Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Sponsors: Outdoor Research, La Sportiva, Black Diamond, CiloGear, ProBar, Rimini Coffee
Current Transportation: 2003 Dodge Sprinter
Favorite Places: Zion National Park, Pakistan, pitch two of the GWI during superbowl Sunday, my parent’s house, places with big trees
Core Activities: Alpine climbing
My Jam is: Variable, depending on mood.
Non-core Activities: Keeping it real, loving life, drinking coffee, running, fly fishing, the barbell, bikes
I Eat Lots of: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, vegetables, chips and salsa
Fun Fact: I have pretty awful BO when I drink a lot of coffee and forget to drink water (surely, people don’t know).

Kyle Dempster was possibly known as much for his warm smile, humility and kindness as for his adventures in the big mountains of the world. In 2009, he and a friend purchased a small Salt Lake City coffee shop and re-named it “Higher Ground Coffee.” He divided his time between getting dangerously over-caffeinated and channeling his buzz toward any form of climbing. Whether it was on a Himalayan peak, granite big wall, limestone sport cave, sandstone crack, boulder or tree, Kyle felt there was an experience in each and a story worth living. His personality and one of his adventures was documented in the short film The Road From Karakol.

In August 2016, Kyle and Scott Adamson were climbing the north face of Ogre II (6980m) in Pakistan when they disappeared. Massive searches in the area revealed nothing, leaving us—and their families and friends—heartbroken. Kyle left a lasting impact on us, and will be dearly missed.

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