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Rock Climbing El Captian in Yosemite National Park
Earlier this year, Joe Evermore and his 7-year-old son Joey ‘Danger’ Evermore made global headlines when the latter became the youngest person to ever successfully rock climb up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, arguably the most famous vertical rock climbing wall on earth. Following their successful climb up El Capitan back in May, Joe Evermore has dealt with a lot of negativity online.
Now after multiple reports to Child Protective Services (CPS), Joe Evermore is speaking out. Online trolls have been harassing his family and urging CPS to get involved, something CPS has declined to do.
Joe Evermore Speaks Out CPS Trolls After 7-Year-Old Sun Climbed El Capitan
This is NOT something you see from an average 7-year-old which typically puts kids in late 1st grade or 2nd grade here in the USA. At that age, most 7-year-old boys are into Baseball, Football, Karate, Soccer, Cub Scouts, Music, Pokémon, and they are starting to explore the world of video games.
They are begging their parents to go on road trips across the country, to go fishing, and get a boat, but rock climbing up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park is not something I’ve ever heard of a 7-year-old taking interest in until Joe Evermore’s son completed the feat and became the youngest to ever do so back in May. At the time, national media picked up the story and ran clips like this:
Joe Evermore has his own Instagram account, he has made one for his 7-year-old son Joey, and the family has ‘The Evermores‘ where they post clip from family adventures. They are evidently using social media as a tool of some sort. Why? That part is not as clear. It could be to earn money to subsidize family trips, to try and build interest in a reality series, who knows? But the interwoven accounts all post videos of their adventures and since 7-year-old Joey, whose real middle name is ‘Danger,’ became the youngest person to climb El Capitan the comments on the posts have been quite negative.
Speaking with PEOPLE, Joe Evermore shared how online trolls have filed multiple reports with Child Protective Services. He also shared his perspective of the climb for those who are accusing him of putting his son in danger.
Joe told PEOPLE “There’s a lot of bullying that goes on online. There’s people that think, ‘hey, your kids would be better put in a foster system’ or put in front of a television, rather than training daily for an epic mission.” According to Joe Evermore, he and his wife received a letter from Child Protective Services (CPS) stating they had received multiple complaints that were reviewed but CPS was declining to pursue them.
As for the danger aspect, Joe said “they just don’t understand what’s dangerous and what’s not dangerous. It’s kind of like someone who says, ‘how can you go on a plane? What if the wings fall off?’ It’s like, no, you’re not even thinking about the actual dangers of the sport.”
Joe Evermore said his son Joey is “bolted to the wall” and their biggest threat while climbing is something falling from above and hitting them. This means the climb actually gets safer by the minute as they get closer and closer to the summit.
As for how Joe Evermore handles the trolling, he told PEOPLE “somebody just sees it, and they’re terrified and comment, ‘this is obviously too dangerous.’ I admit that there are risks, but I think the benefits far outweigh the risks. As a dad, I’m mitigating those risks with a team, with good preparation and with our own skill and our own training.”
Of course, it does not help the public perception when an article published three days ago on PEOPLE has Joe Evermore admitting his 7-year-old son cried every single day while climbing El Capitan and that he believes it was still ‘good parenting.’ But does that mean his son was ever in danger? Absolutely not. That is a parenting-style choice.
After they climbed El Capitan, Joe’s message was “do hard, big things with your kids. Be intentional. It is the best time of their life and it will be the best time of yours.” Disagree all you want with climbing El Capitan with a 7yo, but that message is a fantastic one for parents everywhere.