5 ms·

10-year-old Colorado girl is the youngest to scale Yosemite’s famed El Capitan

17 points by HillaryBriss 7y ago

robbrown451 7y ago
I'm pretty far from a helicopter parent, but I draw the line at El Capitan.
- gameswithgo 7y ago
  I'm not sure how dangerous this is. Its an aid assisted climb, so ropes are on, and taut the whole time. Climber uses the gear to get up. Assuming an adult is checking the gear all the way up it shouldn't be that crazy. It just takes a long time and is strenuous.
  - jonny_eh 7y ago
    I had a friend die at Yosemite due to a falling rock. She was wearing a helmet too.
    - gameswithgo 7y ago
      yeah, and bad weather is a risk too. But riding a bike and other kid things face similar risks.
    - warp_factor 7y ago
      I had a friend die in Silicon Valley due to a car crash. he was wearing his safety belt too.
adam12 7y ago
What is the age of consent for something like this?
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  Nonexistent.
- Someone1234 7y ago
  That's not a thing. The closest thing might be Child Endangerment (or similar depending on jurisdiction) but I'd argue with the safety gear she had on it wouldn't pass the "reasonable person" test. Which is to say a reasonable person wouldn't find it unsafe to climb El Capitan with full safety gear, an experienced adult climber, and experience climbing smaller peaks herself.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
gilbetron 7y ago
My son has gotten 2 solo Victory Royales in Fortnite, he's 10, too. Some people seem a different (superior) species.
- danaur 7y ago
  No doubt some people do crazy things but I feel like the primary thing that enabled this is money and time
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    This. And committed parents. This is a lot of training and committed parents. I'm doing a lot of aid climbing myself and anyone could be good at aid climbing if enough training and commitment is put inside it.
jfengel 7y ago
It's an impressive feat, but this article fails to mention that she wasn't "climbing" in the sense that most people use the term. She was jumaring, where you use devices to climb up a fixed rope. It's exhausting and not without skill, but it's not at all like free climbing by holding onto the rock. (See, for example, https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/10-year-old-girl-climbs-yosemite-el-capitan/index.html https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/10-year-old-girl-climbs-y...) (Free climbers use ropes, but only to arrest falls, not to climb up. Free soloers like Alex Honnold don't even use that protection, though that's very rare and incredibly dangerous. This is "aid climbing" with ascenders. It does have dangers of its own: protection points can fail, and she's wearing a helmet because rocks do fall.)
- krisrm 7y ago
  Indeed... imo, an aided climb* of 600ft/day is not "climbing El Capitan", that's just quite a lot of rope climbing. *edit - should have written jumaring
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    Aid climbing is not jumaring though. It means you use tools to get up. Most of the time the face is blank and you still need to get up painfully and add all the protections to go up little by little (aid climbing leading). Sometimes for higher grades of aid climbing (C3,A4,A5) this is very scary as there is almost nothing to hold on and you are literally pulling on very small hooks that barely rest on the side of the rock. In this specific case I'm pretty sure that the two adults took the leads and the girl followed jumaring behind.
    - krisrm 7y ago
      You're quite right - I mistyped.
corndoge 7y ago
Good climb. BBC reported it as a free climb which is inaccurate though. She used ascenders
- module0000 7y ago
  A free climb by a 10-year old seems (sadly) a way to have DHS come and take your kid away afterwards :( I'm still impressed, even with ascending devices. For being 10 years old, that shows a lot of patience and deliberation.
barking 7y ago
Are these people all putting those bolts to hold ropes into the face of the rock? It's getting pretty stupid when fathers are taking their ten year old daughters up the climb. If it's dangerous it should be unlawful, if it's not then what's the point?
- warp_factor 7y ago
  driving is dangerous so it should be unlawful.
  - NeedMoreTea 7y ago
    It is unlawful for 10 year olds to drive.
    - warp_factor 7y ago
      Only because it also could potentially endanger other people. And it is legal to have a 10 year old as a passenger in a car which is what happened in this case on the climb.
      - barking 7y ago
        They restrict driving on mountains to stop erosion. These climbers are driving metal bolts into a beautiful mountain face. That's got to be doing some harm as well as not looking very nice.
        warp_factor 7y ago
        Bolting is an ethical issue that is discussed at length in the climbing community. The ethics are very strong in Yosemite and therefore there are almost no bolts and all the climbs are done using removable gear. (also called trad gear). I'm also baffled that you compared a couple micro pieces of metal to the disruption that a road provides to the environment. Or even compared to skiing resorts, mountain bike trails etc. In my experience climbers are some of the most ecologically respectful people out there.
jwagenet 7y ago
For those interested, the Alpinist article from a week ago has much more detail (and some history).[0] It looks like she led the first pitch of 5.7 free climbing and an A0 (easy aid climbing) bolt ladder. She otherwise followed and cleaned/removed gear for her father and a family friend in the party, who appear to be experienced. They planned for 4 days, but completed in 5. My understanding is this is a standard pace for amateurs and they were even outpacing other parties. The primary difficulties for a kid, besides the technical climbing, are maintaining focus for 5 days on the wall 1000s of feet up and sleeping on a small ledge, and carrying a large amount of heavy gear, relative to bodyweight. [0] http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/newswire-10-year-old-selah-schneiter-summits-nose http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/newswire-10-year-old-sela...
warp_factor 7y ago
I'm here to watch all the comments about "child endangerment" which are coming straight from American helicopter parent culture. I'm really shocked at how most parents want the safest environment possible for their child so they don't even get any challenge in their everyday life. I saw children with helmets walking in the street. I got snarky comments from people when I said I was hiking in the woods with my kids. ("This is irresponsible: what would happen if you got lost with your kids"). I want my kids to try things even if they might be dangerous from time to time. There is nothing great about living an ultra safe dull life.
- Someone1234 7y ago
  > I'm here to watch all the comments about "child endangerment" which are coming straight from American helicopter parent culture. At the time of replying (21 minutes after this post) there have been absolutely none of those on here. Literally zero. The one post asking if there's a minimum age doesn't even do that. I don't think it is particularly constructive to assume people will post a certain way then brag that you "[came] here to watch [it]." Further it isn't constructive to preemptively stereotype anyone who would make such a post ("American helicopter parent"). I'd politely suggest you review the "In Comments" guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html The first line applies here.
- Bakary 7y ago
  Sheltering your kids is one of the worst things you can do to them. I am the living embodiment of that lesson. On a more philosophical level, Nietzsche made the argument that the inevitable background suffering of life did not justify a humdrum existence.

