10 Year Old Girl Just Became Youngest Person To Ever Climb El Cap (Did It With Ropes Though, So Does It Really Count?)
Daily Mail - The youngest person to ever to reach the peak of Yosemite’s El Capitan has spoken out about the incredibly ‘emotional’ experience.
Selah Schneiter, 10, from Colorado, reflected on her feat as she appeared on the Today show just one week after the incredible climb.
Asked how she felt when she reached the top, Schneiter reveals she cried at the summit before once again becoming teary-eyed.
‘It was ‘really overwhelming, really emotional,’ she said.
‘I was concerned for her endurance. She’s very little and I know how much work it is to get up the big wall,’ Joy – who fell in love with her daughter’s father while climbing the mountain years back – told TODAY. ‘It’s not just going up 3,000ft, it’s hauling and jugging and sleeping and expose to the sun. It’s lot of energy sapping. So I was worried about her getting tired and wanting to turn back.
The Glenwood Springs girl spent five days scaling the rock face – where more than two dozen climbers have died.
Following the 31-pitch climb she says in a moment captured on video: ‘I want pizza. I’ve been dreaming about it forever.’
Schneiter’s ascent came days after the one year anniversary of the deaths of two best friends and veteran climbing partners who fell from the perilous summit.
This girl is bad ass. Youngest person to ever climb El Cap, at 10 years old. When I was 10 I was still pooping in my pants and hadn’t quite mastered the loop, swoop, and pull yet. Meanwhile Selah is climbing god damn mountains. And not just any mountain, but El Cap. Dedicated climbers, grown ass people, struggle with climbing El Cap. Experienced climbers turn back all the time. But 10 year old Selah Schneiter just did it. Super impressive. Obviously I’m joking in my title when I say it doesn’t count because she did it with ropes, because you still have to be a crazy person to do this
Ah yes, the casual dangle off the side of a mountain with your father picture. And keep in mind they had to sleep off the side of the mountain, eat weird shit, and haul everything with them. At 10 years old!
Pretty freaking cool accomplishment.
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(If you want to read more about El Cap and Alex Honnold, I’ve done a few blogs about it.)