High-altitude theft

[MariaD]

Not sure if anyone's seen this - it's pretty shocking:

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08s/wfeature-high-crimes-kodas

I can't imagine how anyone could do stuff like this, particularly in such serious circumstances. My experience of climbers has always been that they're a pretty honest bunch (on several occasions people behind me on multi-pitch routes have gone out of their way to return dropped gear etc.), but obviously that's not always the case.

[ishepster]

That's bloody horrific. If you saw it in a fictional move you'd think they'd taken it too far.

[clunk]

words fail me

[Malcolm L]

Just unbelievably disgusting.

[Ant]

This just supports my hatred for most of humanity (goxplore members excluded of course as I know you are decent people and would help others)

[Ollie]

It's a real shame that this sort of problem exists. I'm not sure if I want to believe that the people causing this are aware of the danger they're putting people in - if they are, then it's a sad state of affairs. Not that it's much better if they're not! :(

[MariaD]

I'm not how you could not be aware of the danger. To get to high camps like that, you need to be some form of mountaineer (even if only a very incompetent one on a guided expedition). Any mountaineer would know that being without essential gear like warm clothing & crampons can kill.

[Marmot]

I think if youre ever in that situation, youre going to be a very single minded determined person, and i guess you go to extraordinary lengths to acheive your goal, even by doing stuff you wouldnt normally do at lower levels.
or the alternative is that the mountain is so covered in trash and forgotten gear anyway that people might just pick up stuff thinking that it have been from a long gone expedition

[MariaD]

You reckon? A tent that has been left there for a few months would be shredded, crampons that had been abandoned would be rusted up. I don't think there's any way they could not have known what they were doing.

I don't think there's any excuse - not everyone who goes into that environment steals & walks over dying people to get to the summit, so it's clearly not a prerequisite.

[ishepster]

If there was any possibility that the gear has been left behind then there is even more of a chance it was left for a reason. Everybody climbing there knows that it is done in stages and everybody knows the importance of equipment being where it was left.

The thieving is disgusting but it was the ignoring people in need bit that shocked me the most.

[guru]

I second that!!
I'm nowhere near a Everest climbing level but that kinda puts me off the idea anyway!!

[guru]

Has stuff like that ever happened to anyone here? In the alps prehaps? Or site thefts in the UK?

[MariaD]

Not me - I've always happily left my rucksack lying around with no incidents at all, although I wouldn't usually move too far away from it if there are loads of people around.