17 points by HillaryBriss 7y ago

robbrown451 7y ago

I'm pretty far from a helicopter parent, but I draw the line at El Capitan.

gameswithgo 7y ago
I'm not sure how dangerous this is. Its an aid assisted climb, so ropes are on, and taut the whole time. Climber uses the gear to get up. Assuming an adult is checking the gear all the way up it shouldn't be that crazy. It just takes a long time and is strenuous.
- jonny_eh 7y ago
  I had a friend die at Yosemite due to a falling rock. She was wearing a helmet too.
  - gameswithgo 7y ago
    yeah, and bad weather is a risk too. But riding a bike and other kid things face similar risks.
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    I had a friend die in Silicon Valley due to a car crash. he was wearing his safety belt too.

adam12 7y ago

What is the age of consent for something like this?

ceejayoz 7y ago
Nonexistent.
Someone1234 7y ago
That's not a thing. The closest thing might be Child Endangerment (or similar depending on jurisdiction) but I'd argue with the safety gear she had on it wouldn't pass the "reasonable person" test. Which is to say a reasonable person wouldn't find it unsafe to climb El Capitan with full safety gear, an experienced adult climber, and experience climbing smaller peaks herself.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

gilbetron 7y ago

My son has gotten 2 solo Victory Royales in Fortnite, he's 10, too. Some people seem a different (superior) species.

danaur 7y ago
No doubt some people do crazy things but I feel like the primary thing that enabled this is money and time
- warp_factor 7y ago
  This. And committed parents. This is a lot of training and committed parents. I'm doing a lot of aid climbing myself and anyone could be good at aid climbing if enough training and commitment is put inside it.

jfengel 7y ago

It's an impressive feat, but this article fails to mention that she wasn't "climbing" in the sense that most people use the term. She was jumaring, where you use devices to climb up a fixed rope. It's exhausting and not without skill, but it's not at all like free climbing by holding onto the rock. (See, for example, https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/10-year-old-girl-climbs-yosemite-el-capitan/index.html https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/10-year-old-girl-climbs-y...) (Free climbers use ropes, but only to arrest falls, not to climb up. Free soloers like Alex Honnold don't even use that protection, though that's very rare and incredibly dangerous. This is "aid climbing" with ascenders. It does have dangers of its own: protection points can fail, and she's wearing a helmet because rocks do fall.)

