COCHRANE— Big Hill Haven supporter Kylee Toth used her monthly donations to the non-profit as inspiration to achieve an Everest-sized dream.
This year to challenge herself Toth had the goal to ski the elevation of Mount Everest, 8,848 metres, in 12 hours. To honour the task and to motivate herself she thought it would be fun to make a monthly donation of $88.48 to Big Hill Haven.
“Every time I see it come out of my bank account I’m reminded of that challenge, and the challenges other women face that are so much greater than mine,” Toth said.
Toth is a ski mountaineer racer and for the past nine years she has been the women's Canadian champion in the sport. The sport involves climbing mountains and then descending on skis. She has been on the Canadian national team for the past 13 years and every second year they race in the world championships in Europe.
As a competitive ski athlete, she initially set out to conquer a personal challenge as there will be no ski racing this year. She was having a rough year and thought she could turn a personal quest into a meaningful and motivating activity that would challenge her physically while helping others.
“It started as healing for me, and then realizing in doing it how fortunate I actually am,” Toth said.
She completed her challenge on her own at Castle Mountain Resort on a Tuesday.
“I have kids so I got up very, very early and arranged a drop-off for them for school with my mom. I drove out and skied for 12 hours straight and climbed the metres of Everest and drove straight home,” Toth said. “Part of the challenge for me was to show other busy people you can achieve goals and not be away from your family for weekends, months or weeks.”
Toth has a close working relationship with Castle Mountain because it has hosted a race she participated in for more than 10 years. It is an awesome community and they let Toth run up and down the mountain to complete her Herculean task. Toth added she appreciated the support from ski patrol and staff she received as she conquered her goal.
Toth first learned about Big Hill Haven after moving to Cochrane.
Big Hill Haven is a local non-profit dedicated to providing a safe place for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. The goal of the non-profit is to empower women and help them rebuild their lives by providing support services and advocacy.
Supporting local through her donation was important, Toth said, explaining she chose Big Hill Haven as a non-profit to support because she was inspired by the organization's great work in the Cochrane and area community.
“Giving back to your community is really important. I really like Cochrane, it’s a lovely, small-town and it certainly has a friendly community,” Toth said.
Thinking about the women and children in bad situations during COVID-19 and the challenges they would face in finding a safe space broke her heart.
“It’s so easy for us to get self-focussed … But, in realizing there are thousands and thousands of women and children who are homeless, who are hurting worse or very badly we can also give a little bit,” Toth said.
The springtime is when athletes typically climb mountains because it is when they come into shape to ski. Toth has her eyes on a few larger mountains she would like to climb soon, but has not set a specific fitness goal for the near future.
Check out Toth’s Instagram to follow her athletic journey by visiting @KyleeKToth.
