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Ka
Mountain climber
Charleston SC
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 3, 2009 - 08:25pm PT
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My brother Kyle passed away this morning in Salt Lake City UT.
He loved the mountains and all of you.
I know he is loved among our many friends.
He was the bravest boldest man I have ever known.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Rest in peace, my brother....
Kyle on the Bride, Gemini Bridges, Moab, Utah
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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another member of the tribe leaves us
he was well regarded by those who partnered with him
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Thank you, Kyle, RIP
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Someone I sure wish I'd known.
RIP
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I knew this was coming, but still can't accept it.
But recent years have been torture for him.
He is at peace now.
I'm glad I made that extra trip to see him.
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Mark Rodell
Trad climber
Bangkok
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A life well lived in beautiful places - may his memory be seen in the people and places he knew and loved.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Just spoke to Tenley.
Apparently two days after I talked with him on the 24th he caught a lift to Moab for a couple days and got to see home.
I'm thankful for that.
Kyle liked how we spread Charlie's ashes around and I hope that his family concur.
What can one say?
In climbing we place our hands and feet in the same places as the routes' pioneers.
For centuries hence climbers will shake hands with Kyle.
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rick d
climber
ol pueblo, az
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adios man......
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FeelioBabar
climber
Sneaking up behind you...
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Another great one gone. R.I.P. Kyle.
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Geez, what a sad year. Kyle was a quiet man who did a lot for the community. RIP.
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nature
climber
Tucson, AZ
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Rest in peace Kyle.
My condolences to all family and friends.
Doug
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Kyle on Potash Rd.....Kyle did the FA of probably 1/2 of all the Potash routes....just for fun back when no one climbed in Moab;...once Potash became popular, ...he would never climb there...
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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One of Kyle's many first ascent in the desert;...This one by River Rd.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Kyle took us to this one;...The Kind;..another one of his awesome routes he discoved and climbed...
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Idaho, also. Sorta, kinda mostly, Yeah.
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His name is Legend in the RedLands.
I ran into him once, in Moab.
Seemed Like an Elder Statesman of Stone.
Good sense of fun, though. He suggested the Mystery Towers.
Sheesh.
I'll miss him. And I only met him once.
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The Larry
climber
Moab, UT
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Thanks for the photos Todd. Please post more if you got them.
Sad news. He was a true fighter. I met Kyle a couple of times after he stopped climbing. He was such a nice and generous guy. He was a true desert pioneer.
RIP Kyle
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Class Act (5.11)...I tried leading it...failed
Greg Epperson tried leading it;...failed
Kyle took over;....VICTORY! Thank you, Kyle
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Sorting gear;...Kyle Copeland, Todd Gordon Cyndie Bransford, Margie Floyd-Evans, Dave Evans...Moab, Utah...spring break
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Rest in Peace Kyle. Thanks for taking us around, putting us up and putting up with us.
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Jello
Social climber
No Ut
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Ron, thanks so much for bringing Kyle up here in July. Kyle and I had never met before then. Although I wish I'd known him in his prime (and me in my prime, as well, so we could have climbed together), it was good to just spend some time in his presence.
Ka, your brother was obviously a special human being. My thoughts go out to you and your family, and all of Kyle's many friends.
-Jeff Lowe
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Russ Walling
Gym climber
Poofter's Froth, Wyoming
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RIP Kyle.... sincere condolences and best wishes to your friends and family.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Another brother gone. Best wishes and condolences to his family and what I'm sure is a vast array of friends. Off belay, Kyle.
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philo
Trad climber
boulder, co.
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Another heart rending loss. At least he is now at peace.
My condolences to family and friends.
He was well deserved of the status he attained.
He will be sorely missed by many.
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Jack Burns
climber
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Thanks for all the routes, Kyle.
Sincerest condolences to Ka, family and friends.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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My condolences to friends and family.
Climbs to Nowhere...classic. Sorry for the hasty and poor photo.
What a legacy, especially in the desert around Moab.
