In regard to that surely intense conversation that took place between two of the planet’s leading climbers, Odintsov writes:
“Such disagreements legitimately exist between people of different age and mentality, born on different continents. It would be strange if those disagreements didn’t exist at all. Yet there exists a category of people with a firm knowledge of how one is supposed to live. For them, personal happiness isn’t enough; they need to make others happy. To them, it’s absolutely necessary that everyone around them live life by their patterns. If such a zealot is given no power, he is merely amusing and is quite harmless. But God forbid that he is given the means to try out his recipe on others. The Russians are personally familiar with such experiments.”
“The one bad thing,” Odintsov adds, “is that such discussions lead to disunion among people practicing this wonderful sport. Climbers, including their elite, have little association with each other as it is. To the Atlantic Ocean that separates us, do we have to add a swamp of discussion on who’s better?”
Perhaps the single most important thing that I’ve learned about the Russians is that they climb for the exact same reason we all do: because it brings them great joy. I’ve seen it firsthand, and I can attest that climbing for them is not just a sport or a job, but an extremely passionate way of life. They’d far rather spend their time in the mountains, working on some heinous last great problem, than arguing with us about who is more rad.
And despite all the criticism he has received from Americans, Odintsov ended his letter with this note to all of us:
“In conclusion, I would like to give my best wishes to the American climbers. Let good fortune always accompany you, and let the sun always shine above your heads.”

Mark Synnott is a Senior Contributing Editor at Climbing.