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“Addictions can be very, very bad but addiction itself is not bad.
It’s a case of what you’re addicted to.
You better live each day like it’s your last, ‘cos one day you’re going to be right”.
Ray Charles.
Link tip a friend
- Five and Dime cliff, Yosemite. Photo Phil Bard
Very bad news to resume things; American climber John Bachar died climbing on the 5th of July. It is not an over assessment to say that he was not only at the pinnacle of the sport on a global stage in the late 70’s and 80’s but took his particular speciality of free soloing to places that others could only dream of and thus he pioneered what has come afterwards in terms of standards.
Even if you’re not a climber, what this guy did is worth reading about him, as his achievements stand as testament to how fallacious the statement “No-one’s ever gunna do that” can often be. Have a look at some of the shots of him, especially climbing without a rope and wearing the breakthrough boots of the early 80’s, the Boreal Fires.
By today’s standard they are the equivalent of wearing fishing waders but something that has always stood out is his expression of impassivity and calm. You could imagine rapping down a route to find him quietly doing his thing, you turn and think “Fuck me, that’s Bachar with just some shorts, shoes and chalk wayyyyy up here”. And then, he’d quietly motor on, as he’d been doing for years and years.
He created some controversy regarding his ethical stand point on how protection should be placed and raised some hackles at the time but if you’re interested in seeing the esteem he was held in across the climbing world, visit any climbing forum which mentions his passing and you’ll see respect and sadness that someone who had climbed literally tens of thousands of metres has hopefully moved on the crag where there’s no such thing as a ground fall.
A major figure and a good guy …..
John Bachar, a legendary figure in climbing and for who many felt was the greatest American rock climber of his generation, died on Sunday the 5th of July 2009 after a fall near his home in Mammoth Lakes, Calif.
He died after falling while free soloing on Dike Wall; nearby climbers heard the fall, quickly reached him where he was then taken to the nearby hospital but he died soon afterwards from severe injuries.
- Fingertips, Tuolumne Meadows. Photo Phil Bard
Bachar, was born in Los Angeles in 1957 and went to UCLA where his father was a professor of mathematics and John became famous for his exploits as a free-soloist.
In fact he dropped out of UCLA and immersed himself in learning about physical training and nutrition, background that would serve him well in later years.
- Bachar's Revenge 5.9, Tuolumne Meadows. Photo Christian Pondella.
In the early 70’s climber John Long and who shared his interest in physical training convinced Bachar to try free soloing, starting with the classic Joshua Tree route Double Cross (5.7).
Bachar was soon on the Yosemite scene with his free solo ascents of the now super-classics New Dimensions 5.11a, Waverly Wafer 5.10c, Wheat Thin 5.10b, Butterballs 5.11c and Butterfingers 5.11a and as testament to his fitness regime, his campsite at Camp 4 was filled with exercise equipment, including the hanging ladders called Bachar ladders.
- Bachar on the Yosemite classic Midnight Lightning V8. Photo by Phil Bard.
At his peak JB was able to perform a one arm pull up with more that 10 lbs of weight attached.
In 1981 he posted a note promising a "$10,000 reward for anyone who can follow me for one full day." and extremely, reasonably no-one took the challenge.
In the same year he put up Bachar-Yerian 5.11c in Tuolumne with Dave Yerian, graded 5.11c R/X, this was a landmark route and is widely respected as still defining boldness and traditional climbing nearly 3 decades after it was first established.
- New millenium, still cranking and still a light rack.
The 500 foot face climb is protected by 13 bolts, each drilled either from a stance or while hanging from a hook and as evidence of his position on ethical bolting, he was constantly a vocal critic of climbing tactics such as bolting by abseil, which came into vogue during the 1980s.
Phil Bard, major figure in Yosemite climbing in the 70’s and 80’s remembers when Bachar routinely scaled 5.10 and 5.11’s.
"It was always breathtaking to see John gliding effortlessly upward on tiny knobs or with only the first knuckles of his fingers in a crack 100 feet off the ground. It took superior training and complete control over his mind-set to accomplish what he did, and in a way it is only a climber that can truly understand what he represented to the sport."
Bachar repeatedly acknowledged the danger of climbing without rope, once described the feeling as addictive and like that of flying or being on another planet.
- On The Lamb 5.9 Tuolumne Meadows. Photo Phil Bard
In 1986, Bachar and Peter Croft made a link up of El Capitan and Half Dome, climbing a vertical mile in under 14 hours and in the 1990s, Bachar free soloed Enterprise 5.12b in the Owens River Gorge and The Gift 5.12c at Red Rocks.
Incredibly Bachar's most serious injury occurred during an automobile accident in 2006, while driving home from the Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City. He suffered five fractured vertebrae and did not recover full mobility.
- Totally classic late 70's Yosemite top out shot, JB, Mike Graham, Ron Kauk. Photo Mike Graham
- New Dimensions , Yosemite. Photo Phil Bard
JB was single and his survivors include a son.
Have a look here at him from about ’83 absolutely walking the most famous boulder problem in the world Midnight Lightning and the route Crack A Go Go, just a joy to watch ……
- JB plus vin and looking content.
