“I’m going to climb the Tana glacier in Ossetia”: Skvortsova - about finding herself, hiking in the mountains and fatigue from operations

On November 23, 2009, a terrible accident involving Russian athletes occurred on the luge-bobsleigh track in the German Königssee: two crews collided due to a referee's mistake during a training run.

The main blow was taken by the 21-year-old accelerating Irina Skvortsova.

She survived miraculously.

She spent almost two months in a state of artificial coma, underwent fifty operations.

At some point, there was talk of amputating the right leg, which suffered the most, but, fortunately, the doctors decided to keep it "for symmetry."

Then none of the doctors believed that Irina would ever be able to walk, but the girl had her own plans in this regard.

Today, she lives a normal life with a few adjustments for crutches: walking with friends, going to the mountains, paragliding and even skating.

“I looked after two mountains on Sakhalin”

— Irina, how do you feel now?

If I'm not mistaken, you've had over 80 leg surgeries since that awful day?

- Yes it is.

What can I say: the leg is now the same as after being discharged from the hospital after the accident, its functionality will not change, mobility will not be restored, no matter what you do.

And all the surgical interventions that I have had since December 2013 are just plastic, I call them cosmetic body repairs.

The last one was in 2020, right before all borders were closed.

And I don't plan to do more.

Tired of them.

I want to live an ordinary life - go to the mountains, walk with friends.

I run on crutches and run.

I'm already used to them.

Over the past few weeks, I began to take the subway to training, because it is inconvenient to get there by car. 

- Any new activities?

- Yes, I recently decided to get in shape with a coach.

She used to go through rehabilitation measures, but at some point she abandoned them.

The last time it happened was probably in 2013.

Then I didn't work at all for a long time.

Before the pandemic, she began to go to the gym with a friend, and during the quarantine she again abandoned everything.

But now I have a goal that requires a certain physical preparation.

- Share?

- I looked after two mountains on Sakhalin

.

I would like to climb them if I find a guide who is not afraid to take a person on crutches.

This goal is more distant, but there is another one.

Next year I'm going to climb the Tana glacier in Ossetia.

But for this you need to be much stronger than I am now.

That's why I train.

- Here, perhaps, you should make a stop and tell how mountains appeared in your life in general.

All thanks to trips to Germany.

For a long time I lived in two countries, because of the operations I spent quite a lot of time there, and gradually made friends and acquaintances.

Some kind of party.

And we always went for a walk to interesting places: to castles, around Munich, to nearby cities and countries.

I walked everywhere on crutches, walked a lot.

Friends sometimes asked: Ira, slow down

.

But I didn't sit still at all.

In recent years, even operations have faded into the background for me, I came to Europe to take a walk and chat with friends.

And on my last visit to Munich, one of my friends showed me pictures in the mountains.

I liked it so much I wanted to try it too.

I asked if I could get up, and he said: knowing you, yes!

We decided that we would go there in the fall.

But there was a quarantine, and I had to abandon these plans.

In addition, in February, I just had the last operation, and it was impossible to fully step on my foot for four months.

But the idea of ​​the mountains is already firmly planted in my head.

And how did she come to life?

- Just at some point I thought: why not celebrate my birthday - I have it in July - in Krasnaya Polyana?

I immediately contacted a guide girl whom I met in the winter at the TedX conference, and a month after I was allowed to walk, leaning on both legs, I was already resting in Krasnaya Polyana.

Well, how did you rest?

She left in the morning, came in the evening, her tongue on her shoulder.

It was very hard.

Honestly, it was one of the most absurd trips in my life, because I had no idea what mountains were.

I knew it would be difficult, but I didn't think it would be to this extent.

By the end of the vacation, I ruined everything that was possible - arms, legs, back, crutches.

Only sneakers remained intact, which I took specifically to inform and throw away after the trip.

But they just survived.

But when I returned to Moscow, I probably didn’t get up from the couch for a week

.

— But the desire to continue climbing didn’t discourage you at all?

- Not!

It’s just that the next year I was already more savvy, and, having gone to Ossetia to visit a friend, I seriously approached the training camp.

