Steve was one of my first climbing partners, my roommate in college, and great friend. I remembered how proud he was of his mom's homemade tofu, and how much we enjoyed our friend Rick's homemade beer (usually when Rick was out). We used to sleep on the porch outside my room in the middle of the Chicago winter, thinking we were training for an assault on the Eiger Nordwand, but usually retreating inside for hot tea and cookies.

"The Pak Man" and I had a competition going - who could do the most pull-ups on the doorjamb in our apartment - until one day it finally cracked off. I envied his cool VW that he would let me borrow on occasion, even though I could barely drive a stick.

We went on several climbing trips together. Many memories are preserved in a stack of photographic jewels taken by Steve-o on his little taped-up disposable camera. I recall he later had a much fancier camera, which encouraged me of course to do the same. Steve was even more excited than I was when I led my first difficult route, and we swapped turns hanging at the top of the cliff, taking adventurous, high-angle photos of each other. That excitement and adventure has been a continuous thread for me up to today.

I last saw Steve at my wedding. He was as excited as ever.

-Andrew Kornylak

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