-Brian in SLC
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cyndiebransford
climber
31 years in Joshua Tree, now Alaska
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Good bye Kyle. May peace be with you and those you leave behind.
I will always think of Kyle when I visit Moab. He was generous with his climbing knowledge and welcomed us each spring break.
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Gagner
climber
Boulder
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RIP Kyle - while we never climbed together, for many years we always seemed to run into each other somewhere in the desert. Condolences to Kyle's family.
Paul
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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RIP Kyle. Many thanks for all the routes you showed us and spires you climbed. I'm glad we got a few minutes together in July at Jello's house.
Best,
Mal
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unimog
climber
windy corner in the west
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may you rest in peace my friend you will be missed and always remembered
my best to your family
Sasha
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Very sad news. Kyle really was a great person, as well as a great climber.
Only got to meet him once, in '94 at his house in Moab when we were there to do an ascent of Primose on Moses. He lent us a couple of cams in sizes we didn't have he thought we'd need. His legacy will live on proudly...
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shellon copeland
Boulder climber
reston, virginia
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Kyle was my older brother. I googled him to look at climbing pictures of him and saw your postings. He found a great family with you guys and climbing. He was always so long and skinny he could climb anything and was like a frenetic ball of energy which is such a great gift but can sometimes not fit well with mind numbing school classes and working in an office. He was so perfectly Yin and Yang, he paid his dues in the last 10 years and has reached nirvana. He earned it. I think going through surgeries and ER visits are equal to extreme climbing with the physical and emotional stress that goes with those. My parents have not decided what to do but maybe there could be like a gathering of climbers and family/friends where he loved to be so much in Moab. It is really soon but will post if we get that together.
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wbw
climber
'cross the great divide
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Thanks Kyle, for the jams and the floorspace back in the day. Thanks for letting me goof off on your pedal steel. Thanks for the beta, especially on Zenyatta Entrada. Thanks for introducing me to the continuous flow of unique characters that seemed to pass through your house in Moab. Thanks for the stories and inspiration. You were one of a kind.
If you see them around, give an 'eh up to Derek and Charlie.
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crunch
Social climber
CO
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Ka, thanks for posting this here. Sorry for your loss. Kyle was a desert climbing icon.
Kyle moved to Moab back before it was trendy, happily put up with all kinds of visitors camping in and around his house, and put up many great climbs around Moab. He was an artist. He used to work on some rock polishing projects, including making lampshades, as I recall, out of thin-sliced stone--beautiful.
Sadly, like many of us, my memories of Kyle are now two decades old. Back then, he was always willing to share his house and his love of the desert. He could and should have been an active member and driving force in the current Moab/desert climbing community, but as his health issues became more challenging, he gradually kept more to himself, not wanting to burden his friends.
Had his body stayed strong, what might have been?
RIP Kyle.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA
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Kyle's design for crack climbing gloves (Spider Mitts) was the best! RIP Kyle.
Bruce
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Gilwad
climber
Frozen In Somewhere
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I worked with Kyle way back in the day at Jrat, did a few climbs that stuck in my mind more than usual with him, and generally enjoyed the Kyle space. Good memories. I hadn't seen him in a bunch of years but sent a small care package to the hospital he was in, hope he got a laugh, I had fun sending it.
Peace to his family and friends.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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I did not know him but condolences to his family and many friends.
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DJMac
Big Wall climber
Bonedale, CO
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This is very sad news indeed. My heart goes out to friends and family!
I have too many memories of Kyle to list. Many amazing, adventurous, crazy, wet, cold, hot, drunk, stoned and sober, angry and sad, humorous and not so humorous times. Kyle was and extraordinary man living in a crazy world. He was so good at so many things, and IMO a true climbing underdog.
I know my climbing days would not have been the same without him. Wait, can I hear him cracking the whip and saying, "get moving up there"?
