ATG
Banned
+5,233|6716|Global Command
I can't believe it.
I have been kicked in the nuts. I can't hold them back.

https://i26.tinypic.com/2eakj6a.jpg


It is 1998. I am in Camp 4, now known as Sunnyside in Yosemite National Park. It is about 11 p.m. on a moonless night. I sit on a picnic table eating fig bars and drinking beers. Suddenly the fig bars are gone. A raccoon scurries away with its prize, my snack. I give chase and take them back. Five minutes later, one foot to my left the raccoon appears, grabs the bag of fig newtons and once again makes for the forest. This time I am enraged. I grab a golf ball sized rock and throw it and from 35 feet smack it right in the head with a loud crack sound. Pure luck. I get my snack back and lay down in my tent. Suddenly a golf cart comes ripping through camp, running through clothes lines, knocking over garbage cans and making hell for the back side of Camp four. I get out of my tent in time to see two men in the golf cart, one has his fist raised and a bottle of jack in the other, blond hair streaming, howling like a loon.


I hear from another tent, " Bachars back. "
The rangers came to every goddamned tent wanting to know who the fuck stole the maintenance cart. This went on until 2 A.M. when I finally sleep. It is hot, and my head is outside the tent, my body outside the sleeping bag.

I awake to a sound like a demon alien.

The raccoon is back, two feet from my face, hissing and screaming...


John came through the next morning and said ' sorry about that, thanks for keeping mum. '

Jesus wept.
John Bachar was simply the greatest and best climber of my generation.
Perhaps ever.

He didn't just push the limits, he established them.

If you are ever in Joshua Tree find Bacher Cracker of the Desert. At no point is your body any more than three feet off the ground. If you can hold on and make five feet of movement I will give you a one hundred dollar bill. Ban if I lie.

His routes are legend. The Bachar-Yerian is to this day a feat of amazing accomplishment, established in 1981. Climb it and there is good odds you will end up in a magazine.

I have had the blessing of meeting and even climbing with many famous and legendary climbers. I climbed with Randy Leavits and Bob Camps. I socialized with Ron Kauk and Jim Bridwell, and met Lynn Hill and Greg Childs, but there was only one John Bachar.

Rest in peace, my brother. You know you were a huge inspiration to many. Many men have a life, but not every man truly lives.
A modern day pirate, he lived free and died fast.
Thank you sir.



http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/07/06/ … g-fall.htm

http://vimeo.com/5483898
13urnzz
Banned
+5,830|6684

i lived in Yosemite, 1985-1987. worked for the YP & Curry Co. did alot of odd jobs (you had to bid on them, seniority rules).
i met the guy summer of '86, in Tuolumne Meadows. he gave me tips on climbing the Unicorn, and told me to look him up,
when i went back to the valley. never saw him again, though i do remember hearing about 'new' routes done by him, when
i asked about him. i remember he laughed at my Fires, they were one of my sole possesions at the time . . .
woodrot
I Need A Dump
+25|6917|sunderland england
LoL i Thaught U meant the man in red n blue With a cape
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6716|Global Command
One thing about climbers.

They have always been the most honest, no bullshit and generous people I have ever known.

There is something about it. Like soldiers maybe. You know you may have to die soon.

I have cached gear and had it safe for days. I have been delivered water when I was parched. I have given my shirt as a pillow for a litter when two fell at Taquitz.
Stubbee
Religions Hate Facts, Questions and Doubts
+223|6930|Reality
He was a great climber. One wonders why the need to free climb at 51?
The US economy is a giant Ponzi scheme. And 'to big to fail' is code speak for 'niahnahniahniahnah 99 percenters'
13urnzz
Banned
+5,830|6684

i was a babe in the woods, when i went to Yosemite. literally 19, it was my escape from everything. Best two years of my life, and i count
myself lucky to have been there.

ATG wrote:

They have always been the most honest, no bullshit and generous people I have ever known.
there were some people who shared everything they had with a n00b from Merced and made it a time of his life . . .
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6716|Global Command

Stubbee wrote:

He was a great climber. One wonders why the need to free climb at 51?
I...Umm...still free solo. Two weeks until age 41.

You feel as if you are a master at such and such a difficultly level. On a 5.5 climb there are good odds I could do it in the rain in mild earth quake and not fall, and in fact have never fallen on lead below 5.9 , so ya, I feel safe without a rope around 5.5.

It feels free. You are focused like a laser beam. Master of your universe.

I would say that feeling is worth the price of dying. The trouble is, so many of us have kids, as did Mr. Bacher.

At that point, you have a duty to rope up. But...like so many things, we just can't resist.

I make sure I have a life insurance policy too.
ATG
Banned
+5,233|6716|Global Command
Stubbee
Religions Hate Facts, Questions and Doubts
+223|6930|Reality

ATG wrote:

Stubbee wrote:

He was a great climber. One wonders why the need to free climb at 51?
I...Umm...still free solo. Two weeks until age 41.

You feel as if you are a master at such and such a difficultly level. On a 5.5 climb there are good odds I could do it in the rain in mild earth quake and not fall, and in fact have never fallen on lead below 5.9 , so ya, I feel safe without a rope around 5.5.

It feels free. You are focused like a laser beam. Master of your universe.

I would say that feeling is worth the price of dying. The trouble is, so many of us have kids, as did Mr. Bacher.

At that point, you have a duty to rope up. But...like so many things, we just can't resist.

I make sure I have a life insurance policy too.
my point exactly
sad
The US economy is a giant Ponzi scheme. And 'to big to fail' is code speak for 'niahnahniahniahnah 99 percenters'

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