The father of a boy who scaled Yosemite’s 3,000-foot El Capitan has lashed out at critics who said the boy isn’t really the youngest to scale the daunting rock face.

Critics have accused Joe Baker of orchestrating a “publicity hoax” surrounding the rise, saying he drew media attention to his son Sam’s rise while also informing the public about the nature of the “record-breaking performance” in the misled.

Sam, a second-grader from Colorado, and his father completed their climb of El Capitan Saturday amid a chorus of headlines calling the climb a “historic” event and celebrating Sam as the youngest person to scale the daunting peak.

But many in the climbing community raised eyebrows at the headlines, noting that Sam didn’t actually scale the cliff face, but instead scaled it on previously installed ropes using a climbing device called an ascender.

Countering the critics, Baker pointed out that the arguments against his son’s achievements felt “semantic,” and also pointed to numerous other widely accepted records set by rope ascents.

“Stealing this from Sam is such a sick thing. It’s a nasty thing because he accentuated every foot of that wall,” Baker told

Joe Baker hit back at critics who questioned whether his eight-year-old son Sam was really the youngest person to scale El Capitan

Sam and his father Joe Baker. Over the weekend, the two climbed the 3,000-foot El Capitan in Yosemite

Baker told that he never thought twice about using the word “climb” in interviews before he and Sam climbed El Capitan.

“The word climbing — there’s free climbing, ice climbing, solo climbing, rope climbing, I didn’t say any of that, I just said climbing,” he said. “There’s this whole controversy about the language, I’ve never heard of that.”

“They all say because Joe used the word climb it makes this thing a hoax,” he added, noting that after the backlash he chose to always state that the climb was a rope climb.

Baker also pointed out that numerous other El Capitan records that are widely recognized — including the ascent for the oldest woman set by free climber Alex Honnold’s mother, Dierdre Wolownick — were made with rope ascents.

He said criticism of his son’s rise was largely due to the wording, and questioned what other parts of the sport might be challenged in the future.

“It felt very semantic. It’s very funny when you think about it because who controls this lexicon? May I call Sam a climber? How far do you go with that?’

Some have said that Sam’s rope ascent of El Capitan qualified him as the youngest person to scale the cliff, while others have argued that is not the case

Eight-year-old Sam Baker scales the 3,000-foot El Capitan cliff in Yosemite National Park

Baker said he felt criticism of his son’s rise may also have been fueled by stars of the sport who are bitter they are not getting the national recognition that other athletes are getting.

“In America, people don’t love rock climbing as much as football and basketball,” he explained. “Whereas there are boys in Yosemite [doing] these sick climbs and the populace never hears about it. Then suddenly a kid jumps into the lines of El Capitan and draws international attention. You can see how unfair that is.’

Baker said he was no happier about this reality than Sam’s critics and wished he weren’t.

“I don’t like it either, I wish people would care more,” he said. “I’m not taking anything away from others, but people just don’t like Sam getting all that attention.”

Baker also dismissed claims in the San Francisco Chronicle that he made the ascension without permission using so-called pirate guides.

He said the outlet misconstrued his El Capitan climb with another climb he previously requested but later gave up after the park said it had to do it with a large team of guides.

“This is a publicity hoax,” said Tom Evans, a retired teacher who has camped at the base of El Capitan with a telephoto lens for 28 years, documenting the comings and goings of climbers on the cliff

“In theory, I could have said [my son] when he was a year old in a carrier bag and brought him there to get a record,” said climbing legend Tommy Caldwell

For at least the last year, Baker has been pushing the public about his plans for his son to be the youngest person to scale El Capitan.

The duo have been featured in countless news segments on local and national television and appeared in numerous interviews.

“You don’t get on El Cap unless you’re an expert in that sport,” Baker said of his son in a promotional video on his website promoting the climb.

“That’s what we’re developing is a young man who’s an expert in this sport. He can really do anything the big climbers can do,” he said.

While countless clips showed that Sam — who family says has been climbing since he could walk — is undoubtedly a talented young climber, critics said Baker’s characterization of her quest to scale El Capitan wasn’t entirely honest.

“This is a publicity hoax,” said Tom Evans, a retired teacher who has camped at the base of El Capitan with a telephoto lens for 28 years, documenting the comings and goings of climbers on the cliff.

Evans, 78, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he watched the Bakers climb for four days and that he never once saw them touch the rock or attempt to physically scale the wall.

