The Rule #44 - December/January 2011

“And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, / And threescore and twelve thousand beeves, / And threescore and one thousand asses, / And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.” (Numbers 31:32-35 KJV, The Bible)

That's right. The word “booty” is so old, it was used in the Bible. And not in reference to women, though you can see how it got there.

In modern times, the word booty has many meanings, and if you’re a climber, your thoughts won’t go first to stolen beeves (i.e., cattle) or even to a fly badonkadonk. Your eyes are probably lighting up right now with visions of dancing bail biners, lonely draws, wedged nuts, stuck cams, and even the occasional loose piton.

Part of the allure of booty is that it’s free. With just a little luck, and often a lot of elbow grease, these offerings from the great stone could hang from your rack to help you safely and inexpensively escape when you get in over your head on some old-school classic. Gear is expensive, and a little free gear never hurt anyone, right?

Unfortunately, it depends on the situation. Ethics and education vary, and the rules for what does and does not count as booty are not cut and dried. Even the do-unto-others rule does not seem to prevent the occasional loss of a rack of draws from a proj or the shoes you accidentally forgot to pack at the base of the crag. With this in mind, we devised a little table designed to help you make responsible decisions about the gear you decide to claim as your own.