08/31/2026
With gratitude to Dirk and all who loved him. Today marks 7 years without our hero.
Below is some of Dirk’s life story from his younger brother Seth Anderson’s recounting:
Douglas Dirk Anderson, the co-creator and co-owner of Loki Gear, passed away on 8/31/2019, going 80 feet off a cliff while backcountry motorcycling on the Bangs Canyon section of the Tabeguache Trail above Grand Junction, Colorado.
Dirk was the most heroic person we ever knew.
Dirk was born on June 18, 1965, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to Douglas Hawley Anderson and Janice Elaine Schnell.
Dirk was raised until the age of 14 in Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
He exemplified the best qualities any man could ever hope to be blessed with. He was tall, handsome, athletic, intelligent, kind, caring, and intensely compassionate to all.
He was a voracious reader his whole life and read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica library before he was eight years old, just because he wanted to. Like his father, he scored 165 on an IQ test, making him a literal genius, and it showed.
He was a talented athlete at a very young age. He learned to ski at three and learned to ride a motorcycle at seven. He was skilled in technical and long-distance Trials Motorcycle riding in the late 70s and early 80s. He set aside his passion for riding serious terrain on motorcycles while raising his family. He dreamed of riding again later in life. Dirk played on a 14-year-old soccer league in Carbondale when he was only seven.
In 1978 the Anderson Family moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. The family now included his seven year younger Down Syndrome brother Jared Joshua Anderson born 8/7/1972 and nine year younger Seth Isaiah Anderson born 8/22/1974.
He had a hard time adjusting to the new town but he soon met life long friends and the love of his life Theresa Jill Neitzert Anderson who he later married for thirty years and had a loving family with two beautiful daughters Acadia Mae Anderson (Wilson) and Cierra Hope Anderson with Grandchild Valla Mae Wilson and a Grandson on the way.
He was not a fan of high school culture. He was a defender of underdogs from school bullies. He had intense hand-eye coordination and mastered arcade games, once winning Colorado state championship for “Stargate Defender” playing for 17 hours straight.
He was a natural athlete and was star player number 32 on the Central High School Basketball team. He played saxophone and was a solo vocalist representing the Grand Valley. Dirk was offered full ride scholarships for singing and for basketball.
Dirk was a tremendous golfer. He learned from his father Doug Anderson as early as skiing. He grew up playing and was on the high school team. He won long drive competitions. He played annual golf tournaments with his father Douglas and friends Mike Thompson and Calvin Schlisner for his whole life. The father son team won two-man best ball tournaments, including one that Craig Stadler the “Walrus” had also won.
Dirk was a life long hunter. He felt as we humans are predators it is part of an honest life to know what it means and how it feels to take life to further your own. He went with family and friends and enjoyed the experience. He studied the terrain and habits of animals and set up successful strategies to get close enough to do it right. Most seasons he brought home cow elk preferring the meat over the trophy.
Dirk loved music. All music. Early on he was into Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Van Halen. He said the Beatles tapped into the universe and brought it to sound, sometimes with a message. Tenacious D was his theme music for climbing Denali, and continued to be his favorite “don’t fall asleep while driving music. Later in life he loved what he called melancholy singer song writer musicians. He got free tickets to Amos Lee the night before his fateful ride. “Window Rolled Down” seems to relate to the next day.
Instead of going straight after high school to college Dirk wanted to travel and spent a gap year traveling and working. He soon entered into the medical field after earning an associates degree to become an ex-ray technician. He spent his first year of radiology work in Sarasota Florida.
He would later turn his patient care advocacy focused medical career to help the greater community in ways that few can truly appreciate. He rose from being a tech, to be the manager for the Cat Scan department, then the entire diagnostic program, then ushered in a new era of electric records keeping for diagnostic and then the entire hospital.
He helped Saint Mary’s be recognized as one of the top three hospitals to implement “paperless” records keeping, while convincing area health care providers to help patients across the system more efficiently. He cared, and acted on his passion for others with his work.
Dirk moved back to Grand Junction in September 1990 having missed the mountain and desert scenery of Colorado. Dirk took his then sixteen year old brother to climb the fourteen thousand foot Mount Sneffels. This experience inspired Dirk to invent and later patent and Co-own the outdoor business Loki Outerwear. The brothers also vowed to climb all of the 58 peaks over 14,000’ together. The now famous goal of climbing all the “14ers.” Along the 29 years Dirk also climbed 23,800’ Aconcagua in Argentina, 20,320’ Denali in Alaska, Rainer, Grand Teton, Whitney, 80 mile high alpine climb of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountains. He self taught himself to rock climb hard 5’11 routes and intense high alpine climbs.
Dirk was inspired by mountains and travel. He took our humble family on the greatest adventures that few would dream possible in a lifetime. He had been to every state in the US but Arkansas. He went to Europe many times, South America and Asia. His missions were to learn more about the world and share the experience with loved ones.
Through Dirk’s persistent business acumen, work in health care and inventions with Loki he brought our family into a sustainable economic status. His purpose of financial success was not for personal gain but to care for his family’s long term well-being and for others in need.
On August 30, 2019, One week after completing his goal of climbing the Colorado 14ers with his younger brother Seth, Dirk went on what he intended to be a backcountry motorcycle ride. Dirk fell down an eighty foot cliff in Bangs Canyon above Grand Junction. He survived the initial fall but quickly succumbed to internal injury’s.
We owe Dirk the highest honor and reverence and are ever thankful to have had such a truly bold and heroic man in our lives. Long live the Dirk.
Dirk Anderson is Survived by Wife Theresa Anderson
Daughters Acadia Wilson, Son-in-law Dustin Wilson, Granddaughter Valla Wilson. Cierra Anderson and Logan Moody.
Father Douglas Anderson Mother Janice Anderson
Brother Seth Anderson
News Stories here:
https://www.gjsentinel.com/breaking/loki-outerwear-has-its-hardest-day-without-co-founder-dirk/article_19285168-ce73-11e9-9745-3799ad50db07.html
TV segment;
https://www.nbc11news.com/content/news/559309631.html
Theresa Anderson Cierra Anderson Acadia Wilson Janice Anderson
Dustin Wilson Logan Moody
