John Bachar (March 23, 1957 – July 5, 2009) was an American

rock climber Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

. Noted for his skill at

free soloing Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of technical ice or rock climbing where the climbers (or ''free soloists'') climb alone without ropes, harnesses or other protective equipment, forcing them to rely entirely on their own individual ...

, he ultimately died during a free solo climb. A fitness fanatic, he was the creator of the climbing training device known as the

Bachar ladder The Bachar ladder is a form of rope ladder used as a training device by rock climbers to improve overall upper body strength. Named after noted free soloist John Bachar, Bachar ladders typically consist of PVC rungs joined by webbing or cord to ...

Early life and education

Bachar was born in 1957. He grew up in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and started climbing at the

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...

hot spot of Stoney Point in the northern

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

. After attending Westchester High School, graduating in 1974, he attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, where his father was a math professor, but dropped out to climb full-time. Obsessed with the sport, he immersed himself in books on physical training and nutrition, and soon was able to outperform his fellow climbers. Fellow students at his high school remember him scaling the exterior high school gym walls on many occasions.

Climbing career

John Long, John Yablonski,

Ron Kauk Ron Kauk (born 23 September 1957) is an American rock climber. Kauk is associated with Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley, where he lived for decades, now a resident of El Portal, California. In 1975, he made the first free ascent of the east face of Wa ...

and Mike Graham, whom Bachar met in the early 1970s, all free soloed with him, starting with the classic

Joshua Tree ''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca. This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...

route ''Double Cross'' (5.7). He also put up notorious bouldering problems in Joshua Tree such as ''Planet X'' ( V6) and ''So High'' (V5). The committing crux move of the latter problem is off the ground. Bachar was first noted for his climbs in

Yosemite Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

with his unroped ascents of ''New Dimensions'' (5.11a) and ''The Nabisco Wall'', a three-pitch affair (''Waverly Wafer'' (5.10c), either ''Wheat Thin'' (5.10c) or ''Butterballs'' (5.11c R), and ''Butterfingers'' (5.11a) as the final pitch). Noted for his physical fitness, his campsite at Camp 4 was filled with exercise equipment, including the hanging ladders since associated with his name. At his peak he was able to perform a two-finger pull-up with of weight in his other hand, and two-arm pull-up with over of weight strapped around his waist. While attempting the

problem

Midnight Lightning ''Midnight Lightning'' is a posthumous compilation album by American rock music, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It was released in November 1975 by Reprise Records in the US and Polydor Records in the UK. It was the second to be produced by Alan Dou ...

with Kauk and Yablonski in 1978, Bachar drew the iconic lightning bolt in chalk. Along with Ron Kauk and John Long, Bachar was part of the team that free-climbed the East face of

Washington Column Washington Column is a roughly 1800-foot high rock formation, arising from Yosemite Valley. It is east of the Royal Arches, behind the Ahwahnee Hotel. North Dome North Dome is a granite dome in Yosemite National Park, California. It is the ...

, ushering in a new age of free climbing with their first free ascent of ''Astroman''. This route, containing numerous pitches of 5.10 and 5.11 difficulty, set a new standard for long and continuously difficult free climbs. He played a key role in making the first free ascent of the technical and difficult "boulder problem" pitch low on the route. Bachar was a contemporary of John Long and

Tobin Sorenson Tobin Sorenson (June 15, 1955 – October 5, 1980) was an American rock climber and alpinist famed for establishing bold first ascents on Yosemite big walls, in the Alps, Canadian Rockies, and New Zealand. Early life and education A Californi ...

in a group they called the

Stonemasters The Stonemasters were a group of rock climbers and adventurers in the 1970s, roughly 1973 to 1980, who originally climbed in Southern California—principally Tahquitz, Suicide Rocks, Joshua Tree—and later, Yosemite National Park further north. ...

putting up daring new routes in the Idyllwild, California area. Bachar posted a note in 1981 promising a "$10,000 reward for anyone who can follow me for one full day." No one took the challenge. That same year he put up ''Bachar-Yerian'' (5.11c R/X) in

Tuolumne Meadows Tuolumne Meadows () is a gentle, granitic dome, dome-studded, sub-alpine meadow area along the Tuolumne River in the eastern section of Yosemite National Park in the United States. Its approximate location is . Its approximate elevation is . The ter ...

with Dave Yerian. A heady testpiece, the vertical-to-gently-overhanging route is protected by 13 bolts (including

anchor bolt Anchor bolts are used to connect structural and non-structural elements to concrete.. The connection can be made by a variety of different components: anchor bolts (also named fasteners), steel plates, or stiffeners. Anchor bolts transfer diffe ...

s), each one placed either from a stance (9) or while hanging from a hook (4). Bachar was a vocal critic of climbing tactics such as bolting on

rappel Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

, which came into vogue during the 1980s. However, at the time of the first ascent, there were critics of his decision to place certain bolts from hooks, rather than drilling and placing each bolt from a stance. In 1986, Bachar and Peter Croft made a link up of

El Capitan El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granit ...

and

Half Dome Half Dome is a granite dome at the eastern end of Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is a well-known rock formation in the park, named for its distinct shape. One side is a sheer face while the other three sides are smooth ...

, climbing a vertical mile in under 14 hours. In the 1990s, Bachar free soloed ''Enterprise'' (5.12b) in the

Owens River Gorge The Owens River Gorge is a steep 10 mi (16 km) canyon on the upper Owens River in eastern California in the United States. The canyon is located at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains in southern Mono ...

and ''The Gift'' (5.12c) at

Red Rocks Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind th ...

for the ''Masters of Stone'' video series. He was featured in the documentary ''Bachar: One Man, One Myth, One Legend'' (2005) by Michael Reardon.

Personal life

Bachar lived in

Mammoth Lakes, California Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

and was Director of Design of Acopa International LLC, a company which manufactures rock climbing shoes. On December 3, 1996 Bachar became a father when his only child Tyrus was born to Valerie Vosburg. On August 13, 2006, Bachar was involved in a serious car accident while traveling home from the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. He suffered multiple fractured vertebrae.

Death

On July 5, 2009, Bachar died in a free solo accident at Dike Wall near Mammoth Lakes, California.

References

External links