But there was another trouble - I seriously injured my leg.

I went for a week with an injury, I understood that it was bad, but nothing could be done and I would only treat her in Moscow.

— What happened?

- I have skin transplanted from the shoulder blade on my heel, and it is, of course, very delicate.

Any grain of sand can injure her, and due to the fact that the blood supply in this leg is worse, it heals more and more slowly.

And here in Moscow I hurt my heel a little.

There was a small scratch there.

But in Ossetia, my friend and I went to Mount Kubus, and this is an eight-hour walk at my pace, and even a rather steep climb.

Because of this, I had to step on both legs, and I severely tore the wound.

And this is very dangerous.

As a result, dressings, antibiotics.

In general, it was not possible to fully enjoy that vacation.

Traveling didn't work out this year either, so I have big plans for next summer.

• © From the personal archive of Irina Skvortsova

“The instructor was shocked when he saw that I was on crutches”

- What is the thrill of the mountains for you with all these difficulties?

- Get to the top.

The process itself does not interest me at all.

He exhausts me, I hate him, it's very hard for me.

But it is at the top, when you see all this beauty and understand that not everyone will get here on crutches, you just get high from what you could.

When we climbed Kubus, we were overtaken by everyone who could.

They thought that the girl on crutches would reach the middle and go back.

But when they came down from the top and saw that the girl on crutches was still going up, they had huge eyes.

When people say: “It’s hard for us, we are tired, but looking at you, we are just ashamed to whine,” this also gives strength.

- It seems that they said about you: "I see the goal, I see no obstacles."

- That's for sure.

For example, I was on a hike in Lake Baikal, and an obstacle arose on our route - huge boulders.

They could only be climbed over or bypassed by climbing the stairs and spending time on it.

I didn't want to, to be honest.

But the descent from the stone is very difficult, there is a narrow strip of land: if you stumble, you are in the water.

Three of the group said no, this is unrealistic.

And I decided: I'll try.

And she got over!

Of course, with the help of a guide, but still.

And after me, other participants coped.

Then they said that if it were not for me, my example, they would never have dared to do this.

It was very nice to hear.

However, I still fell into the water.

Fortunately, the shoes were waterproof.

In general, for a day there it was necessary to pass 17 kilometers.

It's good that there were special heels on crutches, without them I would not have coped.

And so I even skated on Baikal.

Unforgettable impressions!

Have you ever been scared during these trips?

- When I was paragliding in the mountains.

A friend gave me for my birthday.

There the instructor was a little shocked when he saw that I was on crutches.

Although his girlfriend warned him, but, apparently, he did not read this message.

He asks me: “Can you run?”.

Me not".

"Can you lift your legs?"

“I can do one, I lift the other with my hand.”

Despite his shock, we still flew.

The feeling is amazing, but at some point it was really scary.

We caught a stream of wind, and now I see: the earth is close ... The thought even flashed: nothing, Ira, life does not teach you!

- Didn't you scold your girlfriend for such a gift?

No, I was actually very happy.

True, for about 15 minutes after landing I could not express this joy in any way, since I was severely seasick and I was sitting all green.

But then she said it was cool.

Do the people you meet on your hikes recognize you?

Do they understand that you are the same Irina Skvortsova?

Some people know, some don't.

Sometimes they say that my face is familiar to them, but they cannot remember where it came from.

There was a story in Krasnaya Polyana.

We walked to the waterfalls along a very steep descent.

People, seeing me, almost twisted their fingers at the temple.

Two guys even dared to approach: “Girl, do you understand that you still have to go back?”

And now I noticed below that a young man was watching me.

It turned out that he was a lifeguard and recognized me.

We talked and he offered to give me a lift back up on the ATV.

Of course, I didn't refuse.

But I imagine what all the tourists thought of me when we rushed by.

There were no crutches to be seen.

• © From the personal archive of Irina Skvortsova

“I forgot all the words at the TedX conference because of fear”

— Your story is certainly motivating and life-affirming.

Two years ago you were invited to talk about it at the famous TedX conference.

Tell me how it was?

- It all started quite simply: the organizer wrote to me on one of the social networks and offered to speak.

