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John Bachar 1957 - 2009 (Read 25821 times)

Fiend

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#25 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 12:47:52 pm
That Supertopo thread is great, the route sounds amazing, really gets the syke going.

Quite a few of these career soloists seem to die soloing, in the end :S

dave

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#26 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 01:04:48 pm
Eek! wouldn't fancy rope soloing BY!

you've lead it normally right (if i recal correctly) - whats it like, is it the headfuck everyone makes out or is it just the yanks being soft? ;)

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#27 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 01:55:57 pm
whats it like, is it the headfuck everyone makes out or is it just the yanks being soft? ;)

This route has such a massive aura about it in the states (probably still has). I did it when I was 18 and let's say, not afraid of a run out - I'm not sure it would feel the same now  :-\  At the time it felt like E6 6a. The hardest move is by a bolt on the first pitch, then a big runout. The 2nd pitch is well out there and has a tricky move 20ft? above the bolt.  I tried larks footing some of the chicken heads, but generally, these fell off or made holding the chicken heads scary.  I think there are about 4 or 5 bolts in that pitch and it's a long pitch. Mega - never really pumpy, but steep and hard to work out where to go. The 3rd pitch is 10c, but feels like E5. Since then I know a couple of people who've done it - I heard Birkett thought it felt like E7 and Sellers thought E5. It's up there with Serpentine as probably the best route I've done outside of the UK.

Bonjoy

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#28 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 02:05:04 pm
I think Andy also said it felt E6 6a

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#29 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 02:16:07 pm
onsight soloing Moratorium in Yosemite seems totally amazing to me. so much confidence in his ability, totally wild actually when you think about it.

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#30 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 02:45:10 pm
Reading the thread, I was estimating the route at E6 6a equivalent.  :)

Adam Lincoln

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#31 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 03:15:26 pm
George Ullich (From the Lakes) did it without the bolts didn't he? Suggesting E8?

dave

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#32 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 03:21:57 pm
don't think he did it without bolts. didn't be clip one bolt when gripped at the top, and used all the bolt belays?

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#33 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 03:22:58 pm

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#34 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 03:32:18 pm
Brilliant... another grade debate   ;)

Neil F

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#35 John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 04:57:34 pm
I'm really shocked and saddened by Bachar's death.  There's a lot of moving stuff on Supertopo, including a thread started by JB's young (11?) son on the day he died. Really tugs at the heartstrings, that one...

But I suppose the most remarkable thing is that JB lasted as long as he did, given that prolific soloists tend to go the same way - the odds are simply against their survival if they keep doing it, or so history would indicate.  But Bachar's record is quite remarkable, in prolificacy and duration, and shows just how sorted his head must have been.

One thing which I find really worrying about today's exponents of the art, is just how many have a camera crew or stills guy in attendance as they play Russian Roulette.  The shots of Honnold on Moonlight Buttress or some of Dean Potter's recent stuff may be spectacular, but they really make me feel uncomfortable too.  When you start to do things like this because career or profile depends on it, then I think you have probably crossed a very dangerous invisible line...

Bachar may have been photo'd soloing lots of routes over the years, but you got the impression that these were a mere fraction of what he did, and he was still soloing for his own enjoyment and thrills.  I'm certain that was his motivation at Dike Wall last fateful Sunday.

I tried larks footing some of the chicken heads....

That tickled me Tom, and it made me think of a classic old Alan James cartoon featuring Johnny Dawes:-

TB - "I larksfooted a chickenhead..."

JD - "I spragged a quark..."

onsight soloing Moratorium in Yosemite seems totally amazing to me. so much confidence in his ability, totally wild actually when you think about it.

I've not done Moratorium, Ben, nor seen it, though I know quite a few people who have.  Wasn't Livesey the first to free climb it?

Anyway, it must be particularly significant, as I know Bachar himself referred to it a few years back as one of his "proudest sends" (he certainly didn't use that terminology, but you know what I mean!).

So for those of us who haven't indulged, can you give us an idea of what M is like...?

...the route sounds amazing, really gets the syke going.

Is "syke" psyche for the Skype age, Fiend...?  ;)


Neil

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#36 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 05:23:18 pm
I can't remember much about The Moratorium, other than it was a bit less 'Yosemite' than other routes like New Dimensions. But probably to a soloist, this means more commitment to holds on the face, rather than on pure (secure) jamming? The crux is a fairly thin bridging corner, with tips in crack.

