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I was curious to see what others on this forum thought about this whole topic of rocking packs. Like many of you, I have been both the victim and the perpetrator of this prank. But with age I am beginning to have less and less appreciation for the humor of it. After recently undergoing hernia surgery, I am wondering about the wisdom of doing such things to our fellow cavers. Some of our fellows may have undisclosed health issues, such as a hernia, that could be seriously aggravated by the addition of a few extra pounds in their pack. Am I just being an old humorless fuddy-duddy, or is this a valid concern? The same goes for other pranks that cavers pull on each other. What do ya'll think?

Trogman

Under the right circumstances, I'll do it. My goal is usually to use it as an ice-breaker rather than malice. It's more fun to "rock" packs other things that are useless in a cave like staplers, owners manuals or CD's.

Also, stay off my lawn.

Moderator, I need to know who casts which vote, so I know who to keep an eye on when I go caving with these folks.

Trogman

Last year we did fantastic and I used 2 packs as a weight to lower the rope down through my rack, through a pully at the anchor for a clean drop. When he got to the bottom he didnt want to climb all 586' back up with it so he clipped it to the rope and said "Ill pull the rope up".

AFter he started climbing we put 10 pounds of rocks and all of the trash we could find at the bottom of the pit..................

His arms were shot by time he had the rope pulled up to the top. ;)

Best done with a can of beer....

- Want a beer?

- You gonna call room service?

We got beer.

If you hauled beer up this rock, you're insane.

I may be insane, but I'm not stupid.

I didn't carry it, you did it. It's in your pack.

Jesus Christ! I ought to throw you off this pillar.

- Besides, it's warm.

- I'm sorry. I'd thought you'd draw the line at hauling ice.

(from the eiger Sanction)

In all my years of caving I've never been "rocked" or have done it to anyone else. I've never heard of anyone I cave with doing it or receiving it either. I've heard people who cave in TAG have to put up with this crap. I've never caved in TAG so maybe that's why it hasn't happened? I don't think I'd much like that if someone did it to me. LOL, seems 5th grade to me.

Throwing balls of mud at each other in the cave is 5th grade too but it happens ;) My pack was rocked as i started caving, In missouri ;)

I got my pack rocked... funny thing is that I didn't know it until I got home and unpacked it.
This particular cave is in dolomite, yet has these pockets of some sort of calcite type rock that what would normally be a 20-30 pounder would only weigh about 2 lbs. You can pick up this huge rock effortlessly. That is what they rocked it with, and I guess they kept waiting and waiting for a reaction from me which never came. I'm not naming any names but his first initials are ET

Next, there is a joker, who is well known around these parts as Cupcake. He likes to carry a rubber snake with him to scare the unsuspecting with. On the outside of a cave though, you have to be careful because it might just be a real snake this time.

I'm a geologist and get distracted/fascinated by weird rocks. Whereas I abide by the "never remove anything from a cave" etiquette, rarely I will take a piece of breakdown to thin section (to look at under a petrographic microscope). The first time I did this, I slipped a rock a bit larger than my hand into my pack and thought nothing of it. During a rest stop on the recreational trip that I was on, my fellow cavers started talking about "rocking packs." I confessed that I had rocked my own pack and they all looked at me with furrowed eyebrows.

I'll rock somebody's pack if they leave it behind when they shouldn't have. Don't leave your pack behind, you never know when there will be an emergency and you need it. I learned my lesson the hard way so I'll gladly pass it along to the next person.

My friend's son got his helmet rocked when we were hiking up Little Coon yesterday. He got all the way to the top and then figured it out hahaha. It was pretty funny

DawgsgoCaving wrote:My friend's son got his helmet rocked when we were hiking up Little Coon yesterday. He got all the way to the top and then figured it out hahaha. It was pretty funny

Helmet rocked??? I've never heard of that. I wonder who could've done that to him? I think I know who I need to watch out for now.

KeyserSoze wrote:I'll rock somebody's pack if they leave it behind when they shouldn't have. Don't leave your pack behind, you never know when there will be an emergency and you need it. I learned my lesson the hard way so I'll gladly pass it along to the next person.

So the way you see it, you're doing them a favor by teaching them a valuable lesson, huh?

I remember a guy in college who left his FB page open on a comp in the previous class. When I discovered it, I was SO tempted to change his profile to say he was gay. That would've taught him a lesson, for sure. But I was nice, and just told him about it later. I guess if I'd have done it the other way it would have made a more lasting impression.

Trogman

I once rocked Mikie's mini mag on his helmet. Mikie does hold the record for rocking the most people on one trip, around these parts. He was the patient in a CCRN rescue training scenario in Glenwood. He rocked his own pack knowing the rescue party would have to haul it out. Being very heavy.....a lot of people helped haul it out.

I think this is rather interesting, Al copley 20845

caverdan wrote:He was the patient in a CCRN rescue training scenario in Glenwood. Re rocked his own pack knowing the rescue party would have to haul it out. Being very heavy.....a lot of people helped haul it out.

That's pretty clever. I may have to borrow that idea haha