Canadian Mountain Runner Missing for 4 Days After Embarking on Matterhorn Training Session
· Yahoo Sports
Credit: Kalie McCrystal/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Kalie McCrystal, an experienced mountain runner, went missing during her descent from the peak of the Matterhorn in the Alps on Sept. 1
- Italian officials have suspended helicopter search efforts after no trace of the 38-year-old was found
- McCrystal’s friends and family are still hoping for her safe return, as they say the climb was well within her abilities
Friends and family members are searching for a Canadian mountain runner who went missing during her descent from the peak of the Matterhorn in Italy.
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According to Athletics Canada, 38-year-old Kalie McCrystal, of Squamish, British Columbia, was last seen on Tuesday, Sept. 1, ahead of an attempt to break a record in the Alps along the Switzerland-Italy border.
McCrystal is an experienced mountaineer and skyrunner — a sport involving running above 6,600-foot altitudes over rough mountainous terrain — and she was embarking on a “reconnaissance/training session” ahead of an attempt to set the record for the fastest known time to summit and descend the Matterhorn, per the Canadian Press and CBC News.
The Skyrunner World Series, the international championship competition for the sport, wrote in a press release that McCrystal was last seen at around 3:45 p.m. local time on Tuesday after she had reached the summit of the 14,692-foot mountain and was on her way back down to Cervinia, Italy, located at the foot of the Matterhorn.
She was heading down Lion Ridge, the route to the top of the mountain on the Italian side of the border, and was seen at the mountain’s Jean-Antoine Carrel shelter, located at about 12,565 feet.
“There has been no further contact with her, and no one has seen or heard from her since,” the Skyrunner World Series said in the press release.
Kalie McCrystalCredit: Kalie McCrystal/Instagram
Though Italian rescue officials were mobilized to find McCrystal, according to the CBC, they announced on Friday, Sept. 4, that they would be suspending helicopter search efforts after finding no trace of her on Thursday, Sept. 3.
The Skyrunner World Series organization shared that McCrystal, who is also a lawyer and faculty member at Capilano University, has “many years of experience in high-altitude and technical mountain terrain” and is considered a highly accomplished and capable mountaineer “with extensive experience navigating challenging alpine environments.”
“She has climbed the Matterhorn previously, and this was not her first experience on the mountain,” the organization wrote.
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Jacob Cook, a professional climber based in Squamish, described the sport to the CBC as “like blending running a very long distance with scrambling.”
“[It’s] sort of like rocky mountaineering terrain. And it quite quickly, often blends into, like, real climbing,” he said, adding that while he didn’t know McCrystal personally, he has been impressed by her accomplishments and records.
Kalie McCrystalCredit: Kalie McCrystal/Instagram
McCrystal was already a record holder before she set off for the Matterhorn. She became the fastest woman to complete Squamish’s Tantalus Traverse in nine hours and 40 minutes, beating the previous record by three hours, the CBC reported.
“To do the Tantalus Traverse in the time that she did represents a really incredible level of athleticism,” Cook said.
McCrystal also recently placed fourth in the women’s division of the Trofeo Kima skyrunning race, a 52-kilometer (about 32.3 miles) race through extremely mountainous terrain in Italy, according to the outlet. Last month, she completed a solo ascent and descent of the Swiss Hörnli Ridge — the most popular climbing route to the summit of the Matterhorn on the Swiss side of the mountain — in less than seven hours.
McCrystal’s loved ones are still hoping for her safe return despite rescue authorities suspending the helicopter search, they told the CBC.
“I know that this objective was well within her capabilities,” Duncan O’Regan, a friend of the elite athlete and fellow mountain runner, told the outlet. “She’s done much more difficult things, and this is not something that is beyond her capabilities. She’s comfortable in this terrain.”
“We just want her to come home safe,” O’Regan added. “And we miss her here. So we’re just crossing our fingers.”
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