Veteran rock climbers have cast doubt over a dad's claims his eight-year-old son became the youngest person ever to climb one of the US' most fearsome cliff faces.
Critics have accused the Bakers of using previously rigged ropes and a scaling device called an ascender.
Tommy Caldwell, a well-known scaler of El Capitan, said: "Theoretically I could have put (my son) in a haul bag when he was 1 year old and gotten him up there" to claim the record.
Joe Baker and son Sam had been raising publicity for the planned climb of Yosemite's 3,000-foot El Capitan for months.
There has been a lot of media excitement about the attempt which made Sam the youngest person to climb the rockface, usually only attempted by seasoned climbers.
While promoting the attempt, Joe Bakers said: "You don't get on El Cap unless you are an expert in the sport
"That's what we're developing, is a young man who is an expert in the sport. He can really do everything that the great climbers can do."
But critics say that the Bakers appeared to employ guides unsanctioned by Yosemite National Park, reports DailyMail.com.
Mr Baker did not respond to requests from the paper for comment.
According to the family, Sam has been climbing since he could walk.
"This is a publicity hoax," said Tom Evans, a retired teacher who has spent years documenting the climbers on the cliff.
Evans, 78, told the San Francisco Chronicle he watched the Baker pair take over four days of their climb but he didn't once see them touch the rock.
Instead he claimed the two "jugged up", a process where a mechanical device is used to shimmy up the ropes that had been laid out by a climbing team that went ahead and also carried most of their supplies.
"The guides do everything that I've seen," said Evan. "That's why this is not a climb."
"I'm very annoyed by this because climbing El Capitan puts you in an elite group of climbers," he said. "[The Bakers] are blatantly stealing that reputation for their own use."
Evans said they were cashing in on the cliff's reputation.
Tommy Caldwell, a well-known scaler of El Capitan, told the Chronicle he was skeptical of the Bakers' hunger for media attention.
Describing their multiple television appearances, he said: "I find it slightly cringeworthy."
He continued: "Theoretically I could have put (my son) in a haul bag when he was 1 year old and gotten him up there"
