Midnight Lightning (climb)

The problem was identified by a chalk lightning bolt drawn by John Bachar after making the second ascent in 1978.[5][6] Bachar wrote: "It was Yabo [John Yablonski] who 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 song Midnight Lightning), so I drew a bolt on it in chalk. That's it—pretty stupid, huh?"[5]

Ron Kauk made the first ascent in 1978, and it was the second-ever ascent of a 7B+ (V8) in history; John Bachar made the first repeat shortly afterward.[7][8] Kauk recounted about working on the problem with John Bachar 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".[8] The first female ascent was by Lynn Hill in 1998, although it was not the first-ever female 7B+ (V8) (which was by climber Catherine Miquel in 1989 on Le Carnage).[8][7] The second female ascent was by Lisa Rands in 2001.[9]

The iconic chalk lightning bolt has been removed several times.

In May 2013, the lightning bolt was scrubbed off the boulder,[10] by climber and Climbing magazine contributor James Lucas, who claimed the image had lost its magic, and was now more of a trademark or tourist attraction.[5][11] The bolt was re-drawn in the same location a few days later.[6] Since then, there have been other incidents, but Kauk and others have repaired and maintained the bolt image regularly.[5]

In 2021, when the American Alpine Club 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".[12]

Sam Moses, writing in Sports Illustrated said the most difficult move on Midnight lightning is a "spider-monkey swing 15 feet (4.6 metres) off the ground. The climber must suspend themself by the fingertips of their left hand, swing around a ledge of rock, and propel themself far enough up, about four feet, to grab a precarious fingertip hold with their right hand. To do that they have to create momentum from stillness."[13]

• Documentary with Ron Kauk, David Sjöquist and Caro North on Midnight Lightning: The Classics Boulder Episode 1 Midnight Lightning (Motion picture). Mammut. June 2017. Retrieved January 3, 2022.

• Yosemite Bouldering (Shannon Joslin, James Lucas, Kimbrough Moore), 2020, Sentinel Press. ISBN 9781735608006.

• History of rock climbing
• List of first ascents (sport climbing)
• The Mandala, famous V12 (8A+) boulder in The Buttermilks, California
• The Wheel of Life, famous V15 (8C) boulder in the Grampians, Australia

• Adam Ondra: Climbing the Americas (Part 1) Midnight Lightning Climbing magazine, (2018)