krisrm 7y ago
Indeed... imo, an aided climb* of 600ft/day is not "climbing El Capitan", that's just quite a lot of rope climbing. *edit - should have written jumaring
- warp_factor 7y ago
  Aid climbing is not jumaring though. It means you use tools to get up. Most of the time the face is blank and you still need to get up painfully and add all the protections to go up little by little (aid climbing leading). Sometimes for higher grades of aid climbing (C3,A4,A5) this is very scary as there is almost nothing to hold on and you are literally pulling on very small hooks that barely rest on the side of the rock. In this specific case I'm pretty sure that the two adults took the leads and the girl followed jumaring behind.
  - krisrm 7y ago
    You're quite right - I mistyped.

corndoge 7y ago

Good climb. BBC reported it as a free climb which is inaccurate though. She used ascenders

module0000 7y ago
A free climb by a 10-year old seems (sadly) a way to have DHS come and take your kid away afterwards :( I'm still impressed, even with ascending devices. For being 10 years old, that shows a lot of patience and deliberation.

barking 7y ago

Are these people all putting those bolts to hold ropes into the face of the rock? It's getting pretty stupid when fathers are taking their ten year old daughters up the climb. If it's dangerous it should be unlawful, if it's not then what's the point?

warp_factor 7y ago
driving is dangerous so it should be unlawful.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  It is unlawful for 10 year olds to drive.
  - warp_factor 7y ago
    Only because it also could potentially endanger other people. And it is legal to have a 10 year old as a passenger in a car which is what happened in this case on the climb.
    - barking 7y ago
      They restrict driving on mountains to stop erosion. These climbers are driving metal bolts into a beautiful mountain face. That's got to be doing some harm as well as not looking very nice.
      - warp_factor 7y ago
        Bolting is an ethical issue that is discussed at length in the climbing community. The ethics are very strong in Yosemite and therefore there are almost no bolts and all the climbs are done using removable gear. (also called trad gear). I'm also baffled that you compared a couple micro pieces of metal to the disruption that a road provides to the environment. Or even compared to skiing resorts, mountain bike trails etc. In my experience climbers are some of the most ecologically respectful people out there.

jwagenet 7y ago

For those interested, the Alpinist article from a week ago has much more detail (and some history).[0] It looks like she led the first pitch of 5.7 free climbing and an A0 (easy aid climbing) bolt ladder. She otherwise followed and cleaned/removed gear for her father and a family friend in the party, who appear to be experienced. They planned for 4 days, but completed in 5. My understanding is this is a standard pace for amateurs and they were even outpacing other parties. The primary difficulties for a kid, besides the technical climbing, are maintaining focus for 5 days on the wall 1000s of feet up and sleeping on a small ledge, and carrying a large amount of heavy gear, relative to bodyweight. [0] http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/newswire-10-year-old-selah-schneiter-summits-nose http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web19s/newswire-10-year-old-sela...

warp_factor 7y ago

I'm here to watch all the comments about "child endangerment" which are coming straight from American helicopter parent culture. I'm really shocked at how most parents want the safest environment possible for their child so they don't even get any challenge in their everyday life. I saw children with helmets walking in the street. I got snarky comments from people when I said I was hiking in the woods with my kids. ("This is irresponsible: what would happen if you got lost with your kids"). I want my kids to try things even if they might be dangerous from time to time. There is nothing great about living an ultra safe dull life.

Someone1234 7y ago
> I'm here to watch all the comments about "child endangerment" which are coming straight from American helicopter parent culture. At the time of replying (21 minutes after this post) there have been absolutely none of those on here. Literally zero. The one post asking if there's a minimum age doesn't even do that. I don't think it is particularly constructive to assume people will post a certain way then brag that you "[came] here to watch [it]." Further it isn't constructive to preemptively stereotype anyone who would make such a post ("American helicopter parent"). I'd politely suggest you review the "In Comments" guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html The first line applies here.
Bakary 7y ago
Sheltering your kids is one of the worst things you can do to them. I am the living embodiment of that lesson. On a more philosophical level, Nietzsche made the argument that the inevitable background suffering of life did not justify a humdrum existence.