Tributes

Yesterday, the climbing world lost one of its greatest legends, John Bachar. One of the Yosemite Stonemasters (a group of young dirtbag climbers from Southern California who destroyed the standards at their home crags before moving onto Yosemite and the rest of the world), Bachar established many of the hardest and boldest climbs at Yosemite and Toulomne Meadows in the 70's and 80's, and climbing hard all the way up until his death. Bachars name has also become synonymous with free-soloing, and he pushed the standards of ropeless climbing to heights previously thought impossible. Tragically, it was a free-soloing accident that was the cause of his death at the age of 51. His impact on the climbing community and the history of free climbing are immeasurable, and his routes will live on as a testament to his strength, vision and staunchly traditional ethics.

There is a memorial thread on the SuperTopo website.

A different kind of memorial was established over the 4th of July weekend here in Tucson, as someone planted a flag on top of Hitchcock Pinnacle, with "In Loving Memory of" and two peoples names inscribed on the flag pole. I'm not sure who did it or who the two names were, but it is a pretty cool tribute. We were fortunate enough to have climbed the pinnacle on Sunday, and got a some pictures.