Midnight Buttress
- 5 routes
- 5.4 – 5.10c
- Top Rope · Trad
- Apr–Oct
- best months
Midnight Buttress is a climbing area in Blue Mounds State Park in southeastern Minnesota, managed by the state's park and recreation agency. It sits among a cluster of similar-named buttresses, including Yellow Lichen Buttress, Sunday Buttress and Chimney Buttress, each about a tenth of a mile away. The area's climbing runs from about 5.4 to 5.10c, with five routes on record. Of these, Midnight Chimney (5.4) and The Obvious Crack (5.7) are top-roped, while Easy Street (5.6) and Mean Streak (5.10a) are trad. Prow-ess (5.10c) is the hardest of the bunch, and it is also a top-rope route. Summer is the most comfortable time to visit. Typical averages from the nearby Rock Rapids, Iowa weather station show July highs around 85°F with lows near 62°F, while January highs sit around 25°F. Because the climbing is grouped closely together, a day at Midnight Buttress can easily stretch into several areas. South Quarry Area and Prairie Walls Area are both within a tenth of a mile.
- Bottom Boulders ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- Yellow Lichen ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- Sunday ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- Many Cracks ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- Chimney ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- Saturday ButtressRock climbing0.1 mi
- South Quarry AreaRock climbing0.1 mi
- Prairie Walls AreaRock climbing0.1 mi
Source: Roamze catalog (indexable pages within 10 miles, PostGIS distance)
- Saturday ButtressRock climbing · Next door
- South Quarry AreaRock climbing · Next door
- Prairie Walls AreaRock climbing · Next door
- First FortressRock climbing · Next door
- L-ButtressRock climbing · Next door
- Bouldering @ Blue MoundsRock climbing · Next door
- Kanaranzi Buttress (South Face)Rock climbing · Next door
- Orc WallRock climbing · Next door
- Bison ButtressRock climbing · Next door
- Primitive ButtressRock climbing · Next door
Also worth it near here
- Blue Mound State Park Tipi and Cart-In CampgroundCamping · ~2 min drive
Rock RiverCanoeing · ~33 min drivePhoto: Don Graham from Redlands, CA, USA - God bless it!, CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Great Bear Recreation ParkDownhill skiing · ~44 min drivePhoto: Jake DeGroot, CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Sioux FallsWaterfall · ~49 min drivePhoto: Clyde Charles Brown, CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
Best time to visit Midnight Buttress
Best months: April–October. Best months have typical highs of 55–85 °F, lows of 30 °F or warmer (32 °F where the station doesn't record snow), at most one snowy day and no more than 12 wet days.
Jan
25° / 6°
5 wet
Feb
30° / 10°
5 wet
Mar
43° / 22°
6 wet
Apr
58° / 34°
9 wet
May
70° / 47°
12 wet
Jun
81° / 58°
10 wet
Jul
85° / 62°
8 wet
Aug
82° / 59°
8 wet
Sep
75° / 50°
7 wet
Oct
61° / 36°
6 wet
Nov
44° / 23°
5 wet
Dec
30° / 12°
5 wet
Typical high / low (°F) and days with rain or snow, 1991–2020. Measured at Rock Rapids, IA, 18.6 mi away at 1,350 ft. This station doesn't record snowfall. Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020.
