Watch Adam Ondra Flash Midnight Lightning V8 in Yosemite
Adam Ondra was recently in Yosemite and made a quick send of Midnight Lightning V8 in Camp Four in Yosemite.
It has been described as the world’s most famous bouldering problem and the first ascent was by Ron Kauk in 1978.
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 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 his right hand. To do that he has to create momentum from stillness.”
The problem had been easily identified by a chalk lightning bolt drawn by John Bachar in 1978 while attempting the problem with John Yablonski and Ron Kauk.
This is part one of Ondra’s trip to America, the climbing starts after half-way through.