Midnight Lightning is a grade

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...

problem on the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

Columbia Boulder in Camp 4 of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

. It is considered to be one of the world's most famous bouldering problems, and was solved by

Ron Kauk Ron Kauk (born 23 September 1957) is an American rock climber. Kauk is associated with Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley, where he lived for decades, now a resident of El Portal, California. In 1975, he made the first free ascent of the east face of Wa ...

in 1978.

History

The first ascent was by

in 1978, and it was the second-ever ascent of a in history;

John Bachar John Bachar (March 23, 1957 – July 5, 2009) was an American rock climber. Noted for his skill at free soloing, he ultimately died during a free solo climb. A fitness fanatic, he was the creator of the climbing training device known as the Bach ...

made the first repeat shortly afterward. Kauk recounted about working on the problem with

and John Yablonski: "After 4 months of off and on effort, I was the first one to pull over the lip and complete the climb, which to this day has had an effect on my personal sense of place and history, within the climbing community, throughout the world". The first female ascent was by

Lynn Hill Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall traditional climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the ...

in 1998, although it was not the first-ever female (which was by climber in 1989 on ''Le Carnage''). The second female ascent was by

Lisa Rands Lisa Rands (born October 21, 1975) is an American rock climber. She is known for her bouldering for which in 2002, she became the first American female to win IFSC World Cup bouldering competitions, and topped the IFSC world boulder rankings in ...

in 2001, who unlike Hill, did not toprope the boulder in advance. Midnight Lightning erased on 5-28-19

The problem was identified by a

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

lightning bolt drawn by

after making the second ascent in 1978. Bacher wrote: "It was Yabo ohn Yablonskiwho actually 'found' Midnight Lightning. He was sitting in front of it one day and came over to me and Ron Kauk and said he found a new boulder problem. He said it would go. We laughed and said it was impossible. We thought there was about as much chance of doing it as there was the chance that a lightning bolt could strike at midnight (like in the

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

song ''

Midnight Lightning ''Midnight Lightning'' is a posthumous compilation album by American rock music, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix. It was released in November 1975 by Reprise Records in the US and Polydor Records in the UK. It was the second to be produced by Alan Dou ...

''), so I drew a bolt on it in chalk. That's it—pretty stupid, huh?" In May 2013, the iconic lightning bolt was scrubbed off the face of the boulder, by climber and ''

Climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done fo ...

'' magazine contributor James Lucas, who claimed the image had lost its magic, and was now more of a trademark or tourist attraction. The bolt was re-drawn in the same location a few days later. Since then, there have been other incidents, but Kauk and others have repaired and maintained the bolt image regularly. In 2021, when the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

awarded the Underhill Lifetime Achievement award to Kauk, their citation read: "Perhaps Ron's most iconic climbing achievements is a boulder problem right in the middle of Camp 4 known as Midnight Lightning".

Route

Sam Moses, writing in ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' said the most difficult move on Midnight lightning is a "spider-monkey swing off the ground. The climber must suspend himself by the fingertips of his left hand, swing around a ledge of rock, and propel himself far enough up, about four feet, to grab a precarious fingertip hold with their right hand. To do that he has to create momentum from stillness."

Filmography

* Documentary with Ron Kauk, David Sjöquist and Caro North on Midnight Lightning:

Bibliography

*''Yosemite Bouldering'' (Shannon Joslin, James Lucas, Kimbrough Moore), 2020, Sentinel Press. .

References

External links