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#37 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 05:34:33 pm
The crux is a fairly thin bridging corner, with tips in crack.

Shudder..

Adam Lincoln

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#38 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 07, 2009, 09:00:51 pm
Couple of interesting video interviews with the great man.
http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2009/07/bachar-climbing-video-.html

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#39 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 08, 2009, 12:54:30 pm
A legend and character, sadly missed. i had a brusjh with the legend in 1981. Whilst in Toulamme I stumbled upon a dead hang beam suspended between two trees. No sooner had i hung from two holds but a bronzed adonis with long blond hair appeard from no where and said " 20 bucks says I can hang longer than you". Smelling a rat and being on someones elses turf, I declined the bet, but after being persuaded by the aclompis of the adonis we did do a competitive hang which I duly lost.
A few days later in camp 4, I joined the queues one night at the bottom of Midnight Lightning which was very infrequently sent at that time.
Through the crowds came the blond adonis and his acomplis. The blond adonis proceeded in walking up ML before looking down at the envious crowd and saying "follow that you suckers" and dissapeared into the trees.
I said to a mate those were the guys who challenged me to the dead hang comp. " Oh thats John Bacar and John Yablonskis"

Both sadly now dead. You gave me a tale which I'll never forget. RIP.

dave

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#40 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 08, 2009, 01:04:06 pm
genuis anecdote simon - its reassuring to know that even inspirational "ahead of their time" climbers are not immune from acting like total cocks.

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#41 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 08, 2009, 10:46:31 pm
I wonder if JB challenged Wolfgang to a deadhang-off on that beam (I assume it's this one).


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#42 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 09, 2009, 09:07:42 pm

Jerry Morefat

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#43 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 10, 2009, 02:10:02 pm
Obituary by Ed Douglas in today's Guardian if anyone's interested.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/10/john-bacher-rock-climber

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#44 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 11, 2009, 05:34:34 pm
Nah, I'm not reading that.  He's a poor and obvious obituarist.

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#45 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 11, 2009, 06:24:24 pm

It is actually a pretty shit obituary.

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#46 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
July 11, 2009, 09:54:38 pm
It is actually a pretty shit obituary.
Agreed, not great.  But I imagine it's a pretty difficult life to explain to non-climbers ("...using only his fingers!" etc.).  That said, some kudos to The Guardian for having a Bachar obituary at all (and I quite liked the description of bouldering as the "haiku version of climbing").  The only other mainstream obituary I've come across was in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sports/09bachar.html

I remember walking under the Medlicott Dome and looking up the Bachar-Yerian: a stark black streak rising through a steep gold void.  I felt lucky to be there: to be aware that it had been climbed, to be able to acknowledge the perfection of the line and the courage of its ascent.  Less edifyingly, I also felt an acute resentment of my own mediocrity.  Seeing the Bachar-Yerian, I was faced with something both beautiful and terrifying, something that I would never be good enough, or brave enough to climb, or even reckless enough to try.  It hurt.  No gritstone line has ever made me feel like that ("too short"), nor even El Capitan ("all that hauling, I just want to climb!").  Five years later and one of the few things that makes me regret (just a little) what and who I am, is a line of spaced bolts on the Medlicott Dome. 

It's not much of a tribute, and one that possibly owes more to geology than the man, but I like to think that my envy that day in California is one of the factors that has inspired me to be a better climber.  Contributing just a little to that kernal of obduracy that gets me to the crag when I'm tired and bored of being shut-down.  I guess if anyone else has ever felt the same way then, for as long as people climb, John Bachar will be remembered fondly and with respect.  Which is more than most of us can ever hope to achieve.

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#47 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
September 11, 2009, 02:48:30 am
I love climbers
Bacher was a warrier right to the death
How mad are we though?
Buddha said all llife is precious ... but there is a distinct difference between folly and feeling the moves.
Its all about the feeling.
However I treasure my own life again that I will not put my own life in such danger where the stress level exceeds my capacity to keep rooted in my belly.
Its not just about the feeling though its about reading the rock - who ever said every hold is a bomber?
Still what is written is muktab.
Which pretty much translates as karma.
But karma is changeable.
Big love.

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#48 Re: John Bachar 1957 - 2009
September 11, 2009, 08:13:59 am
You've sorted out that caps problem then, PAT?

 

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