change if there's an increasing trend in stuff getting nicked I don't know.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby al78 » Tue May 24, 2022 8:26 pm

jmarkb wrote:
James Picksley wrote:My personal opinion is that leaving your rucksack somewhere to summit is a wholly bad idea, for the reason of safety not theft, but I'm guessing from the thread to date that I'm in a minority of 1


Like many other decisions we make in the outdoors, it is a question of assessing the risk involved and whether you think it is justified. I could imagine circumstances where it could actually increase your safety, e.g. if you are carrying a big heavy pack and the summit involves some hard scrambling.

The risk of not being able to re-find your gear is a real one, and can be mitigated by using a GPS waypoint that you can easily navigate back to.


It can also be mitigated by doing the route in beautiful clear blue skies with a huge anticyclone slap bang over the UK, which we all know happens so often when we go summit bagging in Scotland. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby Chris Henshall » Tue May 24, 2022 9:36 pm

For what it is worth (and I'm not sure it's worth a great deal) I've left my tent on all sorts of pitches in the Lakes and Snowdonia as well as in Scotland while I've headed off to climb hills and I've never yet had anything either interfered with or stolen; the same during occasional two night stays in bothies. I've also left my rucksack on innumerable cols while I've gone out to summits off a main ridge, etc. and, although I've occasionally been a bit anxious about finding it again, that's had more to do with navigating back to it in less than ideal conditions rather than with somebody making off with it.
While I'd probably think twice about, say, leaving a sack on the col between Maiden Moor and Cat Bells on a Bank Holiday Monday because someone might just make off with it, I think that most people in the hills are more honest than many might suppose. In fact, I'd reckon that the chances of a bag being made off with in some popular place is more likely to be the result of misplaced concern by some helpful individual deciding that the bag has been lost and needs to be taken down to the valley rather than anything malicious.
Still, maybe I've been lucky... or maybe my kit is so knackered and unsophisticated that no self respecting thief has ever bothered with it.
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby James Picksley » Tue May 24, 2022 9:46 pm

In reply to the previous two posters:

1) guides aren't always right. There are some notable examples that prove this. I would expect a guide to encourage clients to think about situations themselves and to question decisions. I think actual climbing in this context is a whole other discussion though which I'm not touching here.
2) not all accidents are caused by bad weather.

Anyway, I'm not here to change anyones mind. I'm just giving an alternative opinion to the thread concensus. One of the beauties of the mountains is we make our own decisions and manage our own perception of risk. I'll even help anyone who is in trouble and has no rucksack :wink:
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Re: Leaving gear behind while summiting

Postby simon-b » Tue May 24, 2022 10:50 pm

James Picksley wrote:In reply to the previous two posters:

1) guides aren't always right. There are some notable examples that prove this. I would expect a guide to encourage clients to think about situations themselves and to question decisions. I think actual climbing in this context is a whole other discussion though which I'm not touching here.
2) not all accidents are caused by bad weather.

Anyway, I'm not here to change anyones mind. I'm just giving an alternative opinion to the thread concensus. One of the beauties of the mountains is we make our own decisions and manage our own perception of risk. I'll even help anyone who is in trouble and has no rucksack :wink:


I agree guides are not always right. And it's true not all accidents happen in bad weather, and the unscrupulous are more likely to spot someone else's unattended rucksack in clear conditions!
But our guide on Skye was a real professional, well respected and had been used by numerous members of this site. Plus other well respected, competent guides on Skye do just the same with clients and their rucksacks.
Then again, as I've said, like you I always keep my rucksack with me or at least very close to hand on solo outings. So you're not in a minority of one, James :thumbup:
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