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Gear left behind...

Philpug

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We all have the brainfart moments and left gear behind. What are some of your casualties of stupidness?

Oakley Factory Pilots.
I was going up the North Face lift at Montage and I hung my Factory Pilots on my zipper of my jacket. I turned to my buddy and said "Sure as $hit, I am going to take my skis off and bend down to pick them up, the glasses will fall off and I will leave them on the ground" and that is exactly what happened. Gone.

Marker Spring Gloves.
Hunter, went to the restroom, and left them there. Went back after 5 minutes. Gone.
 

KevinF

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I had brought my own skis to Stowe one time, locked them to the rack by the base lodge and then headed up to the Stowe Demo Center and skied their skis all day. Totally forgot about my skis sitting on the rack, drove back to where I was staying (somewhere in town...), had dinner, slept, woke up in the morning and had a total panic attack when I realized my skis weren't in my room and they weren't in the car either.

That's when I remembered "oh yeah....". I figured they were gone, but the Gods were smiling upon me. Skis were right where I had left 'em. :thumb:
 

SKI-3PO

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ArcTeryx snow pants - Mansfield base lodge table following Stowe ESA. I think that was the year we got snowed in Sunday night, came back Monday - no snowpants and most lifts were on windhold first thing. Not much motivation to stay at that point.
 

SKI-3PO

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Not gear related but had an A-Basin+ pass fall off my jacket on a windy day on the lift at Breck. Breck couldn't do much about it given that it was an A-Basin pass. Skied under the lift a couple times and actually found it. Think I was with @KingGrump that day.
 

KevinF

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Not gear related but had an A-Basin+ pass fall off my jacket on a windy day on the lift at Breck. Breck couldn't do much about it given that it was an A-Basin pass. Skied under the lift a couple times and actually found it. Think I was with @KingGrump that day.

Between the pants you left behind in the lodge and the binding you left behind on Liftline trail, you've made all kinds of sacrifices to the Mansfield Gods, haven't you?
 

SKI-3PO

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Hopefully I can get up there soon and cash in on some of that goodwill.
 
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Philpug

Philpug

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Between the pants you left behind in the lodge and the binding you left behind on Liftline trail, you've made all kinds of sacrifices to the Mansfield Gods, haven't you?

As are you..I recall you snapping a ski on Goat.
 

SkiNurse

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Brand new helmet (6 hours old), 2 week old Smith IO goggles and Black Diamond Patrol gloves at the Vail transport center. Ugh.
 

mdf

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Walking through the Killington parking lot carrying too much stuff. Dropped my goggles. Oh, I'll put the rest of my stuff down at the car and come pick them up. Yep, gone.
 

UGASkiDawg

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I lost a pair of San Marco gel injected boots that were 2 weeks old. It was the spring of 1995 and i was beaching at the Basin and lost track of my whereabouts. When I finally remembered where (and who:eek:) I was the next day the boots were gone but all the rest of my gear made it home with me:huh:
 

mdf

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One of the first times I went skiing besides those bus trips I borrowed mittens from another guy in my dorm. When we loaded up the car I Ieft them on the roof. Remembered about 20 miles later.

On the other hand, one time on a business field trip we rented a Ford Excursion (the giant one they don't make anymore) because we were hauling a lot of equipment to set up in the middle of nowhere. Heading back I left some equipment sitting on the bumper ledge next to the liftgate. A hundred miles later in the motel parking lot it was still there.
 

KingGrump

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Not gear related but had an A-Basin+ pass fall off my jacket on a windy day on the lift at Breck. Breck couldn't do much about it given that it was an A-Basin pass. Skied under the lift a couple times and actually found it. Think I was with @KingGrump that day.

Yup, it was right after the 2011 gathering.
 

Tricia

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What if someone else left behind some gear that you ended up keeping?

I was at Stowe - maybe 2008? - found some Kerma poles in the parking lot that someone had probably left beside their car. I went to the lost and found desk. Gave a description of the poles an day contact info with instructions that I would happily send poles back to owner at my own expense if they came asking for them. They never did, so I kept the poles and continue to use them.
 

bbinder

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I left behind a contact lens that popped out my eye while getting on the lift at the base of Waterville Valley in 1977. Still haven't found it.
 

fatbob

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Brand new pair of White Euro Socks at the Sofitel Milan. Found way more stuff than I've lost over the years most of it filed in the potentially useful junk* cupboard


*never actually used
 

Prickly Jones

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There was a thread here about close calls, I think; I didn't read it out of superstition, I guess. But it got me thinking. I have a "gear left behind" story for each of my closest calls, and it's even the same piece of gear.

Once I was skiing on our lower mountain on a powder day and got cliffed out. I was trapped, walking back out was impossible. The cliff looked jumpable. Maybe not by me, but jumpable. So I decided to sort of hip-check it, slide over and half-jump. I'd seen it done. What I didn't realize is that you have to keep your skis up in these situations; one of mine caught in the snow, forcing me to stand up and go over the cliff backwards. I hit the soft snow hard, rag-dolled a couple of times and came to a stop hard, back against a tree trunk. I was scratched up a bit, but OK. I got my shit together, then looked up the cliff, and one of my poles was up there (I at least hadn't strapped on). I came back later with some rope, a probe, kept returning those next few days, but I couldn't reach it. That pole stayed there most of the season, taunting me, reminding me of my folly. I went back the next autumn before the snow came, but it was gone. Nice pole, too. Head carbon.

Another time, our signature offpiste area was closed due to lack of snow, especially near the bottom. It was index 1 or maybe 2 that day. Word was, you couldn't ski through the narrowest part as there was no cover. But a friend and I asked mountain management if we could ski the top part, then skin back up when we reached the unpassable section, and they said sure. We skied it, and it was in fact passable, we made it easily through the narrowest part. It was good enough that we decided to go for another lap. Near the top section, my friend skied ahead. We were in an offpiste section, within view of marked trails, that's skied hundreds, thousands of times a year, by intermediates, kids, ski classes. There was almost no snow. But it slid. A lot. I was on a big block, bigger than me, and it was taking me away; ahead, I could see my friend's head bobbing among huge slabs. I remembered my (limited) training: I threw away my poles, tried to stay upright, and focused on visuals to try and save my friend. It was all over in seconds. I never lost sight of him, though he was buried to the waist. I skied down to him and helped him dig out. One of my poles (new Black Diamond alu/carbons) had made the trip with me, the other was up on a pile of rubble above me. I didn't go back for it, and never saw it again.
 

Lorenzzo

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Let's see...lost a bottle of scotch. It was on a bus trip from San Diego to Mammoth with a bunch of friends, like 40 of them. It just slipped out of my hand when someone bumped into me. Nice thing is I had another.

I lost a gf.... Mammoth...18 inches overnight...I was supposed to teach her to ski but instead left for first run and told her to take a shuttle and get a lesson. Geez...I would have paid for it. Can't have everything.
 

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