[petejh]

I thought I'd share this as it's up there with some of the weirdest things to have happened to me whilst out 'cragging'. -
My partner for today had to bail so I decided to go to Castell y Gwynt (on the Orme) by myself, to do some re-bolting on a couple of routes. I set up an ab rope at the top of the cliff and abbed to the lip to see if I was in the right place. It's an incredibly exposed place sitting as it does above another cliff and the sea below that; in the back of my mind was the knowledge that the rope I was hanging on had been used on a demolition job in the chemical site where I worked the previous week and it may have come into contact with a small amount of sulphuric acid ... I know. I came back up to get ready and I then realised I'd forgotten the drill bit. Idiot! Oh well I only live 10 minutes away, so I left everything at the top of the Gwynt, including a brand new 36V drill, harness, rack, and other assorted hardware etc etc - after all it's a secluded spot on the edge of one of the quietest cliffs in the country. I walked back up to the car and drove home to get the drill bit.
On my return, about 30 minutes later, I scrambled down to the top of the cliff... to discover my ab rope had disappeared. Everything else - drill, rack etc, was still sitting right there next to the abb anchor just like I'd left it. The ab anchor was still there - two slings and biners, the only thing missing was the rope... There was no-one to be seen.  If it was a thief then what sort of thief would take a static rope and leave the brand new 36V battery drill (worth over £400) and rack sitting right next to it? I admit to questioning my own sanity for a brief moment and wondering if I had just imagined setting up a rope and abbing to the lip earlier on! The next thought was the rope really was contaminated with acid and had snapped just after I'd left (and just after I'd been hanging on it 150 metres above the sea), but on searching the bottom of the cliff, and looking down at the beach even further below again, there was no sign of any rope.
Anyone who knows the Gwynt well will know how incredibly unlikely it would be for someone to go there and nick something, let alone to scramble down to the ab points at the top of the cliff and nick a rope, but leave a £400 drill and rack.
It's got me stumped. 

[north_country_boy]

Divine intervention?

[tomtom]

Did someone just untie it and throw it down? Sounds weird....

[petejh]

Did someone just untie it and throw it down? Sounds weird....

Nope, no rope at the bottom of the cliff. To put it in context, hardly anyone ever climbs on the Gwynt, and even fewer people ever go to the top where the abb points are (the usual approach is down a descent gully to the side, the top of the cliff is a slightly inaccessible part of a very quiet area). Maybe midsummer it'll get the odd visit. You could spend weeks there and not meet a soul.

(It should get loads more traffic because the routes are utterly brilliant)

[SA Chris]

Bizarre. Was the rope doubled over or tied off? If it was just doubled over it could have slipped through and got caught in the wing and blown out to sea. Unlikely I'll admit, but "when you dismiss the impossible that what remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth". (Sherlock).

Have you contacted CSI Conwy?

[lagerstarfish]

Fulmars

[petejh]

It was tied-off single. The only explanation I can think of is somebody took it, in the half hour window I was away, and left the 5 - 600 pounds worth of stuff sitting next to it. It's not as if they could have seen me coming and sneaked away unseen, the cliff top is a promontory with one way in and out.

[SA Chris]

In that case I'm sorry I've wasted your time.

Just one more thing....



Were any of your mates around who might have taken it for shits and giggles?

[Doylo]

Time to call the men in white coats, all that time sat in front of the computer screen has finally sent Pete crackers

[chummer]

What Doylo said!


Otherwise, have you contacted the RSPB, maybe a twitcher may have taken the rope thinking you were going to disturb the birds (Doylo's always doing it..) so maybe just took the rope away to prevent this? Was your climbing and drilling kit stashed away from the rope?

[petejh]

Drill, rack, jacket, bolts, rucksac, and other stuff including my massive gourmet lunch (boost bar) were all right next to the rope.  I think it must have been somebody from the lighthouse - Lee said he once got shouted at by the lighthouse bloke because he was concerned about the birds. I'll go and knock at the lighthouse and ask them.

[H-Unit]

Goats have eaten it

[Paul B]

I just returned a rope some idiots (Uni group) left at Stanage. I guessed they'd be at North Lees so drove down and dropped it off. They barely said thanks (shame this one hadn't been near any acid).

[slackline]

Don't bother guessing next time!

[RAK Punter]

Maybe that small amount of sulphuric acid just did its thing and consumed the rope while you were away..... ok, maybe not.

[ducko]

I'd say someones taken it who thought you were out stealing gull eggs, Now if you were stealing gull eggs I fully support you as I hate the fookers!