The Force of Friction: Understanding Lightning and How to Avoid It
Some of the biggest dangers the mountaineer will encounter are life-threatening weather conditions. Storms constantly rake high mountain peaks in summer months, and climbers every year experience the chilling scenario of being exposed on a high ridge while electricity reigns supreme over every force and every human thought.
In a 1989 interview, climber Jules Eichorn recounts his story on aptly named Thunderbolt Peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. As he descended the summit pinnacle, a deafening bolt of lightning struck the peak, flashing “just past my right ear!” the climber recalled. That climbing party also encountered humming static electricity and flashing blue sparks in the rocks (Burns and Porcella 217). This phenomenon is known as St. Elmo’s fire (“St. Elmo’s”).
When we encountered St. Elmo’s fire in Colorado, we threw off all the metal we were carrying and got into lightning position. There we sat, huddled on the high ridge, vulnerable and exposed . . .
St. Elmo’s fire is a mysterious, blue, flame-like tint that appears on pointed rocks, ship masts, airplane wings, and even animal horns! While sailors used to believe that the light meant good luck, St. Elmo’s fire often indicates an impending lightning strike. A buzzing noise and a smell of ozone often accompany St. Elmo's fire. It can only occur when very high voltages are present; in other words, in a very bad storm. Electricity passing through nitrogen and oxygen in the air emits the blue light (“St. Elmo’s”).
But how is electricity generated in a storm?
It all starts at sunrise. The hot sun warms air near the ground, and causes the warmed air to rise into the atmosphere. Condensation from the warm air and cold air already in the atmosphere forms white, puffy cumulus clouds. By the afternoon, the cumulus clouds have packed themselves together, and the forming thunderhead has grown taller and taller. In the cold, high atmosphere, the top of the thunderhead freezes and appears wispy from the ground.
The stage is set for an intense thunderstorm. Lightweight ice crystals float higher in the cloud and heavy hail and rain drop lower. As the different kinds of precipitation collide with one another, they develop an electrical charge. As the positively charged ice crystals continue to float higher, the top of the thunderhead becomes positive and the bottom of the cloud becomes negative. Some positive ice crystals get trapped beneath the negatively charged cloud bottom, charging the ground beneath negative. By this time, the air cannot keep the different charges from interacting. The air is ionized. Lightning sparks between all the different charges – positive to negative or negative to positive. Intra-cloud lightning sparks between the positive cloud top and the negative cloud middle. Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes from positive cloud bottom to negatively charged ground. In the USA, there are around 25 million flashes of lightning every year (Natl. Weather Service).
Now that you know what you’re up against, it’s time to learn about lightning prevention, safety, and treatment. A general rule observed by many Colorado climbers is to be off the summit by noon. This principle draws on the fact that most storms begin around noon, but it is more accurate to know specific weather trends in your area. If you do not have an understanding of local weather, observing this rule can often prevent
dangerous storm conditions (Roach vii).
When watching clouds for signs of deteriorating weather, keep in mind the following guidelines. When fluffy white cumulus clouds begin to stack up to form a towering cumulonimbus, it’s time to monitor the newly formed thunderhead carefully. If the cloud forms a dark, flat bottom and has a defined, crisp top, then the cloud may not be too serious yet, but could still change rapidly. However, a thunderhead with a wispy top and a lumpy bottom is a very dangerous warning sign (Gooley 134).
If you are caught in a lightning storm, there are still things you can do. Obviously, the best safety measure in a storm is to get indoors – a car will work if nothing else is available (Gooley 140).
When caught in the wilderness with no time to relocate, get into lightning position. Place your feet on an insulating pad, backpack, or on snow and point your toes downhill. Temporarily get rid of any metal you are carrying, like ice axes or trekking poles. Squat low with your feet close together and your elbows on your knees. Hold your hands over your ears – this will prevent ear injury from loud thunder (Schimelpfenig 194). In this position, electrical ground currents will take the easier path through your arms instead of hitting your vital organs (Roach viii).
There are five ways to be injured by lightning:
Direct Hit: A lightning bolt strikes a person; usually fatal.
Lightning "splash": A lightning bolt strikes a nearby tree or rock and electricity 'jumps to a person; can be fatal.
Direct Transmission: A person comes into contact with an electrically charged object that has been struck; the human body does not retain a charge.
Ground Current: Electricity flows through the ground and into a person; most common cause of injury.
Blunt Trauma from Shock Waves: A shock wave hits a person, knocking them over.
(Schimelpfenig 189).
The treatment for all these kinds of injuries is the same – treat what you find. This may include burns or broken bones from blunt trauma. For most lightning victims CPR is necessary to get the heart beating again. All lightning strike victims should be evacuated for trained medical care (Schimelpfenig 191, 194).
As we sat, huddled on the snowy ridge in Colorado, the air hummed around us with static electricity. There was nothing we could do but crouch in lightning position and pray. We were so vulnerable against 200 to 300 million volts of electricity . . .
A lightning bolt is Five times hotter than the surface of the sun – 50,000
degrees Fahrenheit (Natl. Weather Service)!
This kind of radiant power reminds me of the fact that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). In the radiant power of His awesome presence, we would wither away at once. God’s infinitely holy, consuming, flaming power should produce fear in us, and “[t]he fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). With fear comes sorrow at disobeying such a God by breaking His Law. God’s Law shows us that lying, stealing, committing adultery (or looking with lust at someone you’re not married to), and failing to love God above everything else are all sins that God cannot stand to look at (Exodus 20:3, 14-16; Habakkuk 1:13; Matthew 5:27-28). If you have broken any of His commands, the Judge of the Universe has to justly send you to punishment in Hell (Revelation 20:13-14).
But “godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). God sent His Son Jesus to take your punishment for your sin on Himself, even though He never sinned. Jesus’ death satisfied God’s consuming flaming anger. Jesus was buried but came back to life, proving His power over death! By replacing our sinful lives with trustful, believing lives that look to Jesus fully, we accept Jesus’ work and will live forever in Heaven! The blood of Jesus shields us from God’s burning, terrifying, consuming nature (Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Before too long, the humming static electricity ceased and the bright edge of the storm cloud came nearer. We picked ourselves up and scrambled along the ridge to a summit bathed in sunshine!
For more details on the story of our encounter with St. Elmo's fire in Colorado, click here!
Works Cited:
Burns, Cameron M., and Stephen F. Porcella. Climbing California's Fourteeners. Rev. ed., The Mountaineers, 2008.
Gooley, Tristan. The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs: Use Outdoor Clues to Find Your Way, Predict the Weather, Locate Water, Track Animals -- and Other Forgotten Skills. Sceptre, 2014.
Roach, Gerry. Colorado's 14ers: from Hikes to Climbs. Chicago Review Press, Inc., 2022.
Schimelpfenig, Todd. NOLS Wilderness Medicine. 7th ed., Stackpole Books, 2021.
"St. Elmo's Fire." Wikipedia, 20 May 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Elmo%27s_fire
"Understanding Lightning Science." National Weather Service. https://www.weather.gov/safety/lightning-science-overview. Accessed 24 June 2026
Photos by Jenny and Joshua Venturo
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.
