Midnight Lightning Bolt gone?

Has this already been posted? Is it a joke?

jamesclucas.blogspot.com/20…

I guess someone else drew one again so it's back?

Here's the text: Don't give this tool's blog any more hits.

Yosemite Bolt Wars

White powder flew from the granite. I brushed more, cleaning the rock. Soon, a third of the drawing disappeared. I stepped back and stared at the remaining chalk. A few minutes later, Midnight Lightning’s bolt vanished.

In 1978, Ron Kauk jumped to a jagged edge on the Columbia Boulder, in the middle of Camp 4. He matched, swung his feet through and threw his body into a committing mantel, high above a slab. When Kauk pressed out the granite, he made the first ascent of Midnight Lightning. Fellow Yosemite climber and Kauk’s contemporary, John Bachar made the second ascent. The two had been vying for the coveted ascent of the line.

John Bachar climbing Midnight Lightning- the bolt lacks the bursts

“I drew the original bolt on Midnight Lightning....,” said John Bachar. “It was Yabo 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?”

When a hold broke, Bachar made the third ascent. Sometime later, Kauk reinforced the lightning bolt hold in the middle of the problem. The problem saw its first female ascent by Lynn Hill. At one point Scot Cosgrove climbed the problem twelve times in a row. Skip Guerin climbed the problem barefoot and prior to Lynn’s ascent, the problem was down-climbed. Dave Schultz climbed the problem at midnight. Yabo made the tenth ascent.

Boulders regularly climb the problem and every climber in Camp 4 paws the first few holds. giving the starting holds classic Yosemite boot polish. Through it all, the chalk outline remains despite “lightning striking at midnight” on hundreds of occasions.

The bolt stays even in the deepest snow storms.
Erasing the bolt took two different trips. The first night, I removed the majority of the chalk. To help rinse my brush, I stole a water bottle from a climber bivied underneath the problem.
“Erasing the bolt?” he asked from his sleeping bag. I nodded.
“Cool,” he responded and went back to sleep.

The Lightning Bolt before it was erased
The morning after first brushing the hold, a smear of chalk marred Columbia. Thirty years of the lightning bolt outlined proved difficult to remove. The next evening I returned with a finer brush and a little spray bottle of water. I spent another few hours cleaning the formation. The next morning, Columbia boulder resembled every other rock in Yosemite.

The empty space lasted a week and half before someone redrew the lightning bolt. I don’t know who put it back. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t Ron Kauk. It wasn’t John Bachar coming from his grave.

Nik Berry on an unknown problem in Camp 4

“It was probably some Euro,” said Dean Fidelman, one of the original Stonemasters and one of the few who still hangs in Yosemite. “They want the picture.”

Over thirty years, with every passing ascent, the lightning bolt became less of a testament to a remarkable ascent, of lightning striking at midnight. The chalk transformed into a trademark, another tourist attraction for passing climbers. The magic left the bolt years ago.

The new bolt remains slightly duller than the last incarnation. How long will it remain that way? Does climbing need these trademarks?

POSTED BY JAMES AT 9:59 AM

Here's the text: Don't give this tool's blog any more hits.

