Most 6-year-olds spend their birthdays having a pizza party or getting together at the playground with friends. Joey Danger Evermore, now 7, is not like most elementary-age children. He chose to celebrate his 7th birthday summiting one of the world’s most iconic peaks, Yosemite’s El Capitan. Shockingly, Joey broke the record set by his older brother Sam in 2022. His brother amazingly set it at the age of 8, proving exceptional climbing skills run in the family.
Joey completed the summit along with his older brothers Sam and Sylvan, his father Joe Evermore, and a documentary crew. The Evermores hail from Colorado Springs, Colorado, and are lifelong climbers. The brothers’ impressive feat isn’t random, rather something father Joe Evermore has instilled in them from a young age. Joe Evermore told ABC News that each of their boys (once they turn 5) takes on one “colossal goal” each year. He elaborated, saying “It has to be so big we work on it a little bit every day,” he said of training with his four children. “It’s got to be remarkable, something we can hang on the wall, and most importantly — you can’t die, so you have to do it safely.”
The climb took Joey and his family 5 days to complete. Joe and Sam Evermore shared the news of the successful summit on a joint Instagram post. “Joey’s birthday has been amazing. He started this journey as a six-year-old and now he’s seven about to complete the impossible.” the Instagram post stated. In Joey’s words: “I summited at six-seven,” a nod to the popular internet meme. The ascent took nearly a full five days to complete. The climb was performed as a rope ascent, a technique where the climber uses mechanical ascenders to gradually climb up fixed ropes. This differs from the traditional lead climbing method, where climbers ascend the formation pitch by pitch. While a different form of climbing than is typically associated with Yosemite big wall climbing, it still requires pulling yourself and your gear up 3,000 vertical feet of granite over several days, with nights spent pitched thousands of feet above the valley floor.
Joeys mother also took the opportunity to announce some exciting news from far below the climbers on the valley floor; Joey is expecting a baby sister. According to Joe, the boys nearly tipped the portaledge jumping for joy at the exciting news. With two more Evermore kids either on the way or coming up in age, it will be exciting to see what this adventurous family continues to accomplish in the coming years.