Instead, he saw the pair “Jug Up” — also known as jumaring — which refers to the process of climbing ropes with a mechanical ascender. The process still requires significant physical effort on the part of the climber.

“The guides are doing everything I’ve seen,” Evans said. “Therefore, this is not an ascension.”

Tommy Caldwell, a well-known El Capitan scaler, also questioned their claims to a world record.

“In theory, I could have said [my son] in a carrier bag when he was 1 year old and took him there to claim a record,” Caldwell said.

Sam peeks over the edge of his bed during his climb for the night on the 3,000ft El Capitan cliff

Baker shrugged off the criticism, saying he’s made rounds in the media touting Sam’s skills – who he claimed is the best climber his age he’s ever seen – because he’s just proud of his son.

“I’m his father, I’m very proud of him. I didn’t say he was going to do the Dawn Wall here,’ he said. “You do it in a movie and people say, ‘Well, he’s going to be Free Solo Free Rider. I didn’t want to be dishonest. I was just proud of my son.”

“I definitely didn’t fool anyone and they claim that I fooled everyone on purpose.”

November 1, 2022 20:24

Filorussi announces new evacuations in Kherson

In the past few days, more than 70,000 people have left the area where the Ukrainian army is approaching. Today, Moscow-installed Kherson Governor Vladimir Saldo announced: “I made my decision Expansion of the evacuation zone by 15 kilometers from the Dnieper“. Officials of the Kakhovka administration urged district residents to leave their settlements immediately because of the high risks on the military front and announced that forced evacuation for those who remained would begin on November 6.

November 1, 2022 7:45 p.m

Kyiv: “We have no effective defense against Iranian ballistic missiles”

The Iranian ballistic missiles that Russia plans to buy from Iran will likely be based on Ukraine’s northern border. The spokesman for the Kiev Air Force said this at a briefing Yuri Ignat, as reported by CNN. Warning that Ukrainian forces would be unable to defend themselves. “We will use all means of protection against these missiles. They will probably be delivered to the north of Ukraine, from where they can threaten the whole country, ”he explained, speaking of “300 km” missiles and from a radius of “700 km”. And warning: “We have no effective defense. Theoretically it is possible to destroy them, but in reality it is very difficult with the means at our disposal. We have air defenses, not missile defenses,” he explained, estimating that Russia requested missiles from Iran “because their Iskanders are running out of supplies.” This was also reported by CNN, citing officials from a western country Iran would prepare to send to Russia, around 1,000 additional weapons by the end of the year: in addition to new drones, there will also be short-range ballistic surface-to-surface missiles. The Washington Post had previously unveiled an agreement between Moscow and Tehran to deploy Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar ballistic missiles.

November 1, 2022 6:44 p.m

Britain accuses Iran of “drones in Moscow”

That United Kingdom Joins US allegations against Tehran over alleged military supplies to Russia of weapons then used by Moscow in Ukraine. “Despite denials from the Kremlin and the Iranian government – according to the UK Foreign Office Twitter profile – a Russian official has admitted that Iran has supplied drones used by Russia to attack Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.”

November 1, 2022 6:14 p.m

The Russian embassy specifies: “Possible shipment of Italian weapons, not men”

The Russian Ambassador in Italy Sergei RazovIn the course of the interview with the OVALmedia TV channel, he referred to the possible shipment of Italian weapons to the Donbass, not men. This was announced by the Russian embassy in a statement. “It’s not about people, it’s about cannons that were used to bomb Donetsk, which could also be Italian-made, but the Russian side is not sure,” the embassy’s statement said.

November 1, 2022 5:15 p.m

Putin to Erdogan: “Wheat agreement did not allow Russian exports”

The Grains Agreement failed on the part that was supposed to allow Russia to freely export agricultural products and fertilizers. The President said so Wladimir Putin in his telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Putin reiterated that Moscow is ready to export grain and fertilizers to African countries free of charge.

November 1, 2022 5:05 p.m

EU: “Moscow’s allegations against London are completely unfounded”

The European Union defines the declaration of Kremlin that Britain was behind the attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. “The attacks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 have yet to be investigated,” a spokesman said EU Commission. “We support any investigation aimed at shedding full light on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our energy security resilience. However, it is clear that recently only Russia has used energy as a weapon”.

November 1, 2022 4:51 p.m

Medvedev: “Ready to use nuclear power for annexed regions”

“The West is pushing the world into a global war, only Russian victory is a guarantee against world war”. He writes it Dmitry Medvedev on Telegram, adding: The West keeps repeating that “Russia must not be allowed to win. What does that mean? If Russia doesn’t win, Ukraine must win. And Kiev’s goal is to return all the territories it previously owned. This threatens the existence of our state. And it is a direct reason for the application of Article 19 of the Principles of the Policy of the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence.

