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Like any Great Adventure, Things Did Not Go As Planned

Happiness and hard-lived lives seem to be in unison. #GrandAdventures
 

Kyle Dempster has some wonderful climbing exploits under his belt. He has won the much-coveted and admired Piolet d’Or (twice, no less). I have massive admiration for people like this who push the limits of what is possible in the adventure world.

But surely there is no place for Kyle in my Grand Adventures project? It’s a project encouraging ordinary people to take on their first big adventure, not for showcasing elite accomplishment. I hope that you’ll enjoy reading this interview with Kyle, and laud him not only for his climbing exploits, but also for his fabulous attitude to life and his other dirtbag, budget adventures that should inspire all of us to get out there and try something new.

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Alastair: I’mm fascinated that you have not chosen to become a ‘˜professional climber’, at least in the sense that you have a ‘˜real job’ too. Why did you choose this route rather than turning your hobby into your job?

Kyle: While I do call myself a professional climber, I realize that the occupation is finite and at some point I may not want to be climbing at the level that I do at the moment. Instead of being an old burnt-out climber still talking about the past, I want to move on to other things. The coffee shop(s) we own will someday support those activities and adventures. I also REALLY love coffee.

Alastair: I love that you have a coffee shop. I love that you call it Higher Ground (which genius came up with the name?). But what I really love is that it is not a cafe crammed full of climbing photos. Why did you decide to not make it a climbers’ hangout, or even ‘˜cash in’ on your accomplishments on the mountains?

Kyle: Coffee shops are all about community and bringing together the diversity of a community. I spend enough time hanging out with climbers. I like that I can walk into Higher Ground and talk about just about anything. We still get plenty of climbers in there as well, which I also like!

Alastair: Adventure1000 is not about elite adventure. It’s about inspiring ‘˜normal’ people to do something less normal and more challenging and exciting than usual. So I want to interview you about the Road From Karakol. When people ask you about this trip, what is your brief summary of explaining the trip? What did you do?

Kyle: I flew to Kyrgyzstan with a bike, climbing gear, and no solid plan with only the intention of riding around exploring someplace new and climbing whatever mountains looked cool. Simple really!

Alastair: What was your previous level of cycling experience?

Kyle: I grew up with bicycles in my life (my father lives his life on a bike, we’re a one-car family). For a few years I didn’t own a car, commuting to university and around town via bike. But bike touring was completely new for me.

Alastair: What was your previous level of experience of travelling in the developing world, making yourself understood, finding markets for food and water etc?

Kyle: I’md done 4 trips to Pakistan, 3 to remote China, several to south America, the Canadian Arctic twice. I knew what I was getting into. Central Asia is like the modern day wild west: all the amenities are available but they are few and far between. Happiness and hard-lived lives seem to be in unison.

Alastair: What was your previous level of film-making experience?

Kyle: Zero.

Alastair: Why did you decide to take on so much stuff that you were not very good at? Why didn’t you go just climb something awesome like you usually do?

Kyle: The film was a bit of a fluke, it came together because I filmed a lot, something I’mm not usually compelled to do. But when I went to Kyrgyzstan it was not with the intention of making a movie, hell, the footage sat in my room on a hard drive for a year after the trip. But from the travel, bike, climb standpoint I knew what I was getting into, other than Kyrgyzstan being a new to me place.

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Alastair: I’mve had a long-running email debate (several years!) with a friend of mine under the subject ‘˜Jack of all Trades versus Specialist’. I personally love dabbling at loads of stuff. But that approach will never earn me a Piolet d’Or or a challenging first ascent. What would your take be on this argument?

Kyle: Being a climber I have a ton of admiration for the folks that are true specialists, people like Adam Ondra. But I also greatly admire and respect the folks that do many things at 90% efficiency. Specialists seem so focused to one thing that it really blinds them from enjoying all the other cool things one can pursue in this life. Jack of all Trades accomplish a variety of things but they will never contribute to the true progression of a sport or activity or know what it is like to do something at the upper reaches of possibility.

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Alastair: I love the line in your film ‘œLike any Great Adventure, things did not go as planned.’ One thing that stops people committing to their first big adventure is the fear of the unknown, or unexpected stuff happening. How would you respond to those people?

