Discussion Topic |
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radical
Novice climber
cult county
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 9, 2002 - 01:47pm PT
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It almost makes me sick.
A little group of brainless, programmed ninny's standing around midnight lightning all day.
Crash pads down, everyone grunting and swearing and acting stupid. Taking 30 minute rests, only to get two moves off the ground so they can rest, swear and stare at this stupid, polished piece of rock for another 30 minutes.
Lets save these poor pathetic souls from themselves. Lets blow up Midnight lightning so they can see a world of life, wonder and love that awaits them beyond this boulder problem.
All right, granted it probably won't do anything for these poor souls. They will move onto something even more inane, annoying and boring in life. But at least I won't have see them every time I take a crap in camp 4. No matter how appropriate that may be.
radical
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rock kicker
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 9, 2002 - 06:01pm PT
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what a dumb ass thing to post about-
"let's destroy a magical piece of YV history just because we aren't into climbing what/how/when those other guys are into climbing"
(because we are the cool ones & those guys are just fools?)
i guess ron kauk is a fool too, & his pblm there is just so much obtrusive debris, rather than a world famous classic & a piece of climbing history...
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radical
Intermediate climber
damnation
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Topic Author's Reply - May 10, 2002 - 08:44am PT
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5 posts BR!!!!! Can you belive it?
And who will stand for the honor of Yosemite? Who will die for Him?
Will you????????
I will be at Reed's tommorow with the Bull Dozers and cement trucks...It will be a nice dam, but don't worry you can still climb the top 10 pitchs of El cap..
You'll just need a canoe !!!!!
For shame, for shame..Judus would be proud.
radical
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Jay
Novice climber
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May 10, 2002 - 12:54pm PT
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Hey Rad, please dose the Hetch Hetchy dam while you’re at it. Some nice climbs up there need drying out.
Don’t MESS with Midnight Lightning!
…or something like that. There’s got to be a brainless motto that would cap this one off quite well, but I’m getting rapper’s block.
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Sentinel
Novice climber
San Carlos
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Topic Author's Reply - May 10, 2002 - 06:40pm PT
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Yea!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Rad! I live in El Portal and I say yes!!! I bet Ron wouldn't even care. The rest of you weekend Warriors go home and stay in your Gym. I concure with the guy who says "Take that steamer". Hey ya whats nice about female boulders???? They arlready have the matress on their back. Just push em over and make the moves. I think some women boulder for that fact alone. Have matress will spot.
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Crimper
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - May 10, 2002 - 07:12pm PT
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...FEMALE BOULDERS...?
I didn't know rocks could have gender... or at least they don't teach that in geology but then again, we have to be PC about everything these days...
boulderers? I like female boulderers, especially with boulders.
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Michelle
Trad climber
the f*#king peninsula.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 02:11am PT
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Wait, can't forget the bouldering crowd. Some rants don't change over the years..
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 02:26am PT
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ML is on Columbia Boulder. CB is big. Take a lot of dynomite/nitro/c4 explosive or whatever. maybe over the 4th of "youlie" (as JB wud say). I was still hoping to pull it off as a geriatric feat. prollie never happen tho. Wudevah.
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fsck
climber
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Sep 20, 2012 - 02:55am PT
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commission a sculptor to carve it into the head of warren harding, mt. rushmore-style. a fine centerpeice for camp sunnyside.
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:00am PT
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toadgas,
what kind of style? many tries over a period of time as i recall.
yabo first spotted it. kauk first sent it.
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Tetrapod
Social climber
bob, bob
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:05am PT
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Radical makes a point here.
Yeah, a decade ago.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Sep 20, 2012 - 05:10am PT
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Blow it up, I don't care, I already dun that route
Hey tetrapod, you callin' me slow?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 20, 2012 - 09:40am PT
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Yep......make sure you shape the charges to get all the swearing, sweating pad dudes in the vicinity.
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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Sep 20, 2012 - 09:40am PT
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I miss radical.
