Kelso Ridge is a really fun scramble with good rock. I have done this route many times before, and I was really looking forward to the day that I could climb it with my daughter Ella. She is 8 years old, very active and rock climbs every week. I thought to myself, she can handle this route as I've seen her climb 5.8 routes in the gym and outside, so why not?

It took me a while to convince my wife to let me take her up Kelso Ridge, but I had a plan... I'd spot her, climbing up right below her on all the scrambling sections and rope her up for the wall and knife edge. I knew she would love this climb and handle it with no problems so I got the okay.

We started our climb at 3:45 AM from the trailhead at a nice steady pace. There was no wind and it was relatively warm for the early dark start. I love starting super early and looking at the stars and pointing out constellations. We could see the Milky Way stretching across the sky as well. Great moment to share with my daughter.

We hit the ridge a little after 5:00 AM and took some time to rest, eat, and put on our harnesses. I figured if there was any section lower that she was not comfortable with, or if I wasn't comfortable with her on it, I'd just rope her up. Up we went.

She had no problems ascending or with any exposure. I was having so much fun watching her manuver up the rocks and climb up and over the mini towers. Whenever someone passed, they either gave her a high five or cheered her on. She didn't understand why everyone was making such a big deal about her climbing this route... I told her, "Ella, you are 8 years old, the next youngest person on this route is 22".

We made it up to the wall about 200 ft below the summit, but a large snow patch blocked easy access to it. This is where we roped up. We both tied in, and I ascended, setting up an anchor at the top. From there I belayed her as she climbed up the wall.

She cruised up the solid slab wall, then it was a short ridge traverse to the knife edge. It is really fun going over this, so again I traversed across and set an anchor and belayed her as she went across.

She has a lot of fun crossing over the knife and then climbing over the white tower. From there it was a short hike to the summit. We joined a large group on top and celebrated a great climb. I was so proud of her as she did amazing on the ridge climb.

It was a very special moment on top looking back over the ridge and seeing the sense of accomplishment on her face. We took in the views, talked to a few people and then headed down. On the way down, Ella got to see some mountain goats, pikas, and marmots all at a pretty close range. We relaxed heading down and talked to a bunch of people, describing the route we took when asked why we had helmets and a rope. The look of astonishment on their faces was pretty funny when Ella said, "we climbed that (pointing to Kelso Ridge)". Then every question followed with "How old are you!!?"

This was such a fun climb and a very special day that I will never forget with my daughter. I can't wait to do more fun climbs with her and share our love of the mountains together. I have another younger daughter who will be ready to climb peaks in a few years, so soon we can all go out as a family and climb some mountains!