Choosing to fly
Steph Davis, a climber, author and wingsuit pilot, spoke to the KAUST community on January 15 as part of the 2017 Winter Enrichment Program. Photos by Lilit Hovhannisyan.
Steph Davis, climber, author and wingsuit pilot, spoke to the KAUST community on January 15 as part of the 2017 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP). Davis, a self-proclaimed expert in what she terms “high commitment activities,” shared her experiences with pushing physical and emotional limits.
Before becoming a celebrity in her field, she gained a lot of experience by building up confidence through increasingly challenging rock climbing ascents. After reaching the top of the rock climbing world with record-breaking free-solo climbs in some of the most challenges mountains, she took up base jumping and eventually wingsuit flying.
“I spent most of my childhood on a piano bench and not participating in sports,” she said.
She went out rock climbing with some friends as a college freshman and things progressed from there in an inauspicious start to years of nomadic existence common among top climbers.
“I moved into my grandma’s hand-me-down Oldsmobile, waitressing in Moab, Utah, to save money for expeditions and climbing trips,” she said.
“Learning how to go forward without Mario was the hardest thing I’ve done so far, but life continues to surprise me with beautiful gifts and with the joy that I find all around me,” she said.
Davis is a calm and methodical person, which is probably the reason she is still doing what she does. She has learned how to deal with fear, which “controls us more than anything else,” she noted. “Intensity is what you came for—do not irrationally try to run away from it.”
“It’s a long progression: After you have done 200 hundred skydives, you can start flying in a wingsuit. Generally speaking, it’s a long road—it requires experience, a lot of skills and confidence to decide to jump off a cliff," she said. "What is interesting is that you get better at it over time and become a better risk manager. That requires a lot of honesty with yourself, as you must really assess yourself and the environment around you and your place in that situation."
Davis captured the audience's attention with breathtaking photos and videos of her adventures and spoke honestly and humorously about her feelings and emotions about them, concluding, “All of us can choose to fly."
- By Denis J. Boutry
Steph Davis, climber, author and wingsuit pilot, spoke to the KAUST community on January 15 as part of the 2017 Winter Enrichment Program (WEP). Davis, a self-proclaimed expert in what she terms “high commitment activities,” shared her experiences with pushing physical and emotional limits.
Before becoming a celebrity in her field, she gained a lot of experience by building up confidence through increasingly challenging rock climbing ascents. After reaching the top of the rock climbing world with record-breaking free-solo climbs in some of the most challenges mountains, she took up base jumping and eventually wingsuit flying.
“I spent most of my childhood on a piano bench and not participating in sports,” she said.
She went out rock climbing with some friends as a college freshman and things progressed from there in an inauspicious start to years of nomadic existence common among top climbers.
“I moved into my grandma’s hand-me-down Oldsmobile, waitressing in Moab, Utah, to save money for expeditions and climbing trips,” she said.
Dealing with fear
Davis started skydiving and base jumping 10 years ago, which was how she met her husband Mario, who died in a wingsuit jump three years ago.“Learning how to go forward without Mario was the hardest thing I’ve done so far, but life continues to surprise me with beautiful gifts and with the joy that I find all around me,” she said.
Davis is a calm and methodical person, which is probably the reason she is still doing what she does. She has learned how to deal with fear, which “controls us more than anything else,” she noted. “Intensity is what you came for—do not irrationally try to run away from it.”
Steph Davis, a climber, author and wingsuit pilot, spoke to the KAUST community on January 15 as part of the 2017 Winter Enrichment Program. Photos by Lilit Hovhannisyan.
A long progression
For the solo climber and the wingsuit jumper, every decision made has to be the best one “because we are dealing with our lives,” Davis explained. Hard work and experience are essential.“It’s a long progression: After you have done 200 hundred skydives, you can start flying in a wingsuit. Generally speaking, it’s a long road—it requires experience, a lot of skills and confidence to decide to jump off a cliff," she said. "What is interesting is that you get better at it over time and become a better risk manager. That requires a lot of honesty with yourself, as you must really assess yourself and the environment around you and your place in that situation."
Create value in climbing
She now makes her living from her activities, noting that the outdoor industry has changed a lot and now offers more opportunities for sponsorship “even if you're not participating in golf or football," Davis said. "I want to create value in climbing, sharing it with people in a way that is inspiring or helpful or that enables community building, and then it has value. I work very hard to keep my path forward relevant."Davis captured the audience's attention with breathtaking photos and videos of her adventures and spoke honestly and humorously about her feelings and emotions about them, concluding, “All of us can choose to fly."
- By Denis J. Boutry