Whatever happened to that guy?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Sep 20, 2012 - 10:27am PT
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If you could make sure you place the charges so it ends up with 6-8 cracks on the overhanging ML side, ranging from tips to fists and a 4"er, that would be great.
We can call them the Rye Cracker, Saltine Cracker, Ritz Cracker, etc.
KTHXBAI.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Sep 20, 2012 - 10:38am PT
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Camp 4 needs more boulders, more slacklines, and more weirdos to maintain the groovy scene. BUT ... what needs to be done is to allow backcountry camping in the talus.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Sep 20, 2012 - 10:47am PT
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Maybe you could just knock some holds off it so it could be V-14 or so, and thus retain it's bite as a high-end boulder problem
A modest proposal
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Sep 20, 2012 - 11:44am PT
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We may never know....
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Bullwinkle
Boulder climber
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:18pm PT
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Well, like that's your opinion, dude.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:21pm PT
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You guys hadn't heard of the Columbia Boulder restoration project, which will occur during FaceLift? To clean off 60 years of accumulated climber debris and damage. The plan is to hoist the boulder, move it about 100 m east to protect sites 30, 32 and 34 from rockfall, and flip it upside down. There'll be a host of new problems, and maybe even buried treasure where it used to be.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:26pm PT
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should midnight lightning be blown up ?????? Why is it leaking air? I didn't know it was inflatable.
Huh, leaking and inflatable, interesting analogue for the egos of the grunting, swearing pad people hanging around on it all day
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WBraun
climber
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:36pm PT
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Why is it leaking air? I didn't know it was inflatable.
Good one
+1111
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:39pm PT
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http://youtu.be/Z7rXPjWfjvE
Speaking of leaking air, this should clear out the riff raff.
Thanks to the Hankster for the vid.
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murcy
Gym climber
sanfrancisco
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:47pm PT
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I think I get it. It's silly for these people to flock to Yosemite to test themselves on an iconic climb, especially with modern advantages that ease the difficulty and commitment. They should aspire to Astroman or The Nose instead.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:51pm PT
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This is kind of an amusing thread, silly as it is. Columbia Boulder
sits there so large, like an overly large adam's apple,
stuck in a climber's throat, there to nemesis the consciousness
or unconscious of climbers. Understandable that some would hate that
beautiful accomplishment Midnight Lightning,but
it is an affront to mediocrity. Many of my friends have climbed
it in good style, Chris Jones, John Sherman, Hans, Lynn Hill..., I
don't know why it never drew me to it to at least try. I've never
even felt the first holds, but I think some part of me likes to
think the route is just there now as a monument to Ron and John and
their years of life in the Valley. When I pass by that rock actually
I think of Barry Bates and his route on the north side. I think of
routes Royal, Steck, Chouinard, and others did on the west side,
without incredible shoes and without chalk.
I think of Pratt who climbed the big highball lichen slab on the
upper-right west side in army boots one night drunk. I even did a
new route on the rock in my heyday, '67, on that left-hand overhang of
the west face. John Long did the route with a more difficult start,
when a boulder at the bottom got removed. What an iconic piece of
granite and probably the biggest thing to come sailing down from
the upper reaches. Maybe the Wine Boulder is bigger...? All one has
to do is stroll by Columbia Boulder and sense some of the precious
history. Don't try to equal it, don't try to surpass it. You can't.
Those were different days. To climb 5.9 in the '50s was comparable
to doing 5.14 today. Everything's relative to the age. Hold onto
the history, keep it alive, appreciate your predecessors.... Take
your own measure of light and bask in its warm gift.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:56pm PT
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 12:59pm PT
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Who is this radical?
