A 10-year-old Colorado girl scaled Yosemite National Park's El Capitan and may have become the youngest person to climb one of the most celebrated and challenging peaks in the world.
Selah Schneiter of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, completed the 3,000-foot (910 meters) climb of the vertical rock formation with the help of her father, Mike Schneiter, and family friend, Mark Regier.
The trio took five days to climb the Nose — the best known route — and reached the summit on June 12, Mike Schneiter said. It typically takes accomplished climbers four or five days to complete.
In this June 12, 2019, photo, provided by Michael Schneiter, is Selah Schneiter after finishing her climb up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, Calif. A 10-year-old Colorado girl has scaled Yosemite National Park's El Capitan, taking five days to reach the top of the iconic rock formation. Selah Schneiter of Glenwood Springs completed the challenging 3,000-foot (910 meters) climb last week with the help of her father and a family friend. (Michael Schneiter via AP)
Reaching the top "was really overwhelming and emotional," Selah said in a telephone interview from New York City, where she spent Wednesday doing media interviews.
"I was also kind of sad because it was over," she added.
Scott Cory climbed the Nose twice in 2001, when he was 11. That same year 13-year-old Tori Allen also climbed it, according to Outside Magazine.
Yosemite spokesman Scott Gediman said the park doesn't keep such records.
The oldest of four children, Selah has been climbing since she can remember and had been asking her parents for years to climb El Capitan. For nine months, she prepared physically and mentally to make sure she was ready to do it, she said.
Climbers jam hands and feet into finger- and fist-width cracks to inch their way up the vertical wall. Sometimes there is little more to grasp or perch on than a sliver the width of a few coins.
Other cracks abruptly end in a smooth sea of granite, forcing climbers to swing left or right to find the next hand or foothold.
"Our big motto was 'How do you eat an elephant?' Small bites," said Selah, who recently finished fourth grade. "One pitch at a time ... one move at a time ... one day at a time."
Selah said the only thing she feared was the possibility of a big storm because it would mean "having to go down."
The Schneiters are a family of climbers. Mike and his wife, Joy, fell in love 15 years ago while scaling El Capitan. They vacation in places where there is rock climbing and have a climbing wall in their garage, often the first spot their children go after school.
Mike Schneiter, a climbing guide and part-time high school teacher, said seeing his daughter complete her dream was amazing.
"I was so proud of her. It was a combination of a lot of feelings because it was a project that had been formed in our minds for a few years," he said.
Joy Schneiter stayed home with their three other children and received daily updates about progress in Yosemite.
She knew her husband would turn back if there were any safety concerns. Still, as an experience climber, she said she understands the grit and determination it takes to climb the massive granite slab and worried about Selah's endurance.
"I was worried she would wear out," Joy Schneiter said. "But by day four I knew they would finish. I'm just really proud and ecstatic."
To celebrate her feat, Selah wanted to jump in a nearby river to cool off and go get pizza, her father said.
"We got pizza and ice cream — chocolate with caramel sauce and cherries," she said.
TOKYO (AP) — The American envoy to the United Nations called Friday for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who became the first U.S. cabinet member to visit Nagasaki, stressed the importance of dialogue and diplomacy amid a growing nuclear threat in the region.
“We must continue to work together to create an environment for nuclear disarmament. We must continue to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in every corner of the world,” she said after a tour of the atomic bomb museum.
“For those of us who already have those weapons, we must pursue arms control. We can and must work to ensure that Nagasaki is the last place to ever experience the horror of nuclear weapons,” she added, standing in front of colorful hanging origami cranes, a symbol of peace.
The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi said in a statement that he believed Thomas-Greenfield's visit and her first-person experience at the museum “will be a strong message in promoting momentum of nuclear disarmament for the international society at a time the world faces a severe environment surrounding atomic weapons.”
Oishi said he conveyed to the ambassador the increasingly important role of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in emphasizing the need of nuclear disarmament.
Thomas-Greenfield's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's official visit to the United States last week and is aimed at deepening Washington's trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul. During her visit to South Korea earlier this week, she held talks with South Korean officials, met with defectors from North Korea and visited the demilitarized zone.
The ambassador said the United States is looking into setting up a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Russia and China have thwarted U.S.-led efforts to step up U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile testing since 2022, underscoring a deepening divide between permanent Security Council members over Russia’s war on Ukraine.
She said it would be “optimal” to launch the new system next month, though it is uncertain if that is possible.
The U.N. Security Council established a committee to monitor sanctions, and the mandate for its panel of experts to investigate violations had been renewed for 14 years until last month, when Russia vetoed another renewal.
In its most recent report, the panel of experts said it is investigating 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023 valued at approximately $3 billion, with the money reportedly being used to help fund its weapons development.
The United States, Japan and South Korea have been deepening security ties amid growing tension in the region from North Korea and China.
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, shake hands during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, right, speaks to Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, second right, as they wait for a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, right, walk to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, talk prior to a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)
