Canadian skyrunner Kalie McCrystal goes missing after reaching Matterhorn summit

Canadian athlete Kalie McCrystal has gone missing in the Alps while training for a record attempt on the Matterhorn.

The 38-year-old from Squamish, British Columbia, was completing a reconnaissance and training session ahead of an attempt to ascend and descend the 4,478-metre mountain in under five hours.

According to the Skyrunner World Series, McCrystal was last seen on Tuesday after reaching the Matterhorn summit and beginning her descent on the Italian side.

She was last spotted near a shelter at about 3,800 metres.

“There has been no further contact with her, and no one has seen or heard from her since,” the organisation said.

A helicopter search was called off on Friday after rescuers found no trace of McCrystal.

The experienced skyrunner has previously climbed the Matterhorn and holds several records in Canada and Europe.

“I know that this objective was well within her capabilities,” friend and fellow mountain runner Duncan O’Regan told CBC.

“She’s done much more difficult things, and this is not something that is beyond her capabilities. She’s comfortable in this terrain.”

McCrystal is also a lawyer and staff member at Capilano University in North Vancouver.