10-year-old girl climbs El Capitan. Are her parents Nuts???

Viva la vida locas wrote:

Can't believe parents would allow this.

I think it's awesome! She has experienced what few will ever experience already by the age of 10. If they're climbing safely, why should her age matter? I'm super impressed.

She’s on a rope and not in any danger. I don’t see the problem.

Very cool. I think her parents would be nuts to not encourage her love of climbing.

Good for her and her dad!

I checked on the oldest climber to do El Cap...81! He started climbing in 1934, and did the Aquarian Wall in 1999. Something to shoot for in twenty years....

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-may-25-mn-40846-story.html

Are her parents nuts what?

As a hobby climber myself who follows the sport extensively, I think it's a shame that Selah won't set any PRs this year but free soloing El Cap. It is clear she had put on some extra weight in the off-season but I don't think anyone had a clue how much it affected her.

Hopefully her coach or dad steps in before this gets out of hand.

Like someone said above, she was roped up, not free climbing, so what's the big deal? I was taking my sons out in overhead+ surf when they were that young because I thought they were capable of handling it and they wanted to do it. They went on to very successful HS and college track and XC efforts, and then have become highly successful businessmen. Now my 8 yr old grandson devotes hours to improving his mountain bike and surfing skills, and my son and I have been out in 6' Hawaiian surf with him and he loved it. Allowing you children to follow their dreams and learn that they can succeed in challenging circumstances is the best thing you can do for them.

crazy dad wrote:

Now my 8 yr old grandson devotes hours to improving his mountain bike and surfing skills, and my son and I have been out in 6' Hawaiian surf with him and he loved it.

You should like a far out dad. Hopefully you get to hang a lot of ten.

Cowabunga.

Meanwhile my kid still refuses to tie his shoes and spent an hour crying because his tooth fell out because an adult tooth was coming in.

I’d rather have him climb a mountain

I did some multi-pitch climbing once upon a time, and I'm currently the father of a 10-year old (and he's the youngest of several). I think this is not a good move.

The thing about climbing is that you have to do everything 100% right every time or you're risking your life. Experienced climbers like Lynn Hill have gotten sloppy for a second and taken 100-foot falls. No 10-year old has the experience and judgment to handle the decision-making demands of a big wall like El Cap.

You may say, But she's roped up the whole time. Great, so she's top-roping El Cap. Adults are helping her simulate the experience of climbing El Cap, but she's not a full member of the team. She's just along for the ride, like the Everest tourists who get Sherpas to do all the work. Riding her bike all 26.2 miles is also a tough goal fora 10-year old, but it wouldn't mean she had run a marathon.

Your post was a roller coaster. At first I thought you were against it because it was a safety issue but then in a surprise cliffhanger you revealed you are against it because the 10 year old would be cheating at climbing.

I admire your dedication to keeping climbing clean. I'll see you over in the Frank Meza thread.

A long time ago before social media. 50 plus years now. People in general did things that would seem crazy by todays standards. Tougher times bred tougher people I guess.

Not saying its okay but........ wrote:

A long time ago before social media. 50 plus years now. People in general did things that would seem crazy by todays standards. Tougher times bred tougher people I guess.

My seven year old son does rock climbing. He is so light and flexible that he can go up just about anything as long as you do not need a ton of upper body strength. So, in a way, climbing is safer when they are younger because they are so light.

On the other hand, it certainly seems like the dad was pushing this girl to do this possibly for self promoting purposes. No 10 year old kid would look at El Capitan and think "hey dad, can we take 5 days to climb that?"

Why do you hate excellence? The mere fact that your first reaction is the parents are nuts is what is wrong with society today.

Alex Honnold wrote:

As a hobby climber myself who follows the sport extensively, I think it's a shame that Selah won't set any PRs this year but free soloing El Cap. It is clear she had put on some extra weight in the off-season but I don't think anyone had a clue how much it affected her.

Hopefully her coach or dad steps in before this gets out of hand.

POTD!

someone think of the children wrote:

Why do you hate excellence? The mere fact that your first reaction is the parents are nuts is what is wrong with society today.

It's LRC, where the vast majority of posters are too chicken$*** to attempt anything truly dangerous or epic. They are already deathly afraid of bumping mileage up, side stitches, talking to girls, pooping their shorts during a run, challenging workouts, real jobs with responsibility, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, their feelings for other men, weight gain, shoe brands they have not used, triathletes, suburban housewives that walk for fun, D2 colleges, craft beer, movies not featuring superheroes or spaceships, stress fractures, etc.

She used ropes, not hard. I saw that guy in the movie do it without ropes. She probably did Everest at 5