Midnight Lightning

Grade: V8 (7B+)
Style: Boulder
Where: Columbia Boulder, Camp 4, Yosemite, California, USA
First ascent: Ron Kauk, May 1978

Midnight Lightning is a boulder problem on the Columbia Boulder, in the middle of Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. Ron Kauk climbed it in May 1978, and after John Bachar’s repeat the same month it went five years without another ascent. It is 7.6 m high, steep to a lip almost 5 m up and a slab above, and a lightning bolt drawn in chalk marks the start.

History

John “Yabo” Yablonski spotted the line early in 1978. The name comes from a Jimi Hendrix song. Kauk worked on it for about two months and made the first ascent in May 1978. Bachar made the second soon after and drew a lightning bolt in chalk beside the start.

The third ascent took five years: Skip Guerin, in 1983. Lynn Hill made the first ascent by a woman in 1998, and Lisa Rands followed in 2001. Adam Ondra flashed it in October 2018.

A small hold near the mantel broke soon after the first ascent, which made the finish harder. The chalk bolt has been redrawn many times. In April 2013 James Lucas scrubbed it off, and it was back within days.

The climb

Section	What it is
The start	Polished crimps and a first hard move to an undercling
The jump	From a crimp about 3 m up to the lightning bolt hold, the feet swinging off
The lip	A swing right, then a move to the lip under the slab
The mantel	A press over a high, slippery foot, almost 5 m off the ground
The slab	A good edge, then easy climbing to the top

Tall climbers can reach the lightning bolt hold without jumping. The mantel is the famous part: Kauk fell from it before his first ascent, and Lynn Hill practised it on a rope.

The beta

This is the usual sequence, put together from written accounts of several ascents. The file is a drawing: the holds are placed from those descriptions and are not measured from the rock. The feet low down, the order of the hands at the lip and the slab are a best guess.

The start. Stand on the footholds with both hands on the polished crimps. Fire the right hand up to an undercling crimp. Many tries end on this move.
The set-up. Move the left hand up, then bump it to a crimp about 3 m off the ground and set the feet.
The jump. Jump with the right hand to the lightning bolt hold. The feet come off and the body swings. Match the hold with the left hand.
The lip. Throw the body right and walk the feet through to a smear on the right. Reach the lip with the right hand, then the left, and put the right foot high on a slippery smear. You are hanging under the lip on long arms.
The mantel. Push up on both hands until the shoulders are over the lip, elbows out, the left foot off the wall, then over onto the right foot. This is the mantle the problem is known for, and the body position has to be exact.
The slab. Press out and reach a good edge on the slab with the left hand. Bring the left foot onto the lip and stand up, the right hand leaving the lip, then walk to the top.

Open it in the app

Open it in the web app with the button below, or download the file and import it into Broken Crimp. Either way, step through the beta move by move and slow it down.

Open it in the web app Download the .beta file

Sources

An unofficial reconstruction, put together from the public sources above. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the climbers or sources named, and it is no substitute for your own judgement on the rock. See the Terms of Use.