I think I may have just found my favourite adventure video of all time. This 25 minute self shot short movie documents Kyle Dempster’s adventure across Kyrgyzstan. In 2011 Kyle decided to cycle across the Asian country and make a few solo first ascents on the way. In the beautifully inspiring show we experience Kyle’s journey with him from the lens of a Go Pro helmet cam.
The guy is clearly so passionate about adventuring and it’s infectious. He spent nearly two months cycling (but mostly pushing his bike over neglected roads), navigating wild rivers (and he’s got a fear of water), dealing with corrupt military, getting drunk, and soloing a couple of unclimbed routes.
The film recently won the “Best in Fest” award at the 5Point Film Festival and it’s not hard to see why. You’ll begin to feel an emotional connection with Kyle from the first scene, which in itself is worthy of a film, and by the time it finishes you’ll be wanting to grab your bike and your ice axes (strange combination) and head straight for the open road.
The soundtrack is haunting (in a good way) and there are some beautiful quotes from Kyle himself, here are a few of my favourites:
“There are two choices in life, the known and the unknown. Maybe it was the fact I’d come this far. Or maybe it was the vodka and fermented mare’s milk, or maybe it was something else. But I chose the unknown path.”
“Hello, my name’s Kyle, it’s 7 o’clock in the morning and I’m naked in Kyrgyzstan. You might ask ‘Kyle why are you up so early?’ Well it’s cause I gotta cross this river and its the lowest time during the morning so I’m naked and here we go! This is river crossing in Kyrgyzstan!”
“Real adventure is not polished. It’s not the result of some marketing budget, there’s no hashtag for it. It burns brightest on the maps edges but it exists in all of us. It exists at the intersection of imagination and the ridiculous. You have to have faith, it will find you there. And when it does, remember, there’s just one question. In this life, when the road comes to the end, will you keep pedalling?”
Check out the awesome video below, make sure you play it at its highest quality and bump it up to full screen:
The Road From Karakol from Outdoor Research on Vimeo.