***
It’s a freezing cold and snowy morning in Boulder, sitting in the living room sipping on a hot cup of Chock Full o'Nuts (his favorite coffee at the time). The "Spud Club" is in session and Kyle wants to go out and AID CLIMB some new line up Boulder Canyon. The Spud Club responds with a cool "WTF? Are you kidding?" I naively say, "OK, I'll go".
Hours later I'm sitting in waist deep snow, inside a haul bag, freezing my butt off while he works his magic aid on a dark and dirty roof crack. My hands and feet are numb. I dedicated this moment with a cartoon. Cam Head "Missing Partner". I don't even think this climb is recorded anywhere.
***
I'm following and cleaning [on aid] the short diagonal crack pitch on D7 (The Diamond, RMNP) just before table ledge. It's dark, raining and snowing, very cold. Above me a headlamp peaks over the edge and Kyle’s voice whispers from above "hey man, do you think you can free climb the rest of the way up without falling?" I think and say, "uh ... OK ... I'll try."
When I safely get up to the ledge Kyle is sitting next to a huge VW sized boulder perched on the ledge with a big sling over it. Kyle says, "Sorry man ... I'm really sorry. I can't believe I didn't check this." He leans over past me and puts his hands on the block and rocks it back and forth. It booms and sounds like death. The way it's tied off, with the jug line, and Kyle attached ... we all would have bit the big one if anything had happened. We spent one of the most heinous nights I've ever had on a wall crammed behind and around that huge block. It wanted to jump off the wall so badly I could feel it tugging at us as we tried to sleep in our saturated bags. It was a long night. We made it to the summit early the next morning.
***
Sitting in a horizontal cave-like hueco the size of a minivan high up on a South Platte Dome. The view is cloudy and rainy outside. Inside the huge hueco there are features. A small grotto, a hueco with a single crystal protruding from its base like a religious symbol and a small man-size cave in the back. We hang out, smoke down, smoke up, chat, crawl into the man-size hole, take pictures, smoke more. It’s so very cool. Such an amazing place to be.
It’s my lead. I start looking around for the next unknown pitch. Not knowing what is above me. I start traversing out the side of the cave and not seeing an obvious line I keep traversing.
I see a ledge off to my side. A big boulder sits on the ledge … and tools. Tools? There’s a shovel, a pick and some other relics. That’s weird, I think. So I keep traversing to the ledge and as I move further I see a cave. A huge cave! This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
I call back to Kyle and Mark, “You guys have to come over here and see this!”
When we’re all on the ledge together we look at the tools and there are huge black quartz crystals lying around. Some are the size of my forearm. We explore the cave and find many more black quartz crystals.
We spent hours here, looking around in the dirt, digging up crystals, smoking down, smoking up, chatting and laughing.
It’s almost dark and we’ve got to get off here. We didn’t bother to do a last pitch, not enough time, too much fun on the ledge. Time to rap off with a Bag Full o’Crystals!
***
KC … we miss you man!
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Marc Hirt
Trad climber
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Oct 10, 2009 - 08:09pm PT
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Kyle was my brother. I was one of the lucky ones who got to spend a lot of time with him, we shared our dreams and our hearts. He was the most interesting person I've met in this crazy world. Like a magnet he attracted and repelled with an equal force but his heart of gold shone through the frenetic energy like a headlamp in the dark. The shirt off his back or the gear off his rack was always there for the needy. He just wanted everyone to expand their horizons, fulfill their potential and have a good time! We could all stand to steal a couple of pages from his guidebook. See ya at the secret dream area.
Marc
P.S. The C.L.F. still lives my brother!!!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Oct 10, 2009 - 08:24pm PT
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Just got back from 9 days in the desert, so sorry to hear about Kyle. I saw him with Ron Olesky at a barbeque at Jeff Lowe's on 7/23. Kyle perservered for a long time under extremely difficult circumstances. His legacy of bold climbs will live on.