Nov 1, 2022 3:54 p.m

Razov: ‘I don’t rule out that Italy sent men to Ukraine’

“I do not rule out” that Italy sent men to Ukraine in addition to weapons. The Russian ambassador in Italy said it: Sergei Razov, answered a question about the Donbass in an interview with Oval media on the sidelines of the Verona Eurasian Economic Forum, held in Baku on October 27-28, 2022. The interview was relaunched on the social channels of the Russian Embassy in Rome.

“The eyes of foreign powers have already turned back to them (strategic resources). The armed forces have a duty and must watch over our natural resources so that the dream of the sovereign industrialization of lithium can become a reality,” assured Arce when he took office in the new military high command.

The dignitary stressed that the highland country is approaching a period in its history in which lithium will play a similarly important role as hydrocarbons do today.

He meant that with the industrialization of this mineral, Bolivia “will be introduced to the world market under new conditions for the benefit of our people”.

In 2008, the Plurinational State started the research and development of the salt flats and moved to the production of high value-added compounds.

According to the authorities, the current goal is to achieve value-added industrialization and produce lithium batteries, for which there is widespread and growing demand worldwide.

Bolivian Lithium Deposits (YLB) is currently negotiating with six international companies to scale up the industrial process and achieve Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).

The leaders of this sector point out that the best option for Bolivia is the EDL because it “allows to optimize and improve production in various aspects, whether environmental or exploitation levels”.

They add that with this technology and the new industrial plant, the country will boost the production of lithium carbonate and will receive 40,000 tons of this product in 2025.

Department of Hydrocarbons and Energy sources said the government plans to build two EDLs, each with a capacity of 25,000 tons, in addition to the lithium carbonate industrial plant.

In a recent speech at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Arce drew attention to what “the head of the United States Southern Command said a few months ago” on the subject.

On that occasion, General Laura Richardson stated that “the so-called Lithium Triangle in South America, consisting of Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, is in the United States’ sights”.

Jorge Richter, a spokesman for the president, said the military chief had “expressed concern about what China is doing on the continent,” evidence of a geopolitical and geoeconomic strife.

In this regard, he noted that a right-wing government in Bolivia will facilitate the privatization logic and steer lithium toward the North American economy.

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After the devastating collapse of a suspension bridge in India, investigations into the cause of the accident are ongoing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today instructed authorities to conduct detailed investigations and implement lessons learned quickly. The politician also visited wounded at a hospital in Morbi, Gujarat state, where the accident happened on Sunday night.

Indian media reported that the hospital’s walls were repainted and new beds and sheets were brought in ahead of the visit. Opposition politicians have criticized the renovation work, saying Modi’s Hindu nationalist party is after good photos.

The collapse was preceded by reconstruction work

The 19th century walkway collapsed just days after being reopened by a private company after months of rehabilitation works. On Sunday, it attracted a particularly large number of people in view of important Hindu festivals.

Portal

Images before the collapse showed people jumping and running over it and the bridge moving. According to media reports, there were also significantly more people on the bridge than the carrying capacity matched. According to local authorities, the bridge had not yet been approved for reopening. More recently, sanitation company employees were arrested.

In total, at least 135 people died in connection with the collapse of the bridge, the police recently announced. The police had already spoken of 141 dead. Several police officers did not give an explanation for the difference. In recent years, dozens of people have died in India due to infrastructure-related accidents.

An Australian family has come to terms with the loss of their dog in an unusual way. They turned the animal into a carpet.

To preserve the dog’s characteristics, such as skin, coat and size, they subjected the golden retriever’s body to a stuffing process the same process used on bears turned into decoration.

The Melbournebased company responsible for the filling process shared a video on Instagram with the result of how the carpet turned out. “A beautiful Golden Retriever being kept as a fur for his family. Finally ready to go home,” the profile wrote.

The post drew mixed reactions from social media users. One woman said the rug was beautiful but said: “I couldn’t take the pain that the dog I lost was no longer with us. I lost my dog ​​earlier this year and couldn’t imagine seeing him every day.”

Others were more direct. “This is scary,” wrote one user. Another man was bolder and shared a desire to do something similar, but with his grandmother.

“I want to do this to grandma when she dies. It would be so nice to pet her while I remember her,” he said.