>A story told in online conversation (first two links).
>
>http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=895790
>
>http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=896157
>
>http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-john-bachar8-2009jul08,0,7890954.story

Too bad. He was a legend. I remember reading stories about him back in the 70s and wondering how long he would live.
No doubt free-solo is the purist form of climbing, but the cost of a mis-judgement is pretty severe.