Climbing
The search for Canadian skyrunner Kalie McCrystal, missing on the Italian side of the Matterhorn since September 1, has entered a new phase. After a full day of aerial helicopter sweeps on Thursday, September 3 turned up no trace of the 38-year-old athlete, Italian authorities have suspended the helicopter search and are now turning to drones.
Valerio Segor, director of civil protection for Italy’s Aosta Valley region, said drones offer capabilities helicopters simply can’t match on terrain like the Matterhorn’s. “You can get much closer to the mountain face with drones than with helicopters,” Segor said. “Drones can see more details, and software can be used to analyze the images, so that things that are not rock, like a jacket or other gear, can be spotted.”
Unfortunately, weather may delay the effort. Segor said it was unlikely drones would be able to fly on Tuesday given forecasts for high winds and cloud cover, but conditions could improve enough for a Wednesday deployment.
New details have emerged about McCrystal’s last confirmed sighting. Two Polish climbers spotted and filmed her on the afternoon of September 1 near Pic Tyndall, a sub-summit roughly 200 meters (656 feet) below the Matterhorn’s true summit on the Italian side. Rescue teams have reviewed the video. McCrystal was ascending and descending at the time, consistent with the reconnaissance training she’d been doing ahead of her planned speed-record attempt. No contact has been made with her since, and the last signal from her phone’s SIM card was also recorded that day. It has now emerged that McCrystal carried either a second SIM or e-SIM which has also been searched for signals.
The mountain rescue efforts are led jointly by CNSAS Aosta (the Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico, Italy’s national Alpine and cave rescue corps) and the Cervinia station of the Guardia di Finanza (Italy’s financial police, which also maintains its own dedicated Alpine rescue service), whose Alpine rescue teams have jurisdiction over the Cervinia area.
Support for McCrystal has extended beyond the skyrunning community. Capilano University in Vancouver, British Columbia, where McCrystal is a faculty member, issued a statement of support: “Our thoughts are with Kalie’s family, friends and colleagues, and with everyone involved in the search efforts during this incredibly difficult time,” said Jason Dewling, the university’s president and vice-chancellor.
Friends have continued to publicly voice hope for her safe return while defending her judgment on the mountain. “We just want her to come home safe,” said Duncan O’Regan, a friend of McCrystal’s in Squamish, describing her as a fixture in the local mountain running community. “And we miss her here. So we’re just crossing our fingers.”
Nicole Lacis, a friend and fellow trail runner based in Vancouver, echoed the family’s confidence in McCrystal’s experience and judgment. “She is very experienced on this kind of terrain, and from my understanding has done much harder routes. She is diligent and disciplined. She did not do this on a whim,” Lacis said, adding that the rescue team itself “have reiterated to us several times that they do not believe Kalie was being irresponsible or reckless.”
This remains an active, evolving search, and SnowBrains will continue to update this story as more information becomes available.
