Former Amazing Race Canada Contestant Dead in Fall

Kenneth McAlpine died on Mount Gimli on his 28th birthday
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2019 8:50 AM CDT
Hiker Dies in 60-Story Fall on 28th Birthday
Mount Gimli in British Columbia's Valhalla Provincial Park.   (Getty Images/georgewinstonlee)

Former Amazing Race Canada contestant Kenneth McAlpine set out to scale a massive rock formation on his 28th birthday. He ended up dying in a fall in the mountains he loved. The Ontario native is believed to have been hiking alone on the last section of trail leading to the peak of Mount Gimli near Slocan, BC, on Monday when he stumbled and fell some 850 feet, the equivalent of roughly 60 stories, reports CBC News. Friends raised the alarm Monday evening after he was a no-show for a bike ride. McAlpine's body was located by searchers on Tuesday and removed via helicopter. The president of South Columbia Search and Rescue, Mike Hudson, said the likely site of the fall is a narrow rock ledge hikers must traverse on their hands and knees.

Hudson said the experienced hiker had never before visited that particular section of Mount Gimli in Valhalla Provincial Park, some 70 miles north of his home in Rossland, BC. Still, many Canadians will be familiar with his athleticism. One half of Team Give'r, McAlpine was a runner-up on the fifth season of Amazing Race Canada, in which he competed with best friend Ryan Lachappelle. "Kenneth's infectious personality left a lasting impression not only on us, but with viewers across the country," the show says in a tweet. McAlpine's father adds his son "packed a lot" into his short life. "Someone told me, 'He was the kind of guy you’d want your daughter to marry,'" Malcolm McAlpine tells Global News. "He made his mark." (More hiker death stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X