A 59 year-old Australian hiker named Kevin Kennedy is believed to be missing in our spectacular, immense and unpredictable mountain backyard since last Sunday. Alone. Air and ground search efforts by Kananaskis RCMP and additional parties extended over several days this week have been unsuccessful in locating him … so far. Each day adds complexity, disappointment, and more mystery to the situation. But it also brings in additional searchers, like myself and an amazing cross-cut group of peers from outdoor clubs across Calgary joining me tomorrow at 8:00 AM with gear in tow; all willing to mesh our skills, time and tenacity together to do our part towards hopefully answering the question:
Where is Kevin?
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.” – Anne Lamott
Kevin and I don’t know each other. I only know that he wears glasses, has greying hair, is 6’, delivers a strong Aussie accent, uses the Australian “I’m Lost” call: “Kuh-wee”, and brought along a blue rain jacket. These are a few sterile details I know about him, most of which are the only tidbits currently offered in the media. What I also know is that if he did in fact run into difficulties while attempting to solo the Tyrwhitt Loop route via Grizzly Col in the Highwood Pass (the original plan), then he has likely experienced a rollercoaster of fear, confusion, anger, resolve, and quite possibly, resignation. These feelings take isolation and can transform it into a reactive and exhausting nightmare without the ability to keep thoughts and emotions focused in a purposeful line of steps towards survival. I know. I have not suffered the experience of becoming lost in the mountains, but I am a rock/dirt landslide burial survivor, and I can attest to the surreal play out of events involving both fight and flight leading up to making peace with my life. Since 2003, I have been unable to capture and package that experience effectively enough in words.
There are things I don’t know about Kevin … things that color the search efforts of those of us unable to place ourselves in his footsteps without some context. What was his mental/emotional state at the time? Was he suffering from depression, or other life challenges – either openly, or privately? Is he a skilled outdoorsman with an enviable number of solos to his credit, or an overenthusiastic tourist who set out with blind bravado that he’d be home in time for supper? Is he healthy? Is he strong? We assume so based on the fact he would venture the route to begin with. And then there are the more covert suspicions. Is he somewhere nervously eyeing the coverage, fully aware of the difficult choices he made in order to start a new path in life?
Update: Kevin is an experienced hiker, and according to a family friend, had intended to go with another party last weekend, but could not find a partner. He indicated he felt there would be enough people on the trail to go solo.
Update: Kevin is an experienced hiker, and according to a family friend, had intended to go with another party last weekend, but could not find a partner. He indicated he felt there would be enough people on the trail to go solo.
There is no doubt an entire story will unfold with time - but for the moment, our purpose is pretty clear: go and look for him. All the speculation in the world won't get the job done.
Members of the Calgary Scrambling and Mountaineering Club (CSMC) and the Calgary Outdoor Recreation Association (CORA) (partnered groups so far) have banded together under the CSMC trip link provided HERE in order to search for Kevin on Saturday, August 27, 2011.
If you are an outdoor enthusiast who has recently been in the Highwood Pass / Kananaskis area (or plan to be) and have any information that may assist authorities in solving this missing person case, please call the Kananaskis RCMP at (403) 591-7707.