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sunnyside
Boulder climber
boulder
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Oct 11, 2009 - 07:40pm PT
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Kyle lived in Boulder during the mid 1980s' and through Charlie Fowler and Mark Rolofson, I was fortunate to have met him and become his friend. At that time he was dating Allison Sheets and was sharing a house with Mark Rolofson, and John McMullen. Kyle was such a kind person and was always interested in what was going on with climbing. He had a great eye for routes and was the one who first told me about, and suggested that I try free climbing such routes as Rainbow Wall and China Doll, both originally sent as aid climbs by Kyle and friends. I remember the great climber parties that him and his roommates used to have at their house there on Broadway and Ash in Boulder, the views of the Flatirons, looking out their front yard was inspiring. I remember him always talking about the climbing potential in the desert and how he respected the feats of Layton Kor and how he aspired to be such an explorer of rock as Kor. I recall watching several slide shows of his desert tower ascents, I was especially intrigued by his and Charlie Fowlers ascent of the Totem Poke in Monument Valley. He will always be remembered, at least in my book, as one of the true innovator within the rock world.
Bob Horan
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sunnyside
Big Wall climber
boulder
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Oct 12, 2009 - 12:50pm PT
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Like a Kachina Wind, when looking out into the magnificent desert your spirit will be felt.
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Conrad
climber
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Oct 16, 2009 - 09:43am PT
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RIP Kyle. With respect to his family and close friends.
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back east
Boulder climber
Boston, MA
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Oct 16, 2009 - 02:43pm PT
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Hello to all of Kyle's friends;
Here's a few pictures from when he first started out in Boulder. We moved out there from Setauket, NY in 1979, to find a better life. I brought forth our daughter, Ianna, and went back East, he stayed out West. Ianna later became brain-injured in an accident when she was still a baby, leaving her whole right side powerless. I mention this here because you all knew what a fighter Kyle was, and Ianna is the same way. She was supposed to be on permanent life support but got off it and learned to walk, talk, read and write and do amazing artwork and craft. She now runs her own jewelry business. We are both very saddened he is gone, but happy he is in a better place and without pain.
Kyle managed to get me to climb the Flatirons, and a few other places....we found a place to climb that wasn't in any guidebooks, and called it "Smearin' Off"- a pun on the vodka label- not that I'm a drinker or anything. I just touched the climbing world very briefly, when he was first starting out in a big way. I guess that became a trademark of sorts for him- after reading your posts- that he loved to make new climbs.
We met in Earth Science class in 9th grade. Our teacher, Mr. Coulter, told him to sit near me. (I guess the teacher knew I was always nice- the other kids kept making fun of him because he was a bit awkward-looking and had very long hair- and he had just moved up from Virginia so had a funny accent). So we were friends for many years. When things in my family became difficult, he was a stalwart friend. We both had our stubborn streaks, and we were both very young when we moved to Boulder, so didn't have the tools or wisdom to work things out.
I still have the first chalk bag that he made. He was such a sentimental soul. So anti-establishment, so high-minded and down to earth at the same time.
He will be missed, for sure.
Rene
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 16, 2009 - 03:03pm PT
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I only met him a few times, and didn't know him all that well.
But I have long been well aware of the legacy he left to any of us who climb in the desert.
Thanks again, Kyle. Good bye.
Condolences to his family and all who knew and loved him.
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asheets
climber
eldo
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Oct 17, 2009 - 03:00am PT
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Some photos
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asheets
climber
eldo
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Oct 17, 2009 - 03:00am PT
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asheets
climber
eldo
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Oct 17, 2009 - 03:02am PT
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The next day, Christmas, found us topping out on Standing Rock after experiencing the famed "bands of moistened kitty litter" desert sandstone. Kyle climbed the entire route wearing a santa hat and a cigarette in his mouth. Layton's original summit register was there.
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jjg
Social climber
castle valley ut
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Nov 11, 2009 - 08:02pm PT
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Just returned from the San Rafael Swells to scatter My best friend Tenley Webb's with Kyle Copeland's ashes. Yes, he was an extraordinary man and a dear friend to Tenley and I. Had many an occasion to enjoy the outdoors with him. LOL. Janet
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Icemann
climber
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Sep 16, 2010 - 09:09pm PT
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I am writing on behalf Ianna Good the daughter of Kyle Copeland. She was hoping some of you would share your photos with her. Can you send them to my email address. Just send be a private message using this forum or FB.