He is still here and still whining ... he's just shifted his focus! lol
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:01pm PT
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Well said Pat, nice perspective. Something for the "Me" generation to contemplate. :)
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:03pm PT
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10b4me
Ice climber
dingy room at the Happy boulders hotel
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:08pm PT
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Just make it self inflating
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Ropeboy
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:15pm PT
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That is a really big chunk of granite to stay in one piece after falling and rolling onto the valley floor. I would guess there a few tree trunks and perhaps a very flat squirrel underneath it.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:25pm PT
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I know how to shape C4......off for a few day climbing trip but I'll be available soon.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:44pm PT
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I loved the opportunity to watch someone send the ML in the dark with a headlamp two nites back. I loathe bouldering and it's the most silly thing to see wee pads now. It is like I am the hippo fart, long-winded and really spraying, I know. I never had much use for the crowded and ego-centric groups, and honestly, it is because I lacked the requisite strength to compete. Raise your hands, those who feel the same. My envy and spite knew no bounds and no boulderer, from Gill and Kampsand Bates and Kauk on down gained my respect by performing many feet off the ground.
I love Buttermilk more than I can express and it pains me to see the named given to boulders, essentially. No hands variants of certain problems, doing problems upside down or backwards, it's all showing off, don't frigging dress it up. It's human potential being driven to its mmad modern max. It's a game in which we devise not only boulder problems but incomprehensible (Rick, I did it!) and elaborate systems to compare problems' severity. "Not so hard. Hard. Yer gonna die." Simple.
The so-called lightning bolt is a miserably drawn daub that could be carefully removed by a competent art restorer.
There is a ready-made base for a boulder in the area twixt the SAR sites and the Camp 4 Proper (the Camp 4 Proper--use it on the climbs at the top of the talus, like Camp 4 Tree, Terror, etc.). Or we could use it as the base for an outdooorsy little four-sided gym wall, better yet.
A ringing "Amen," Pat.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:50pm PT
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Ever was the time when youth would pine,
Standing in clan to take the measure of the man.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 01:55pm PT
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Every boulder is inevitably nothing more than billions of grains of sand mixed in with a few molecules of chalk.
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Gilwad
climber
Frozen In Somewhere
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:14pm PT
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Blowing up Midnight Lightnight doesn't go remotely far enough. Why, every time I open a climbing rag there are pictures of some over-heated, over-populated, over-shot, over-exposed, over-done, over-remininsced about, etc., ditch in the dirt.
Blowing up Midnight lightning would only free those obsessed with a small boulder. A much better solution would be to dam the whole valley and free a much larger group obsessing over a few square miles of rock. And the lake would be awesome; great swimming, deep water soloing the top of El Cap, no more annoying base jumpers opening, I wouldn't have to read about some punter soloing some ancient POS aid route like it's a big deal, etc. If blowing up midnight lightning would save the boulderers from their small world view then surely damming Yosemite valley would save far more present and past souls who orbit around it like braying cows on some over-licked block of mineral salts? Outside of the United States Yosemite rates somewhere between a, "Where?" and a, "Oh, the Huber Brothers Place." Not many would truly miss it, and yet so many would be free!
And someone will probably take the above as seriously as the post that started this topic, grin... Looking forward to another valley trip next year, what the hell. Still haven't sent Midnight LIghtning.
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Michelle
Trad climber
the f*#king peninsula.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:15pm PT
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I thought you might like this Riley!
I prefer the Warren Harding bust idea best.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:22pm PT
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Gilwad, I disagree.
While waterskiing alongside the Captain sounds fun the lake would preclude new off road vehicle trails which, everybody knows, is what all tourists love most.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Sep 20, 2012 - 03:35pm PT
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My hard-won expertise at removing graffiti should come in handy when removing the lightning bolt. (I'll bring the needed supplies to the FaceLift.) Carving the rock into busts of (say) Muir, Brower, Robbbins and a fourth person, might provide an attraction for tourists - a real money maker. Probably the naming rights would be quite valuable, too.
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 05:42pm PT
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MH - Muir, Brower, Robbins and a fourth person. Muir, Brower, Robbins & Yabo!
edit: ML is Yabo's legacy (in a nutshell) to C4. ML & its chalked lightning bolt symbol will continue to abide FoEvah, just like JFK's eternal flame at Arlington!
btw, JY was the epitomy of the "dirtbag" climber lifestyle, imo! And whatever connotation you apply to the dirtbag moniker, Yabo had a heart of gold and would have given YOU his last dime if you were in need of it.
