The Bachar-Yerian 5.11R/X (Part 1)

Brief History of Climb

The early 80's was a time of immense change in the climbing world. Sport climbing and bolting on rappel had just started to spread from Europe to America, and the ethics that had ruled the previous decades started to be questioned.

John Bachar - arguably the greatest climber in the world at the time - hated the idea of these new ethics changing the sport. In July of 1981, after attending an international climbing meetup in Germany where sport climbing was the hot topic of the day, he returned to Yosemite with plans to make a statement against the way that climbing was evolving.

The statement was a bold and dangerous new route - the Bachar-Yerian 5.11 R/X.

In this episode, let's learn about the series of events that lead to this infamous route being created, and how Bachar and his partner, Dave Yerian, pulled it off.

Stay tuned for the next episode where I will finish the story of their ascent, look into the reaction from the climbing community, and share details from historical repeats of the route (including another climbing legend taking a 100ft whipper and never getting on it again).

SOURCES

Ament, Pat - "Climbing Free: A History of Free Climbing in America." 1999.

Chambre, David - "The 9th Grade: 150 Years of Free Climbing." 2016.

Bachar, John - "Bachar-Yerian" Alpinist #26.

Yerian, Dave - "Close But No Cigar" - Rock and Ice.

Various, extremely long SuperTopo threads...

"Bachars Last Interview" (Oakley Louise Youtube)

"John Bachar Interview by Dave Gill Russian Subtitles" (Dymtro Zhyvov Youtube)

MUSIC CREDIT:

Track: "Back In Your Town"

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Track: "Roll Through"

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Track: "Celluloid Visions"

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Track: "Just For Kicks"

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Track: “Gnarly Man”

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Track: “Fun Time Party”

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