Kyle: When you were a child exploring the playground for the first time, did you know you were going to fall off the monkey bars, hit your head on the ground and need stitches? Life is all about the unknown, it’s where growth originates, success or failure will both have its reward.

Alastair: I’mm trying to persuade people to stop focussing on the barriers to their adventure (time, money, expertise) and instead to look at the opportunities for adventure rather than the constraints. What advice would you have to someone who dreams of adventure (perhaps they read about people like you in magazines), but think that ‘˜normal’ people cannot do adventures such as yours?

Kyle: Listen to your heart, unplug from the norm, pursue whatever it is that will create a sense of love within you and your connection to the world.

Alastair: ‘œIt’s 7 o’clock in the morning and I’mm naked in Kyrgyzstan’ is a magical opening line to a film. I’md like to ask you a few questions about the filming / story telling side of your latest expedition… Why did you decide to film your trip – it was hard enough without the hassle of film-making?

Kyle: It was a unique adventure for myself, one that was new and exciting and fresh. Kyrgyzstan is stunning. It felt right to film. The camera became my journal and I just chose to capture the people, places, activities, and emotions that I was experiencing. It was real and honest. So many films these days are acted, scripted. Just go out with no plan and see what happens. If it feels right, then filming won’t feel like a hassle.

I did not edit the movie at all. Fitz Cahall and the folks at Duct Tape Then Beer, worked very hard on the editing. It took them nearly a year of working at it! They made an incredible film that has inspired many. I am no editor, and don’t have the patience for it. Fitz, et al, really deserve all the credit for such a fantastic film!

Alastair: What sort of feedback has your film received from audiences?

Kyle: It’s been amazing. It’s really inspired a lot of people and I’mm flattered for that. If just one person watches and gets stoked to pursue a radical adventure then it’s a success in my book! And I think we’ve accomplished that!

Alastair: My final question. If I gave you $1000 to go do any adventure at all, what would you choose, and why?

Kyle: I just came back from a nine day, self supported, mountain bike, packrafting, and desert tower climbing mission with four other friends through the Navajo indian reservation in south eastern Utah, close to Monument Valley. No single activity was cutting edge, but collectively the trip was mind blowing! I think I spent about $300 total.

Alastair: Thank you so much, Kyle – I really appreciate it.

You can watch The Road From Karakol on Vimeo here.

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My new book, Grand Adventures, is out now.
It’s designed to help you dream big, plan quick, then go explore.
The book contains interviews and expertise from around 100 adventurers, plus masses of great photos to get you excited.

I would be extremely grateful if you bought a copy here today!

I would also be really thankful if you could share this link on social media with all your friends – http://goo.gl/rIyPHA. It honestly would help me far more than you realise.

Thank you so much!

Grand Adventures Cover

 


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Comments

  1. Great interview and a truly inspiring film. Thanks for sharing

    Reply
  2. Good to see Kyle is going strong, been reading his blogspot offerings for a while now and he always packs in plenty of great pictures.

    Only problem is his posts are sometimes a long time coming because he,s always off on another trip.

    Just got to say the picture at the top of this post is classic 🙂

    Reply
  3. Fair play Kyle, good interview. Remember watching this video some time ago – excellent and one of the best intros ever !

    Reply
  4. This video is a brilliant mixture of funny and inspiring

    Reply
  5. What a great story! Central Asia has long fascinated me… there’s little to no tourist industry, but these swaaaaaathes of gorgeous land.

    Where can I watch/buy this film?

    Reply
  6. Epic. What’s the deal with the goat?!

    Reply
  7. Claire Posted

    With regard to your jack of all trades vs specialist argument the specialists do push boundaries but the jacks make connections between things because they have diversity of knowledge so a specialists discovery can be used in a completely different way. An example is the creation of Gore-Tex for outdoor gear used in surgery to repair hernias.

    Reply
  8. Kyle and Scott Adamson are currently missing in Ogre II Pakistan, search and rescue continues to hopefully find them both safe. Wonderful blog and lets hope a future one to follow once Kyle Dempster returns safely.

    Reply

 
 

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