The Traveller's Magazine
In 2011 Kyle Dempster set off to travel across Kyrgyzstan by bike with a sponsorship from mountain gear company Outdoor Research. With a few somewhat accurate maps as his guide, Kyle set off on his adventure and filmed his entire journey which quite the narration. The result? A 25-minute documentary that is worth your lunch hour.
Kyle learned ten Kyrgyz words, packed his bike trailer full of climbing and camping gear and set off on a 1200 kilometre trip cross-country. It took him two months to pedal/push his bike across Kyrgyzstan. He takes us on the road with him in this documentary, taking us across wild rivers, past corrupt military checkpoints and up and over alpine rocks.
He’s not just any ordinary bloke climbing whatever he finds in front of him. Dempster is one of the top alpine climbers in the world and has pioneered new routes on some of the tallest mountains in the world. About his adventure Kyle says,
I thought it’d be cool to climb a bunch of different mountains, riding around and climbing whatever looked good. I had a very general idea of all these ranges I wanted to check out. I actually wish the trip had been twice as long, because I only made it to about half the places I wanted to go.
The Road From Karakol
At the end of his trip Kyle’s self-shot footage found its way onto the desks of two filmmakers, Fitz Cahall and Austin Siadak. They were given the task to create a 4-minute climbing film and instead they put together this 25-minute short documentary called “The Road From Karakol.”
The film was recently debuted at the 5Point Film Festival and took home the Best In Fest Award!
On travelling solo
Have you ever thought to take a solo trip somewhere remote? Kyle definitely recommends it,
I think sometimes this world gets a little overwhelming with how crowded it is. It’s super refreshing to seek out these experiences. It could even be just a couple of hours after you get out of the office. Or weeks at a time. Just be alone, by yourself in a place that inspires you and requires a lot of you as well.
Have you ever gone on a solo adventure? What were your highs and lows of the trip?
