The Bachar-Yerian 5.11c R/X - A climbing movie now available on YouTube

This is a short film about my friends Andrew Rock and Jan McCollum attempting to onsight the "Bachar-Yerian" in Tuolumne Meadows, CA. The "B&Y" is one of the best rock climbs in the world but its reputation for being super runout keeps most mortals away.

This infamous 4 pitch route was put up by John Bachar and Dave Yerian in the 80's. It boasts huge runouts between bolts and at the grade of 5.11c R/X represents more of a mental challenge than anything else. Make no mistake, however, as some of the strongest guys in the world, Wolfgang Gullich and Jerry Moffat come to mind, have taken giant whippers as they failed to onsight.  This rock climb is a testament to the Stonemasters ethics and John Bachar's incredible vision.   Andrew and Jan are not professional climbers, but they embody the spirit of the sport. I hope you enjoy this tale of their climb.

Really cool climb - I guess they were successful? To be honest, more unedited footage would have been nice; why did you speed up the camera and cut right at the crux?  I know slab climbing is slow and methodical, but if someone is going to watch it, they should know what they’re getting themselves into.

Ted Pinson wrote: Really cool climb - I guess they were successful? To be honest, more unedited footage would have been nice; why did you speed up the camera and cut right at the crux?  I know slab climbing is slow and methodical, but if someone is going to watch it, they should know what they’re getting themselves into.

This film is a story not a beta video.  Would love to see your 5hr cut of all the moves though when you go do it!

Cole Gibson wrote:

This film is a story not a beta video.

Yeah, but not showing video of the crux.....

Awesome! And also a great tribute to your friendship!

Marc801 C wrote: Yeah, but not showing video of the crux.....

Dude, the entire crux section is shown........

Great video and story of an all time route. 

Ignore the knuckleheads the best you can.

Cole Gibson wrote:

This film is a story not a beta video.  Would love to see your 5hr cut of all the moves though when you go do it!

Being open to constructive criticism is a mark of competency.

thanks for sharing, super awesome!

wish i could have been the one to get a free top rope ride on that route :)

also a good one:
HK on BY
https://vimeo.com/groups/climbing/videos/6102968

That was worth watching for sure. Nicely done to all involved, climbers and others.

this may sound odd, But what kind of grade 5.11 are we talking here? Comparatively to something in colorado; Like a 5.11 sport climb in boulder canyon, a 5.11 in eldorado, or some messed up 5.11 in vedauwoo akin to the whipping boy? I've never climbing in california so I'm trying to get a feeling for the grade. 

garrett knorr wrote: this may sound odd, But what kind of grade 5.11 are we talking here? Comparatively to something in colorado; Like a 5.11 sport climb in boulder canyon, a 5.11 in eldorado, or some messed up 5.11 in vedauwoo akin to the whipping boy? I've never climbing in california so I'm trying to get a feeling for the grade. 

this is 5.11 you're gonna die aka John Bachar making a statement about bold ground up routes

garrett knorr wrote: this may sound odd, But what kind of grade 5.11 are we talking here? ...I'm trying to get a feeling for the grade. 

Well... Wolfgang Gullich whipped...

garrett knorr wrote: this may sound odd, But what kind of grade 5.11 are we talking here? Comparatively to something in colorado; Like a 5.11 sport climb in boulder canyon, a 5.11 in eldorado, or some messed up 5.11 in vedauwoo akin to the whipping boy? I've never climbing in california so I'm trying to get a feeling for the grade. 

Very style dependent 5.11+ climbing.  If you haven't climbed knobs in Tuolumne Meadows it's a bit tough to imagine or compare.  My wife has tiny hands and feet (just like Jan and Andrew lol) and she crushes knob routes above her normal level, where as my tall (and weak) ass gets absolutely destroyed, utterly my anti-style.  

JSH wrote: I liked it but didn't love the BY video.  Nice story but I wanted a climbing video. I have infinite choices for 'story' but far too few that feature actual moves on rock. Too many talking heads, not enough climbing.  

And yes, I do want to see the slow, intentional motion, for move after move after move in a row, on slab. That's climbing. I'm tired of quick cuts between explosive dynos. Show me the real, thoughtful climbing.

I would generally agree with you, storytelling and sharing stoke is awesome and has it's place, but I am one of the folks that would have loved to see lots of raw footage of the climbing on Dawn Wall and in Freesolo. In this case I still really enjoyed the video and am glad they took the time to put it together and share it.

Great video.  Isn’t it a couple years old?  I’ve seen it a couple times in the past.  Was that the raw footage and this is the final product?

mnjsan wrote: Great video.  Isn’t it a couple years old?  I’ve seen it a couple times in the past.  Was that the raw footage and this is the final product?

Hey thanks, yeah the video is 9 years old, but was only available on Vimeo.  I recently started a new YouTube channel called Giant Rock and just uploaded it there today.  Funny enough someone had actually pirated this movie on their YouTube channel where it garnered over 50k views before I found out and had them take it down, worse than that the final half of the film on that upload was corrupted with out of sync audio and other problems   Oh well, this channel is its new home and hopefully some people come across it that haven't seen it before. 

Cole Gibson wrote:

Hey thanks, yeah the video is 9 years old, but was only available on Vimeo.  I recently started a new YouTube channel called Giant Rock and just uploaded it there today.  Funny enough someone had actually pirated this movie on their YouTube channel where it garnered over 50k views before I found out and had them take it down, worse than that the final half of the film on that upload was corrupted with out of sync audio and other problems   Oh well, this channel is its new home and hopefully some people come across it that haven't seen it before. 

Haha ya I had watched it quite a few times but always found it annoying that the audio and video got out of sync about half way through.  Never understood why the editor would leave it like that.  The bad bootleg now makes sense.  Thanks again for posting.

I just realized after watching this, does this ruin my onsight if I decide to climb this when I turn 40 but totally forget I watched the video?