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The Alpine
climber
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Sep 20, 2012 - 09:57pm PT
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I've never seen the beta Ron used in that vid. He skipped the mantle and just reached for some crimp.
Lynn on that thing is poetry in motion.
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 11:02pm PT
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splitter
Trad climber
Hodad, surfing the galactic plane
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Sep 20, 2012 - 11:13pm PT
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Sep 21, 2012 - 08:14am PT
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Didn't Paul Ryan climb midnight Lightning in flip flops?
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Sep 21, 2012 - 08:31am PT
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yea tis true philo
only he stood on obama's shoulders
so he could reach clinton's out-stretched hand
who was already summitted
and with the help of these two men,
the little boy was elated.
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Sep 21, 2012 - 09:18am PT
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Blowing up Midnight lightning would only free those obsessed with a small boulder. A much better solution would be to dam the whole valley and free a much larger group obsessing over a few square miles of rock.
Won't work.
Worship of The Bolt has reached Dome of the Rock-proportions. You could nuke it off the earth and the faithful would still gather to worship the blasted earth where it once stood.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 21, 2012 - 09:36am PT
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Sincere: free of deceit.
From Latin, the word literally means "without wax"--sin cera, so PR is going to try it in waxed or un-waxed skis? Typical. No straight answer.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Sep 21, 2012 - 10:32am PT
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I want one! Where can I get MY Blow-up Midnight LighteningŪ?
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Michelle
Trad climber
the f*#king peninsula.
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Sep 21, 2012 - 10:36am PT
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Dude, I want one too! Fyi, your box of Bieber videos will be going out today.
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rectorsquid
climber
Lake Tahoe
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Sep 21, 2012 - 10:42am PT
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Lets save these poor pathetic souls from themselves. Lets blow up Midnight lightning so they can see a world of life, wonder and love that awaits them beyond this boulder problem.
Would it be better if they stood around watching other people trying to climb it while complaining about it?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Sep 21, 2012 - 11:28am PT
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Frankly speaking, this problem would likely be insignificant in any other location in the Camp. The fact it's so huge and dominates the place is the reason for its popularity.
And really close to the head!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 14, 2017 - 01:23am PT
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Steve Roper writing on bouldering in Camp 4
Ch. 7, "The Salamanders: 1961-1964"
"Two of Camp 4's boulders loomed above all the others. COLUMBIA BOULDER, the biggest, stood near the center of the camp, and it had no easy routes. We practiced on this thirty-foot-high giant constantly, making only one or two routes with consistency.
"One route, the Robbins' Pullup, especially intrigued us. Robbins had done the route back in the mid-fifties but had been unable to repeat it, and no one else had either. The fifteen foot problem overhung crazily on its lower part; a lieback/pinch-grip pullup was the only real hold to start out with, but it would obviously take super-human strength to make the move.
"One day in 1960 we all were standing around in the beautiful late-afternoon light, biding our time on the boulders before either cooking or heading for the lodge. A fellow named Harry Daley, and occasional partner of Robbins, strode over to the problem.
"We giggled behind his back, for Daley was hardly the strongest among us. He placed his hands up on the pinch-grip and tentatively plastered a foot on a microhold. So far, so good. We'd all gone this far. We smiled condescendingly. Then, incredibly, he pulled up and lunged for an edge far above. He gripped this and levitated upward. He'd made it! We stood with mouths open before bursting into a cheer."
And then the whole rock blew into fragments...
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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Jan 14, 2017 - 06:43am PT
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The Verm was supposed to attempt it last month. Does anyone know if he sent it?
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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Jan 14, 2017 - 10:42am PT
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I haven't hug around Camp4 too much, but over the last decade with a few tens of times in the area, it's been empty. Maybe because I'm mostly around there in the winter?
