Help Anna and Molly Repair their Stolen Dream

These are crazy times. We have been asked to leave small communities. We have been asked not to visit our friends. We have been asked not to leave our homes. We have been asked not to climb. The whole world is shutting down and there are no clues as to when it will stop. More than two years ago Molly Fondelius and I (Anna von der Marwitz) were sitting on a beach in Lofoten, Norway, staring out into the Fjord in front of us. We had just climbed Vestpillaren on Presten, an ultra-classic 12 pitch route and were feeling on top of the world. Mountains, wilderness, endless granite. This is what life is about, we agreed. We started coming to Norway together to climb during the summers a couple of years earlier and our climbing partership had developed into one of the most important and constant things in my life. I looked forward to our adventures all year. This year was different though. I knew that this was more important to me than a single trip during the summer. I lived and breathed climbing, and when I wasn't climbing, I was thinking about it. I was dreaming about it. Always planning my next trip. And this year I had a big plan in my mind. I had been thinking about it for some time, but never managed to say it out loud, at least not until I was sitting there with Molly. I told her that I wanted to quit my job, travel to the US and spend a year focusing on climbing. I had been dreaming about so many climbs but never felt like I had had time to pursue them. I didn't know much about what I wanted in life, but I knew I wanted this. I asked Molly if she would come with me. Many people would hesitate. Say that they wish they could, but the timing wasn't right. They couldn't afford it right now. It wasn't part of their plan. But not Molly. A big dreamer and just as restless as me, all she said was 'When are we leaving?'.   Just over a year later, in October 2019, we met in Yosemite Valley to finally start our year of adventure together. I had arrived in the US a couple of months earlier and and climbed my way through Wyoming and the High Sierras, and now my partner had finally arrived. We threw all of our gear into my small 1998 Nissan Maxima, our home for the next year, and hit the road. We climbed El Cap, a dream we didn't think was possible, and over the next months we climbed our way through Indian Creek, Castle Valley, Cochise Stronghold, Sedona, The Superstitions, Jacks Canyon, Red Rock Canyon and Joshua Tree. We were living the dream and couldn't believe how lucky we were to climb so many amazing things and meet so many amazing people. At the beginning of March 2020, after 5 months on the road together, Molly and I were parting ways. She was going to spend a month hiking her way through Patagonia, while I was going to drive to Moab and climb some towers. A couple days after arriving in Moab, the COVID-19 virus really started to impact us. Everything was shutting down and they were asking all non-locals to leave. I was on the phone with Molly daily. She had come back from an 8 day hike to a completely different world in Chile. She was stuck in the town of Puerto Natales with pretty much nowhere to go. Ferries were being canceled, flights were delayed and the whole country seemed to be shutting down. Soon she wouldn't be able to leave, so she decided to book a flight as soon as she could back to the US. I decided that the responsible thing to do in this crisis was to leave Moab and find somewhere to lay low for a while. I drove to Salt Lake City to stay with some friends, and Molly managed to book a flight there. I drove to pick her up at the airport. Finally reunited. At least we were together again in this big mess. We drove to our friend's house, parked our car and went inside. Tired from the travel and stress, we left all of our gear in the car. We'll deal with it in the morning, we thought.   The next day we woke up after a much needed night of sleep in a real bed. I stepped outside to get something from the car. I felt confused. Where was the car? Had someone moved it? I felt a shiver run down my spine. The car was gone. I yelled into the house, 'Oh my god, the car is gone!'. We were all in disbelief. How could this happen? We called 911, and this nightmare began.   About a day later, our car was found parked in a Walmart parking lot 30 minutes away. Unfortunately, everything that was in the car - our climbing gear, our camping gear, our clothes, our electronics, pretty much our entire lives, including my wallet, drivers license and passport - was gone. We lost gear worth a total of almost $18,000. We have filed claims with our insurance companies, and unfortunately I will not be getting any money back. Molly is still in the process of doing this, and will hopefully get something back, but right now we are unsure how much. We only have liability insurance on the car, and that will not cover anything stolen from the car.   This loss has completely devastated us. It has taken over 10 years to accumulate this amount of gear, and it will be impossible to replace everything at once. It took over 4 years to save up for this trip, and without any money from our insurance companies it will be impossible to continue. We have lost everything, and even if climbing is not on the table now, this impacts the entire future of our climbing. Needless to say we are lost.  We are therefore asking you for your help. Any donation you can make to help us is appreciated more than words can say. We are so moved and endlessly grateful to the entire climbing community that has already reached out and everyone that has been willing to help. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all. Anna and Molly, Sweden