At the time, I didn't even know what kind of conference it was.

I just thought why not spend a week in Krasnaya Polyana.

Wrote a speech, but didn't think much about the event.

I have been invited as a speaker before, so there was no excitement.

Two weeks before the conference itself, I was asked to post an announcement on social networks, and what started!

Many people began to write congratulations to me, from whom I did not expect to receive any response.

Everyone around was just asking how I managed to get there.

And only then I decided to find out what I signed up for.

I opened the TED website, looked up the names of the speakers, and then a terrible panic seized me.

My head was spinning: everyone has such important topics, and I have a speech with jokes.

I was very scared, but there was nowhere to retreat.

You can't tell from the video that you were very nervous.

- But I was so stressed that three minutes before the performance I forgot my whole speech.

Completely.

And I was the last to speak, which in itself is very responsible.

And so I go on stage, I see people, spotlights - and I don’t remember a word of what needs to be said.

The last hope was on the screen with a cheat sheet for the performance, which was on the right of me at the dress rehearsal.

I look there and see a timer in this place, counting seconds.

I understand that I need to at least say hello, I look ahead at the audience - and I see the same screen with tips, and then everything flows like clockwork.

Only in one moment did I stumble and I had to improvise, but on the recording it is absolutely imperceptible.

After the performance, I experienced such a flurry of emotions, I roared like a beluga.

And she was so proud of herself that she did not ruin anything.

- Emotions comparable to those that you experience at the top of the mountain?

— Probably, yes.

But on the mountain you are proud of your physical feats, and then I was glad that I coped psychologically.

A few years ago we went to study sports psychology.

- I never got my degree.

I passed the state exams, all that remained was to write my master's thesis.

But I realized that it was not mine, and took the documents.

To be honest, I initially knew that I would not work in this specialty, I acted purely for myself.

I had to communicate with a large number of very different people, therefore, in order not to ruin my psyche - and not to kill anyone inadvertently - I decided to study the basics of psychology.

Perhaps, if I had not had a higher education certificate, I would have reached the end and received a diploma.

And I just didn't want to.

Some will say that they gave up.

Maybe so.

- But the knowledge gained was at least useful in life?

- As it turned out, I used many techniques purely intuitively from the moment I came out of a coma.

For example, when I had severe pain, I imagined myself in a chamomile field.

I tried to abstract, to think about something good and pleasant.

- And when in 2011 you flew to the World Championships in Königssee, was it also something from the field of psychology?

Should I have turned this page?

- Not really.

The Germans invited me to the competition much in advance, and I agreed.

But closer to the trip, I really regretted it.

I was scared, I didn't want to.

But my mother and the lawyer convinced me that it was impossible: if you already promised, then you need to fulfill it.

And I just broke myself psychologically.

I was ashamed to show myself to the guys in the wheelchair, I didn’t want them to see me like that.

I went only so as not to let down the people who were waiting for me.

It was terribly scary, uncomfortable.

But I was greeted very warmly, and then it was already a little bit released.

• © From the personal archive of Irina Skvortsova

“How I screamed when I was prescribed four enemas”

- You went to the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Sochi already without a stroller.

Was it scary to go there?

- And there I actually just ran away from the hospital!

— How so?

- The story is really long.

At the time, my back hurt a lot.

As it turned out later, it was a fistula, but it took seven operations to find the cause of its appearance!

And it all started with the fact that some kind of liquid flowed from the back, and no one could say what it was.

For almost two years I lived like this, changing my own bandages.

Then, finally, they allowed me to have an operation in Germany, and during it, the doctor at the same time cleared the canal in my back and sewed it up.

But after that, the pain intensified many times over.

I could not even drive a car, because any bump caused a hell of a burning sensation inside.

I slept without moving.

The temperature sometimes rose to 39 degrees!

And when it got really bad, I surrendered to the doctors of one of the Moscow clinics.

But there, apparently, they simply did not know what to do with me.

I lay in bed for a week or so, and they just took my blood for analysis, performed a few minor procedures - and that’s it.  

I represent your indignation.

- Oh, how I screamed when I was prescribed four enemas.

