Canadian Skyrunner Kalie McCrystal Missing After Matterhorn Training Run

Canadian skyrunner Kalie McCrystal has been reported missing in the Alps after a training session connected to a planned Matterhorn record attempt. The Guardian reported Sunday that the 38-year-old athlete, who is from Squamish, British Columbia, had been preparing to climb and descend the mountain on the Swiss-Italian border in less than five hours.

According to the Guardian, citing a statement from the Skyrunner World Series, McCrystal was last seen Tuesday afternoon. She had reached the Matterhorn summit and was descending on the Italian side when she was sighted near a shelter at an altitude of approximately 12,500 feet. The organization said there had been no contact with her after that sighting.

The Matterhorn rises to 14,692 feet, or 4,478 meters. McCrystal was conducting what the Skyrunner World Series described as a reconnaissance and training session before her planned record bid. Skyrunning combines running and scrambling in high-altitude mountain terrain, and the intended attempt called for both the ascent and descent of the peak.

A helicopter search for McCrystal was called off Friday after rescuers found no trace of her, the Guardian reported. The report did not say that she had been found, and no subsequent contact was confirmed. Those details leave her condition and whereabouts unknown.

The Skyrunner World Series said McCrystal had climbed the Matterhorn before and had many years of experience in technical, high-altitude environments. Fellow mountain runner and friend Duncan O'Regan told CBC that he believed the objective was within her capabilities and said she was comfortable in that type of terrain. His assessment did not establish what happened during the descent.

McCrystal has set multiple skyrunning records in Canada and Europe. Away from competition and mountain projects, she is a lawyer and works at Capilano University in North Vancouver. Jason Dewling, the university's president and vice-chancellor, said the institution's thoughts were with McCrystal's family, friends and colleagues, as well as those involved in the search efforts.