A 10-year-old Colorado girl who appears to the youngest ever to conquer the famous “nose” route of Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan said the experience was “really overwhelming, really emotional.”
Selah Schneiter of Glenwood Springs completed the challenging 3,000-foot climb last week with the help of her father and a family friend.
Selah and her father Mike Schneiter say it took them five days last week with family friend Mark Regier to reach the top.
Selah and her parent made the rounds of the morning national talk shows Wednesday. It was during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” that she described the accomplishment as “overwhelming.” In a video after the climb shown on “Today,” Selah said: “I want pizza. I’ve been dreaming about it forever.”
Dad: ‘I’m Super Proud of Her’
According to Outside magazine, Selah is the youngest person to climb El Capitan’s nose route.
According to Outside, Selah’s parents, both longtime climbers, first brought the child to Yosemite Valley when she was eight weeks old. At age 7, she reached the top of Independence Monument in Colorado, a rock face with seven climbing sections, or pitches.
El Cap’s nose route has 31 pitches.
“I’m super proud of her just to see how big her heart was and how strong she was,” Mike Schneiter said on “Today.”
Selah’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.
On June 2, 2018, Tim Klein, 42, of Palmdale, and Jason Wells, 46, of Boulder, Colorado, plummeted an estimated 1,000 feet from the face of the rock formation.
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