StupidDouche wrote: Yosemite Bolt Wars White powder flew from the granite. I brushed more, cleaning the rock. Soon, a third of the drawing disappeared. I stepped back and stared at the remaining chalk. A few minutes later, Midnight Lightning’s bolt vanished. In 1978, Ron Kauk jumped to a jagged edge on the Columbia Boulder, in the middle of Camp 4. He matched, swung his feet through and threw his body into a committing mantel, high above a slab. When Kauk pressed out the granite, he made the first ascent of Midnight Lightning. Fellow Yosemite climber and Kauk’s contemporary, John Bachar made the second ascent. The two had been vying for the coveted ascent of the line. John Bachar climbing Midnight Lightning- the bolt lacks the bursts “I drew the original bolt on Midnight Lightning....,” said John Bachar. “It was Yabo 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?” When a hold broke, Bachar made the third ascent. Sometime later, Kauk reinforced the lightning bolt hold in the middle of the problem. The problem saw its first female ascent by Lynn Hill. At one point Scot Cosgrove climbed the problem twelve times in a row. Skip Guerin climbed the problem barefoot and prior to Lynn’s ascent, the problem was down-climbed. Dave Schultz climbed the problem at midnight. Yabo made the tenth ascent. Boulders regularly climb the problem and every climber in Camp 4 paws the first few holds. giving the starting holds classic Yosemite boot polish. Through it all, the chalk outline remains despite “lightning striking at midnight” on hundreds of occasions. The bolt stays even in the deepest snow storms. Erasing the bolt took two different trips. The first night, I removed the majority of the chalk. To help rinse my brush, I stole a water bottle from a climber bivied underneath the problem. “Erasing the bolt?” he asked from his sleeping bag. I nodded. “Cool,” he responded and went back to sleep. The Lightning Bolt before it was erased The morning after first brushing the hold, a smear of chalk marred Columbia. Thirty years of the lightning bolt outlined proved difficult to remove. The next evening I returned with a finer brush and a little spray bottle of water. I spent another few hours cleaning the formation. The next morning, Columbia boulder resembled every other rock in Yosemite. The empty space lasted a week and half before someone redrew the lightning bolt. I don’t know who put it back. It wasn’t me. It wasn’t Ron Kauk. It wasn’t John Bachar coming from his grave. Nik Berry on an unknown problem in Camp 4 “It was probably some Euro,” said Dean Fidelman, one of the original Stonemasters and one of the few who still hangs in Yosemite. “They want the picture.” Over thirty years, with every passing ascent, the lightning bolt became less of a testament to a remarkable ascent, of lightning striking at midnight. The chalk transformed into a trademark, another tourist attraction for passing climbers. The magic left the bolt years ago. The new bolt remains slightly duller than the last incarnation. How long will it remain that way? Does climbing need these trademarks? POSTED BY JAMES AT 9:59 AM

Dude sounds like a class A douchenozzle looking for press for his little blog.

um - douche nozzle...

how brave and humble.

John B and I started climbing together in 1973.... yes that was along time ago. We shared many good times.

I could never do Lightning .. but I took a bunch of tries on it.

When John died, he was just gone.... thats the way it is with death, only memories remain.

When I go to the Valley now, one of the first thing I do is go over to Columbia .... to say hi to John.

Now it's gone.....

James you are a looser, you have zero class and I am sure you are a sick person who is crying out for attention.

Camp 4 is on the National Register of Historic Places. The lighting bolt is a prominent, albeit transient, landmark of said historic site. Might the removal of said bolt run against some law/regulation associated with that historic designation?

JCM wrote:Camp 4 is on the National Register of Historic Places. The lighting bolt is a prominent, albeit transient, landmark of said historic site. Might the removal of said bolt run against some law/regulation associated with that historic designation?

I actually thought that as well. Looked into it and there isn't :/

Dude needs to go stick his head in a hole somewhere. Think him decking from his ill attempted free solo knocked a bunch of stuff loose. Writing isn't that good either.

I was lucky enough to be trying Midnight Lightning when Ron Kauk came to touch up the bolt one time in the summer of 2004, it was awesome to be that close to a legend. It's really sad that someone thought they had the right to remove a piece of history. Of course it will be drawn back, but hopefully this doesn't become a common occurrence.

And to profess that you did it at night when no one was looking, real brave...

What a mook

Here's the blogger's post on supertopo about it:

supertopo.com/climbers-foru…

Are we positive he ACTUALLY got rid of the bolt, or does anyone else think this feels like a way just to get more clicks to a website? Negative attention is still attention, and the search engines will love that. He was pretty quick to say that it was redrawn...anybody happen to have a picture of the "new" bolt in comparison to the old one?

I just can't see how someone can just erase a huge piece of history like that and not even think twice before doing it or asking anyone. It just seems like it can't be real.

He is just a coward who wants attention, its a piece of climbing history that is now gone. If he really thought it was the right thing to do why not go out in broad daylight instead of sneaking around at night.

Move on with your lives.

That's an order.

Besides general douchebaggery...why go into the importance and history of the problem and then intersperse it with the narration of removing said history?

I can't wait to climb Midnight Lightning and re-draw the bolt...