John Bachar dies after fall
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - John Bachar, a noted rock climber, has died. He was 51.
Bachar, who was climbing near his Mammoth Lakes Home Sunday, died at an area hospital after a fall from the Dike Wall cliff, the Mono County Sheriff's Department said.
Bachar was known as a free-soloist who used no ropes or safety gear. He began climbing as a teenager, dropped out of UCLA to pursue the sport full-time and in the 1970s and '80s was famed for his sheer climbs in Yosemite National Park. In 2006, he was in a car accident that fractured five vertebrae but returned to climbing.
He also was director of design for Acopa International LLC, a Las Vegas company that makes rock climbing shoes. *
