Kalie McCrystal in an Instagram post from June 23, 2026.Instagram/@kalie_mcc/Supplied
Rescue efforts in the Italian Alps for missing British Columbian mountaineering athlete Kalie McCrystal focused on tracking her movements using data from her phone’s SIM chip after helicopter searches were suspended.
There were no reports by late Sunday, European time, that the effort had determined the approximate location where she went missing on Tuesday. She was training to break the skyrunning, or mountain racing, record for ascending and descending the Matterhorn, the 4,478-metre mountain that straddles the Italian-Swiss border in the Western Alps.
A helicopter search conducted by Aosta Valley Mountain Rescue was called off after several search-and-rescue flights on Thursday failed to locate Ms. McCrystal or any evidence, such as gear that she was carrying, that may have provided a clue to her route. Since then, regular mountain guides have been on the lookout for her.
“The family is confident that everything is being done to find Kalie,” her friend Nicole Lacis, a trail runner and lawyer who lives in Vancouver, told The Globe and Mail. “They are in close contact with the mountain rescue teams.”
Ms. McCrystal was last spotted on Tuesday afternoon at a mountain shelter on the Italian side of the Matterhorn, about 650 metres below the summit. There have been no messages from her since then.
Mountaineer missing while climbing near Switzerland-Italy border, Athletics Canada says
Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Sunday said the mountain rescue team of Guardia di Finanza, which operates under the Italian economy ministry, was trying to obtain data from mobile-phone operators to “triangulate” – find the position of – her device using Italian and Swiss cellphone towers.
Rescuers who talked to Ansa, the Italian news service, said Ms. McCrystal, 38, was wearing light clothing – shorts and a jacket – that would make it hard to spot her. Live webcams showed patches of snow on the Matterhorn at 2,555 metres and almost full snow at 3,480 metres. Its summit makes it the Alps’ sixth-highest mountain.
Athletics Canada on Saturday said Ms. McCrystal was on “reconnaissance/training” ahead of her attempt to break the up-and-down skyrunning Matterhorn record.
“Kalie is an experienced skyrunner and mountaineer, with many years of experience on technical and high-altitude mountain environments,” the statement said. “She has extensive knowledge and experience of alpine terrain and previously climbed the Matterhorn.”
Ms. McCrystal’s deep background and strong finishes in skyrunning convinced the rescue team that she was not being reckless on the Matterhorn.
“She is an absolutely incredible athlete,” Ms. Lacis said. “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.
“The whole rescue team have reiterated to us several times that they do not believe Kalie was being irresponsible or reckless. They observed her through a telescope for a period of time on Tuesday and could see that she was moving carefully and, by her standards, at a fairly relaxed pace. They have stressed to us that this appears to have been a tragic accident, one which could happen to anyone in the mountains, including themselves.”
Skyrunning was pioneered in Italy in the early 1990s. It is a running, not mountain-face climbing, race that favours endurance athletes skilled enough to handle twisty, steep routes that are often treacherous. The races are run at 2,000 metres or higher with inclines of 5 per cent to 30 per cent. The distances usually covered are 20 to 50 kilometres and can take three to eight hours to complete.
Ms. McCrystal’s Aug. 7 Instagram post showed her at or near the top of the Matterhorn on a previous climb, smiling and holding onto the base of the big metal cross that commemorates the climbers who have died reaching the summit. She was wearing a green jacket, dark shorts and a black helmet.
Her post read: “Been hanging out in Cervina, Italy, for the last few days in preparation for my big goal of the season – up and down the Matterhorn in under five hours via Lion’s Ridge.”
Her last Instagram post was on Aug. 23, when she completed one of the sport’s toughest high-altitude races, the Trofeo Kima, in Lombardy in the Italian Alps.
“After 50km and 4200 metres of boulders, chains, and mud, I crossed the line in 4th in 7:59, right on my goals. Sharing the start and finish line with so many badass women was a privilege.”
Ms. McCrystal is a lawyer who specializes in international arbitration. Her Linkedin profile says she is an instructor in the school of legal studies at Capilano University, which has a campus in Squamish, B.C., where she lives. She is a graduate in law from the University of British Columbia.