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Jan 14, 2017 - 08:28pm PT
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It prolly ain't to greasy bout now. And prolly has some pretty good lofty landings! But 3ft of snow brings it down to a 5:9🙄
VVVedit: well when it's 80deg out they are prolly 3 grades harder!? I jus meant now while it's freezing the rock might be stickier
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jstan
climber
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Jan 14, 2017 - 08:43pm PT
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All the greasy polished stuff over on Sunnyside Bench is two grades harder now than it was back in the 60's. You think M/L is going to be different?
Mind you I never tried M/L. I rather like having my tendons connected to something.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jan 14, 2017 - 10:22pm PT
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Tis the winter of our disconnected tendons.
2-way traffic on Northside back then.
They changed it the next year, I think.
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chainsaw
Trad climber
CA
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Jan 16, 2017 - 08:47am PT
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I was there the night Jason put up "After Midnight" on that thing. What a cool guy. He lent us his monster pad during an afternoon rest. He even encouraged us to try and use his beta to finish it for the FA. My partner was one of the first V10 boulderers and Jay knew it. But it was more important to him that we give it a go than his FA. Truly chivalrous. I didnt even try it since Im not that strong and didnt reaaly want to get spanked. Vic and Jason took turns and shared beta. He let us use his pad to keep trying while he went to rest in his van for a couple hours. That night at Marys Pizza Shack, the guy insisted that all of us dirtbags have dinner with him and his supercool climber girlfriend. They were driving his zebra van. Jason got the route the next day. That guy is visionary. Must have been around 2008-9. THAT dude is original. Most folks on the lightning are posers, wannabees or sandbagger show offs. But Kheel just wanted to conquer the stone. His wild hair and radical personality are not even contrived. Hes got a flair for the artistic and dramatic in his blood. Yet a humble man when outside the realm of cameras. Bouldering has become so cliche these days. Most of the pebble restlers cant fly anyway. When Rangers wanna hassle someone, the boulderers get spanked. When will they realize that when youre roped up, you can do whatever you want in the valley and not get shakedown by the cheese?
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nathanael
climber
CA
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Jun 15, 2017 - 09:18pm PT
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https://vimeo.com/180518560
I know this is a vimeo link so I can't embed it, but it's really quite hilarious you should check it out.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jun 16, 2017 - 03:51am PT
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"It's really quite hilarious."
You've a gift for understatement, N.
My bet's he'll get down to 170 and does the thing.
-"Berms"
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Anyway, it's probably time to come clean (so to speak) about the whole lightning bolt thing, now that the statute of limitations has expired. Seems like an awful fuss about a bit of chalk, but whatever. The first time I was in Yosemite, in 1974, I slept right under what became Midnight Lightning. It was summer, so not much worry about the weather. The flake lying beneath it made it a nice cozy niche where I stashed my sleeping bag and pad during the day. They were a bit hard to find at night, in those pre-headlamp days, so I mooched a bit of white chalk and drew a zigzag line on the rock above, pointing to them. A year or two later I got to know JB - we played chess together at the lounge, and I guess I mentioned it to him. There was only a bit left of my chalk zigzag by then, but perhaps it stimulated an idea? Did I inadvertently help create a monster?
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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it's def your obligation to keep it fresh and white now then innit?
:-)
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Mike Honcho
Trad climber
Glenwood Springs, CO
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Frankly speaking, this problem would likely be insignificant in any other location in the Camp.
Fully wrong. Midnight Lightning is a great boulder problem(I'm not even a true bouldering fan), but the moves and line would be considered classic regardless of the location. Just my 1 centavo..
Caylor
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Nov 11, 2017 - 03:53pm PT
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Uber classic problem anywhere, I totally agree.
I was on hand when Skip Guerin did the first nonlocal (third person to do it) ascent and cheered him on. I remember Banny, Fig and me were around and that was about it. Fig chuckled and remarked that "Bachar is going to lose some sleep tonight."
Blowing that exit move was fairly serious business with no pads.
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gunsmoke
Mountain climber
Clackamas, Oregon
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Nov 11, 2017 - 09:12pm PT
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Old Man Lightning
R Restricted
SOME CONTENT MAY BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR SPORT CLIMBERS
LOL
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