Ron Kauk
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Ron Kauk (born 1957) is an American rock climber, associated with Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley, where he lived for decades, now a resident of El Portal, California.
Kauk was born and raised in Redwood City, California
In 1975, he made the first free ascent of the east face of Washington Column with John Long and John Bachar, renaming the route Astroman (5.11c). Astroman held title as the hardest long free route in Yosemite Valley for over 10 years.
Also notable was Separate Reality (5.12a), an intimidating roof crack which Kauk originally climbed in 1978 without camming devices. The same year he put up Midnight Lightning (V8), one of America's best known bouldering problems because of its difficulty and convenient location in the Camp 4 campground.
In the 1980s Kauk spent time in Europe visiting the limestone crags and competing in sport climbing competitions. He saw how European techniques such as red pointing and bolting on rappel could lead to a higher level of climbing difficulty. However, these practices were frowned upon by Yosemite regulars. According to one account,John Bachar chopped the bolts on Punchline (5.12c) which Kauk installed in 1988, causing a fight between the two in the Camp 4 parking lot.
Kauk went on to put up the hardest routes in Yosemite, such as the rap-bolted Crossroads (5.13a) in 1990 and Magic Line (5.14b) which he climbed in 1997 on pre-placed gear. In Tuolumne Meadows he rap-bolted a route that Bachar had started in a ground-up style, provocatively naming the route Peace (5.13c/d).
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