This is a monument to Kyle Copeland in Ianna's backyard in Westwood MA.
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Icemann
climber
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Sep 19, 2010 - 09:40pm PT
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Ianna is Russian Orthodox and we asked a priest for an icon of someone appropriate for this Ianna's monument. We were given an icon of St. Neophytos who the priest said climbed a spire and carved out a cave for himself. The site below says it a little differently but I suspect it's just a translation thing.
http://orthodoxyinfo.org/Saints/StNeophytos.htm
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mud
Trad climber
CO
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Sep 20, 2010 - 11:12pm PT
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A couple of Kyle - Mid 80's
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Globeshifter
Social climber
Salt Lake City, Utah
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It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since Kyle passed away. I have enjoyed reading all the stories and looking at the pictures that everyone shared on this site.
I met Kyle through Tenley 16 years ago. Throughout those years I found Kyle to be a true friend. I have few friends in life but the ones I do have and hold close have been in my life a long time.
The time I spent with Kyle was never dull and I usually walked away with something new to ponder on or an angle on life I hadn’t seen before. Anyone that knew Kyle very well knows that if you spent enough time with him you were bound to see a side of him that would be a bit abrasive. I would be to the point of telling him, “Hasta La Vista, baby!” when out of the blue he would do or say something that would make up for any of his tantrums and then some.
I am the one that took Kyle to Moab just before he died. He had been hospitalized for over 6 months and it was obvious he was homesick as hell. Even though his health was better than it had been in the previous months he was still frail, yet I could see that Kyle going home, even for just a moment was something he wanted to do no matter what, so off we went.
It as a great trip, I got to see a few sides of Kyle I hadn’t seen for a long time. Like laughter. He rattled on and on about some of the highlights of his life as well as some of the low times, he even talked of his daughter which I knew was a very rare thing for him to do and I felt honored he did. Tenley met us at his house in Moab and the three of us spent the day going through stuff. Each item seemed to have a story to it. Looking back I think he knew he wouldn’t be home again. Kyle passed away in his sleep two days later. I got the call from Tenley and one thing that stuck in my mind she said to me was the fact that she and I were the last people to see him happy. And I have to say that Kyle really was.
Toward the end I watched Kyle struggle with his emotions. He did his best to be positive. Like any climb Kyle ever took, there were situations and obstacles that appeared to be impossible to get above and beyond, yet Kyle did just that, one last time.
Until we meet again, Thank you and goodbye Kyle.
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shellon copeland
Social climber
reston, virginia
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Oct 23, 2010 - 09:26am PT
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Thanks for your posting and what an amazing thing to take Kyle home that last time I bet he was so very grateful. As well as to have you and Tenley and Kyle together in Moab.
Maybe that last journey was the impetus to let go and move on to the place where he would always be young and strong, never be hungry or in pain emotionally or physically and never feel scared or guilty, sad or angry. The fight was not lost.
I will always remember laughing hysterically with cereral balls up our noses or lighting a home made tobacco cigarette as big as a cucumber or singing Led Zeppelin as loud as we could.
This has been such a very very hard month and the wound feels just a fresh as the day it was made. I want so very much to do a web site and and it feels too hard right now. Seeing the picture of him you can feel his strength looking forward with binoculars despite his losses.
Shellon
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Oct 23, 2010 - 12:46pm PT
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When it comes to desert climbing- Kyle was Da Man!
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Oct 23, 2010 - 01:41pm PT
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I think that Kyle would be very proud to see that the sale of his used gear generated thousands of dollars for his good friend, Layton's, medical expenses.
Looks like it is time for another sale as he just got a pile of new bills as a result of the surgery this month.
I hope Shellon is aware of just how much Layton appreciates this effort. Indeed, the people of ST have likely been that much more generous in it.
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