Another Climber Falls.

[Conor Dary]

John Bachar was one of the great climbers of the 80's. Regularly doing 5.13s free solo. I remember his offer of 10,000 for anyone who could follow him for a whole day. No one took him up on it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sport ... obituaries

[SQUACKEE]

Re: Another Climber Falls.

John Bachar was one of the great climbers of the 80's. Regularly doing 5.13s free solo. I remember his offer of 10,000 for anyone who could follow him for a whole day. No one took him up on it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sport ... obituaries

Maybe he didn't notice that has he turned 50 he just couldn't do the things he did before. Its hard to keep up with failing ablities. When it happens to a runner you just die but you dont actually die.

[BillVol]

Re: Another Climber Falls.

John Bachar was one of the great climbers of the 80's. Regularly doing 5.13s free solo. I remember his offer of 10,000 for anyone who could follow him for a whole day. No one took him up on it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sport ... obituaries

cd, what does 5.13s free solo refer to?

[Conor Dary]

Re: Another Climber Falls.

John Bachar was one of the great climbers of the 80's. Regularly doing 5.13s free solo. I remember his offer of 10,000 for anyone who could follow him for a whole day. No one took him up on it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sport ... obituaries

Maybe he didn't notice that has he turned 50 he just couldn't do the things he did before. Its hard to keep up with failing ablities. When it happens to a runner you just die but you dont actually die.

I know what you mean. At 50 you just sort of fall apart exponentially!

But for a runner it just means you are slower. For a climber on a solo effort well....

With Todd Skinner, Charlie Fowler and now Bachar the last few years have been tough on the 50+-2 crowd.

[Conor Dary]

what does 5.13s free solo refer to?

5.13 is the rating of the climb. 5.15 is the tops in the world now, I believe, but 5.13 is extremely difficult. For example the hardest part of the Nose on El Cap in Yosemite is 5.13.

Free solo is climbing alone without any protection, as opposed to soloing with some sort of self-belay system.

[BillVol]

CD, thanks. Sometimes I poke fun at some of the crazy activities some people enjoy, but this is different. It is unreal what these guys can do. I think Squack is right. I'm sure he was positive he had his foot in the right place and had a proper grip on a rock. And I have no doubt that he did. But his body is different than it used to be. Even though I'm sure everything was technically sound in his last climb, the body doesn't listen to that anymore. A lesson for other climbers to learn. If it can happen to John it can happen to anybody.

[lonewolf]

It gets worse. Getting old, that is.
Not as serious as falling off a mountain but fifteen years ago, I moved into my current townhouse abode at age 63. There is a 6' pointy-top cedar plank fence bordering the patio between the townhouse and garage. The first time I locked myself out, I just grabbed the top of the fence and vaulted onto the patio, retrieved hidden key and let myself in.
Last week it happened again. This time I had to call on a neighbor and get two stepladders to get over the fence and down into the patio.
I blame it all on my after-market titanium knee.