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TJrock
Sport climber
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I met John through Dave Yerian a few times and heard many stories over the last three years. So sad to have lost him, a superhuman climber that could do things I would never imagine possible. I was fortunate enough to have known him through Dave and to have been able to see a slideshow of his that offered a small glimpse into his mind and his world. I'm very sad for Dave to have lost this man with whom he shared so much.
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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bootysatva
Trad climber
Idylwild Ca
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It was around 1975 and I was leading Toe jam in josh for the first time and here comes Jb down soloing the route. when he saw me he just casually traversed and down climbed a 5.10 c to the side of toe jam. I was stunned and changed forever. thank you John. I am very sad that he is gone and glad that he lived so fully. Ernesto ale
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Peej
Trad climber
NY
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I never knew the man, but I feel as though I did through stories from friends of his. He was definitely a dear friend and an inspiration to both the hard and the novice. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. There leaves us a noble prince in the vertical world. Christina and I are thinking of you Anastasia and our condolences to you as well as the rest of his family and friends.
Andrew Jackson
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Marc Dubé
climber
Vancouver, BC
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I am really saddened by your loss Tyrus. What a shock.
Those that knew John are very aware of how much he influenced people and a generation of climbers. On a personal level, JB encouraged me "to go for it" and have no regrets. It changed my life forever and I owe it all to climbing, so in some way I really owe a lot of it to John and his influence.
I am grateful to have known him and to have been inspired......what else can I say?
Thank you and RIP. Positive memories!
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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So here I am again tonight trying to process the death of someone that was not only life and light to his own family, but a big piece in my own life recently.
Unusual situation today took me back to a place I went last night but had not been to in months....La Jolla Village Cove. Decided to find a quiet spot and ask God ..."what the heck are you doing ? "
So I did....thinking, processing and praying I asked God..... Would you please send me something special tonight to let me know that you are still in control. That this life that is gone, that so many needed in their own life will be taken care of. Jess askin' here as we be devastated.
May not mean much to yo out there, but minutes later I heard bagpipes playing.....playing songs of hope and grace. Whoa, I thought...what a grate CD.
But no CD, it was the answer to the cry of my heart for help. For a special measure of Grace. For a ....hey there I am still here and love you all.
There on the cliff was a bag pipe player, a real live bag pipe player.
Watchin' the swells come in I realized I didn't have a clue ....Some just die out and some waves break big. John's broke big on the outer swell. So we'll miss his inside break.
A man that was instrumental in big and small ways in so many lives. Gifted by Grace. Thanks Dude. Miss your mails and ideas. See ya in the heavenlies. Lynne
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tojo
Sport climber
Lake Norden, SD
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Had the previledge of bouldering with John in Joshua tree, and camp4, man what the hell.......my heart goes out to his family.
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EP
Social climber
Way Out There
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When I woke up this morning, my first thought was that John couldn't be gone.
I remember sitting in the Garden Grove library in 1983 and reading the LIFE magazine article about John.
Later, I was shown an impossible boulder at the Kern Slabs that John was seen to have made short work of. He was everywhere it seemed..
He still is.
Here is to Tyrus and all who knew and loved John Bachar.
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ron ray
climber
seattle
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Humbling to even post as I saw John climb maybe 2 times over 25 years -- in Josh, and under an overpass that sheltered a makeshift climbing wall near Palm Springs. I'm just one of the many who followed his bootprints around southern california, though seldom up the same walls.
But I have to pay tribute to someone who lived his life exactly as he choose, no compromise.
And I'll bet the Pearly Gates were climbed, free solo, on July 7 at 12b.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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This was sent to me by an old military buddy.
It was written by a fellow named David Ritchie.
I like the way it came across, so I'll share.
One of my heros died yesterday……
This is not to indict those who were, or are, simply, climbers. In the climbing community there have always been other sorts of characters too—for some, climbing was the end in itself, and what the world did with that was up to them. John Bachar, who died yesterday while climbing solo in California , was one of those. He was a pure rock climber who redefined the sport by ascending sheer rock faces of extreme difficulty without ropes to protect him in the event of a fall. What he did was athletic achievement at the highest levels of human ability and training, on par with the skill and discipline of Nadia Comeneci, Michael Phelps, Lance Armstrong, or Michael Jordan. His climbs, only a few years earlier, had been deemed impossible, even roped; climbing them without protection was as absurd as if a man had presumed to fly. But Bachar did fly. And as a result, one can’t compare his numinous climbing to climbing: instead, you have to compare it to art. To explain it best requires words used for Beethoven’s transcendent ninth symphony; it was an “expression of the divine.”
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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John’s contribution was nothing less than profound To those who could appreciate his absolute mastery on the rock, he revealed a glimpse of nearly unbounded human potential. Just as a Miles Davis recording can astound new listeners, future climbers will struggle up a route John soloed, and gasp in wonder at how much is possible.
Rick Accomazzo
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TwistedCrank
climber
Ideeho-dee-do-dah-day
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I am nobody in climbing.
I spent a fall in Tuolumne once - my partner and I overlapped with John, his parther (Ron Peers) and Brenda during the last climbable weeks of the fall.
One of my fondest memories of John was him chuckling at my partner and I as we showed up at the gym with pockets loaded with beers and the stench of ragweed clinging to us. It was a contrast in styles.
Almost 30 years later and in an email John recalled that day and was saddened to here that my partner had left early in a motorcycle accident. That was so cool of him.
I can easily say that John's spirit and drive made him one of the more influential personalities in my life. Right up there with the likes of Muhammad Ali.
It interesting how some individuals can transcend greatness. COrny but true.
--Dirk Vandervoort
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Janet Wilts
Trad climber
Moose
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Really sorry to hear about JB. Lots of memorys and good times.
Thoughts and prayers go to his son.....At least he was out climbing, doing what he enjoyed in life....
Janet Wilts
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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No one to fill these shoes...
(I never had the Farrah poster…)
Below, from the same trip as "Chasin' the Train" in the Frankenjura? After that trip, folks were chasin' John!
Leaves a void in the community for sure. Tragic loss.
Heavy sigh…
-Brian in SLC
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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This tragic event reminds me how the clock is ticking for us all. We get at most a hundred years. It is not fair. Why worry about the small stuff, enjoy life.
I first met Bachar at Intersection rock after he soloed Left Ski Track.
It was like meeting a God.
Juan
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WBraun
climber
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Brian in SLC
That's John in Verdon, France, on the cover of that 85 catalog.
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josan
Boulder climber
Sebastopol, CA
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'From Tara's heart - rainbow light shines forth throughout the six realms and the Bardo...enveloping the decesased one whereever he is, purifiying his karma and infusing him with Tara's radiant blessings. His form becomes a brilliant sphere of light and dissolves into Tara's heart-mind -- a realm beyond the cycles of suffering, a realm of absolute purity and bliss.'
Your light will be remembered by all that were connected to your bright spirit, dear John. And it was and is perfect.
Jo Sanders - Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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That's John in Verdon, France, on the cover of that 85 catalog.
Yeah. Standard setting climb there too, I'm sure.
But, same trip produced "Chasin' the Train"? I seem to remember so. 1981? Was at the time one of the hardest routes in Europe? Still a coveted "tick", methinks.
Its interesting, the shoes he's wearing on that Chouinard catalog. You can tell its not an '85 (or even '84) photo. EB's. French shoes for a french route. Classic. By that time the Fires were all the rage. I think I picked up my first pair the same time I scored the poster. Bumped me up a grade, to be sure! Probably as much mental...
Cheers,
-Brian in SLC
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