And this is a month after the abdominal operation.

The seams could come apart!

I also did my own dressings in the hospital.

In short, the whole situation made my hair stand on end.

Therefore, having received an invitation to the opening ceremony, I experienced great relief: here it is, a legal reason to be discharged from this hospital!

Then it turned out that they were going to operate on my back.

The very place where the German team of surgeons without Hans-Günther Mahens did not climb at all, since there are clots of nerves that have grown together by a miracle ...

Just don't get me wrong.

For the first time in a Russian hospital, I was operated on perfectly, everything was wonderful.

But the second time, it turned out that I ran away.

- And if an invitation to Sochi caught you in another place then, would you go?

- It is hard to say.

Maybe I would have refused.

I wasn't going there.

You know, I didn’t want to be tied to sports at all.

I don't even follow events now.

I learn the news, if only by chance I hear or see something.

Although I had to watch the Summer Olympics in Tokyo closely, because my aunt was in the village and asked me to keep her up to date.

So I watched the broadcasts, tracked how our people performed.

You could even say that I enjoyed it.

— Were you interested in the Winter Olympics in Beijing?

- No, not on purpose.

Maybe she overheard something.

- Probably about Valieva?

- Familiar surname.

Briefly about how Ira is interested in sports

.

Can you tell me what kind of sport?  

- Figure skating.

- Then yes, I heard something about a doping scandal, but I don’t know the details at all.

- Despite the fact that you stepped aside from the sport, would you give your child to any section?

Yes, I would, why not?

After all, children do not immediately get into professional sports, and classes are very useful for physical development.

Gymnastics, OFP.

If later they wanted to become professionals, they would support them, and if not, they would not be upset.

But while I'm not ready for children, they take a lot of energy.

I have nephews whom I love very much, but I go to visit them no more than once a month.

- What about marriage?

In old interviews, you said that you want to start a family.

- I have tasted the buzz of life alone so much that no, I don’t want to yet.

It's cool: you can not cook and clean every day, you can go somewhere with an overnight stay and not for one night.

Everything in my life suits me now.

Someone will say: she just has not yet met that one ... Maybe.

But I can't take on that responsibility.

I have flowers at home withering.

How else does a cat live with me?

“I’m not ashamed to say that I mold my foot with foam rubber”

Have you thought about writing a book about your life?

— Thought about it.

On the one hand, now I am ready to talk much more about what I have experienced than, say, five years ago.

I can confess, for example, that in the hospital it was a huge shock for me that you need to use a duck.

I didn’t succeed, I didn’t want to, literally to tears.

Now I am no longer ashamed of my body.

Of course, I won’t go out in a miniskirt, but I no longer pay attention to the numerous scars.

Well, there they are.

Today I am not ashamed to say that I am shaping my leg with foam rubber.

After all, some of my muscles have been removed, and so that my legs look the same in trousers, I put foam rubber.

Now I speak openly about this, but five years ago I could not even imagine to admit it to someone.

On the one hand, all this could be described in a book.

But on the other hand… I think that it is necessary to write if a person has succeeded in life.

But I can't say the same about myself.

I still don't know what I would like to do with my life.

After the accident, I had many different proposals, projects, but then I was not interested.

Or I refused because I was going abroad and did not know when I would return.

Then I bit the bit and got fixated on operations ...

- Do you regret it? 

Now, of course, I would behave differently.

Yes, I regret many opportunities that I missed.

Not about what she did these operations, but about what put them in the foreground.

Smart people told me about it, but I had a veil before my eyes.

It was a fool, what is there.

At the age of 20 they told you, but by the age of 40 it dawned on you ...

- But surely there were some contacts, connections.

I'm not used to asking for help.

I will do it only if it is a matter of life and death.

And, again, I don't even know in which direction to move.

I want something that would capture you entirely.

To make it not just a job, so that it brings pleasure and satisfaction.

It's been like that in my life with bobsledding.

It was a job, a hobby, and a passion at the same time.

I loved him very much!

And when you have experienced all this in the past, it is very difficult to find a similar feeling.

But I do not lose hope that one day it will come.

• © From the personal archive of Irina Skvortsova