BURST
The family of Kalie McCrystal, the Squamish mountain runner who went missing on the Matterhorn earlier this month, now believe the 38-year-old perished while descending the famous peak in the Alps, on the Switzerland-Italy border.
In a statement on Facebook from family friend Amelia Boultbee, McCrystal’s family expressed their thanks to everyone who searched for McCrystal, who was scaling the peak as advance scouting for a sky running attempt — a speed ascent and descent of an alpine mountain. A world-class athlete, she was a highly experienced mountaineer and had been training for an attempt to reach the summit and return in under five hours.
“It has been two weeks since our dearest Kalie went missing during a reconnaissance on the Matterhorn,” says the statement from Wendy Cooper and Jody McCrystal, Kalie’s mother and sister.
“Since then, (Italy’s) Guardia di Finanza mountain rescue team has worked tirelessly to explore every possible avenue at their disposal. They have been unwavering in their professionalism, kindness, and commitment to finding Kalie. As a family, it has meant a great deal to us throughout the search to know that everything that could be done was being done. We are eternally grateful to them.
“Friends and loved ones from around the world mobilized and went to remarkable lengths to help find her and bring her home. How beautiful it has been to witness the love that surrounded her. The Matterhorn is as majestic as it is unforgiving. Despite Kalie’s exceptional skill and experience in technical mountain terrain, everything, including her previous experience on the Matterhorn itself, everything we know now suggests she fell while descending.”
The mass search for McCrystal was called off on Sept. 5 after aerial and ground searches could find no sign of her. Friends and family held out hope she’d be found, but with weeks having passed, and no trace discovered by search teams or others in the area, have come to accept that they don’t believe she will be found alive.
“This is not the outcome any of us had hoped for, and it is very difficult to accept,” the statement said. “The loss of her is something we will carry for us forever. While we desperately wish we could have found her, we find peace in knowing that she was doing what made her feel most alive until her very last moments, and that she remains among the mountains where she felt most at home.”
McCrystal was last seen near the Jean-Antoine Carrel hut, which sits at nearly 4,000 metres of elevation on the Italian side of the mountain. She had previously completed a solo ascent and descent in seven hours from the Swiss side in August.
A lawyer in Squamish, McCrystal was also an instructor of legal studies in Capilano University’s faculty of business and professional studies.
Skyrunning is a mountain running on alpine peaks higher than 2,000 metres and an incline greater than 30 per cent, with a focus on elevation gain and technicality.