Father of El Capitan climber says son has always climbed

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Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Father of El Capitan climber says son has always climbed
Eric Jorgeson, Kevin Jorgeson's father, said watching his son near the top of El Capitan makes his heart flutter.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. -- Eric Jorgeson, Kevin Jorgeson's father, said watching his son near the top of El Capitan makes his heart flutter.

As far as climbing, free climbing El Capitan has been his son's dream for the past seven years. He has a lot of pride watching his son accomplish his dream.

Eric said his son has always been climber.

"He climbed everything he could think of. It made us nervous early on as parents, but we got used to it," he said. "It was more other parents saying, 'Hey, your son is at the top of a backstop.'"

According to Eric, it was on Kevin's 15th birthday when they began climbing El Capitan. And it's been an annual birthday tradition ever since.