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Missing mountaineer Kalie McCrystal seen in this undated photo. - THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - Athletics Canada (Mandatory Credit)
By The Canadian Press

Mountain trail runners describe appeal and peril of sport as Canadian still missing

Sep 9, 2026 | 2:00 AM

It’s been just over a year since mountain runner Margaux Cohen suffered a life-changing injury while hiking a mountain in Squamish, B.C., after her dog Zion lost his footing, sending them both tumbling down a rocky slope nearly 20 metres.

Cohen said she’s still recovering from a fracture of her tibial plateau, but Zion is “doing great,” and she visited the spot where the fall occurred just last week.

“Seeing the cliff a year later was pretty insane because I don’t think I remembered how high I fell from,” she said. “The last week I’ve been feeling even more grateful to be alive because it’s pretty crazy.”

For so-called “skyrunners” or ultra-runners like Cohen, the adrenalin rush of tackling dangerous mountain terrain is worth the risk, which is ever-present on local mountains and famous peaks including the Matterhorn, where famed Canadian skyrunner Kalie McCrystal has been missing for more than a week.

While they both frequent mountains around Squamish, about 60 kilometres north of Vancouver, Cohen said she doesn’t know McCrystal personally.

Cohen said she would still tackle the Matterhorn despite its apparent risks.

“I’m from Europe, so it has the reputation back home. It’s not the biggest mountain but it’s a dangerous mountain,” she said in an interview on Wednesday.

Cohen said she got sober from drugs and alcohol and the solitude offered by running in the mountains has helped alleviate her anxiety and depression.

“It’s really something that’s been helping me in a weird way,” she said. “You are in the moment. You’re not thinking about the past or the future. You’re just thinking of what you’re doing right now to not fall to your death.”

Mountain runner Hillary Gerardi, a close friend of McCrystal’s, said traversing perilous terrain as an elite skyrunner is where she and those dedicated to the sport feel most alive, but some routes have little to no margin of error.

The American-born athlete, who has been living in France for the last 15 years, said McCrystal remained missing on the Italian side of the Matterhorn, where she was last seen on Sept. 1.

Gerardi and another friend were set to help McCrystal attempt to break a running record last week, but when they realized no one had heard from her, they alerted authorities. No trace of McCrystal had yet been found.

Gerardi recalled meeting McCrystal a few years ago while competing at the Skyrunner World Series and the two women hit it off, both members of a record-breaking group of athletes pushing the boundaries of the sport.

She said skyrunning for her is like “mindfulness meditation,” requiring full concentration and presence in the moment, unlike a treadmill or a paved path, where the mind can wander free of danger.

Gerardi said the mountainous terrain can involve narrow routes less than a metre wide with a “no-fall zone” on either side, and even the most advanced runners could slip or trip and fall.

“I think I would describe the terrain as entirely unforgiving. There isn’t room for being able to make mistakes, and to be clear, Kalie had gone up and down this route making no mistakes multiple times,” Gerardi said.

“She had been there before and she knew what she was doing and had done it with zero mistakes in the past.”

Gerardi said her best guess in McCrystal’s case was “just some kind slip, some kind of trip, something that happened.”

The area where McCrystal is believed to have gone missing is inaccessible and search efforts have been suspended unless new information came to light that would allow searchers to narrow their scope, she said.

Athletics Canada said search efforts involved helicopters and drones.

“The Canadian government has also been engaged, and they have been providing support through the consulate in Milan,” it said in an email on Wednesday.

For Cohen, who works at a bar in Vancouver, the fast pace of city life carries stress that melts away in the mountains, and although she’s not back to 100 per cent after her injury, the reward still outweighs the risk.

“As soon as I’m hiking or running or as soon as I am in the mountains, I’m on the trail. I don’t think about anything else. I just feel so good.

“Trust me, if I could live on the peak of a mountain, I would because this is where I feel, I don’t know, my best version.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press



by The Canadian Press