Hello From Fort Collins/Russia
- July 2007
- Uncategorized
Hi, Steph~
I hope you had a great day on Kiener’s (we certainly did). Here are some photos of you and Chasm Lake taken at about the same time.
It was a pleasure (I would even say an honor :-)) to meet you (you probably get that alot :-)). Here I’m tempted to write how cool the stuff you do is, but I’m sure you know that better than I can imagine. But there is one thing I can’t help myself but to write about: your philosophy of competing with yourself instead of trying to beat somebody else. Always trying to outdo yourself, even by just a little bit. It is something that I agree with 100%. It is great that there are people like you, Steph!
Enjoy your stay in Colorado!
Igor Kuvychko
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Chemistry, Colorado State University
Dear Igor,
Not only do you speak Russian and English and who knows what else, but you are a PhD student in Chemistry? Thank God I didn’t know all that when I met you on Saturday, or I would have been far too intimidated to talk to you! 🙂 I had a great time on Kieners too, and had such a nice feeling after bumping into you guys there at the base, in the dark. I hope to see you up on the Diamond again this summer!
xx Steph
Speak about being intimidated :-). Once you said hi to us I thought that you looked familiar, but it didn’t feel right to just ask “Are you Steph Davis?” So only after finding out that you are from Utah (check!) and did multiple routes on Diamond (check!) I was pretty certain that it’s you and asked :-). Probably it sounds weird, but in Russian culture a direct question can be considered a bit rude sometimes. It’s amazing how well habits like that preserve :-).
Unfortunately, Diamond is out of our league just yet. But hopefully next summer we will be ready. It would be SO-O-O cool to climb that wall, and who knows, it might just happen. I remember 4 years ago, when I was barely aware that some crazy people climb mountains, I was told about Kiener’s when hiking to Chasm Lake. It looked like something from a different realm, something that I will never ever do for sure. So I will do my best and maybe meet you on the Diamond next summer! And thank you for all the inspiration that you give! I bet in a week I will get even more 🙂 (your book is on its way).
P.S. Steph, since I’m a native Russian speaker, it doesn’t count :-). But whenever I meet somebody who speaks Russian as a second language, I feel the same: these people must be geniuses! And very hard-working ones :-).
Oh, it still counts! Don’t try to be modest!
xx Steph