8-year-old breaks record for youngest person to climb Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan

Eight-year-old Sam Baker celebrated completing a record rope ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan with a disco light at the top with his parents.

Joe Baker, Sam’s father, posted to Facebook about the accomplishment late Friday night.

The father and son duo began their ascent of the 3,000-foot climb on Monday. Sam’s completion of the climb makes him the youngest person to ever summit El Capitan.

“We made it! And then had a little party with our disco ball,” Joe Baker wrote. “We will be in afterglow for days.”

The Bakers planned to hike down eight miles Saturday to complete their trek.

Baker predicted this record could be the first of many for his son.

“What an amazing week! I’m so proud of Sam. He completed the youngest rope ascent of ElCap!” Baker wrote. “In a few years he might be be back breaking more records.”

Before this week’s climb, the father and son climbed a third of El Capitan, located on the west side of Yosemite Valley inside the national park in Central California.

The entire process was filmed and shared via the pair’s social media accounts and on a website called SamAdventure.com, which chronicles the Colorado family on its various climbing journeys with the intent of inspiring other families on journeys of their own.

Ascending El Capitan at any age isn’t without dangers. Climbers have been known to fall from the rock. Even Hans Florine, who set a record for climbing the Nose route in just over two hours, had to be rescued from the mountain in 2018.

Previously, Sam climbed Pingora Peak in the Cirque of the Towers, Wyoming and the Nose of Mount Albert near Independence Pass, Colorado at the age of 5. He also climbed all five of the Flatirons in Boulder, Colorado, and already scaled Yosemite’s Fairview Dome and Lost Arrow Spire and Eichorn Pinnacle in Tuolumne Meadows.