‘The wilderness is really special’: The story behind an 8-year-old’s mission to climb 8 mountains | CBC News

Karina Eustace-Wallis felt like it was time to push herself to achieve an ambitious goal — climbing eight mountains before her eighth birthday on Sept. 8.

She wasn’t overly worried about her plan. The eight-year-old Calgarian had seen her mom challenge herself and felt inspired to do the same.

“My mom, so she did this thing … where she climbed 40 pitches of rock and [biked] 40 kilometres in 40 hours,” Karina said in a conversation on The Calgary Eyeopener.

 “That inspired me to do my 8-8-8 thing.”

The climbing enthusiast achieved her goal on Sept. 4, when she reached the top of Black Rock Mountain on a windy day, dressed in a dark green rain jacket with floral patterns.

She also managed to achieve another milestone and raised funds amounting to $8,000 for the Alberta Wilderness Association.

“I’m so ridiculously proud of her,” said Lindsey Wallis, Karina’s mom.

“Physically, I knew that she could climb at summits because we spend lots of time out in the wilderness … but seeing her do all the fundraising and talk to strangers on the trail and tell them about her goal and being here today, it’s just, yeah, it’s really special.”

Lindsey is especially proud of the fact that her eight-year-old was able to set those targets and go after them.

 “It’s awesome to know that she can set these goals and that she can do hard things.”

LISTEN | Karina and Lindsey talk about their hiking adventures:

So, which Albertan peaks did Karina conquer in her quest to summit eight of them? The Sulphur Skyline Summit, Black Rock Mountain, Windtower, Ha Ling Peak, Table Mountain, Mount Lipsett, Heart Mountain, and Folding Mountain.

When asked, Karina said that her favourite climb was also the most challenging —- the Heart Mountain trek, which involved quite a bit of rock climbing to get to the top.

Preserving wild spaces

The tenacious climber didn’t want her efforts to be in vain and decided to raise funds for a cause that her family supports — the Alberta Wilderness Association, a conservation group that focuses on protecting Alberta’s wild spaces.

When prompted to reveal why it matters, Karina had a simple but straightforward response.

“I think the wilderness is really special,” she said. “I think that the wilderness should [stay] wilderness.”

Meanwhile, Lindsey revealed that her family has been closely associated with the conservation group for years.

“They’ve been so instrumental in [the] protection of a lot of areas in our province and continue to be really instrumental in standing up for all these wild spaces that, yeah, are so special and sacred to us and … give us joy,” she said.

A special hike

Lindsey and Karina come from a family of hiking enthusiasts. One of their climbing adventures even featured a special guest.

“One of the mountains we climbed, Mount Lipsett, we climbed also with my dad. So it was three generations that got to the top of that mountain,” Lindsey said.

“It’s something that has run in the family for a while. The love of wild spaces and just being out there.”