In 2020, Oakley Werenka was on Mount Sir Donald when he witnessed a fatal accident — a climber in the party ahead lost his footing and fell. In 2021, exactly a year later, Werenka was in a group of three on Mount Hungabee; his friend had completed the second-last rappel and was downclimbing off-rope when he slipped and fell. Werenka had to tell that friend’s parents about his passing.
Soon after, Werenka found Mountain Muskox and took part in his first circle gathering. “Being a part of a group of people who have all experienced hardship in that way has helped me a ton,” he says.
The Mountain Muskox program is for anyone who has experienced loss or trauma in the mountains. It offers monthly peer-support group sessions, known as circles, led by professional counsellors. The three-hour circles cover topics ranging from stress management to relationships and grief.
Executive director and co-founder Sarah Hueniken started the program after losing a close friend to an avalanche in 2019. It was a conversation with her therapist, Janet McLeod, that sparked the idea. McLeod suggested that Hueniken connect with others who had also experienced trauma in the mountains, and Hueniken found this made a real difference.
From there, she formed a larger group through a one-year pilot program in 2020. That was the start of the Mountain Muskox Bow Valley chapter. Hueniken co-founded the program alongside McLeod as well as Barry Blanchard, Todd Guyn and Kevin Hjertaas, and it continues to grow today.
Mountain Muskox’s Sea to Sky chapter, based in Squamish, started in 2023; its Columbia Valley chapter began in 2024; and, in 2025, Mountain Muskox added its Kootenay chapter. So far, the program has served free programming to more than 200 people.
“There’s a culture of holding things alone, and it’s just not necessary,” says Cheryl Smith, a psychotherapist who co-facilitates the Kootenay circles with Kat Williamson. “We want people to come and heal in community.”
Jordyn Hansen, the Mountain Muskox Bow Valley onboarding mentor, understands the program’s impacts first-hand. She got involved in 2022 — more than a year after two of her closest friends died in an avalanche. Hansen’s initial response to the accident was to shut down. But, after learning about Mountain Muskox, she wept on the phone for an hour and a half while a Mountain Muskox volunteer listened. Shortly after, she went to her first circle, where she was told, “These things that happen are hard, and they’re awful, but we don’t have to go through it alone.” She joined on the spot.
Mountain Muskox continues to grow and work on its vision to create a global community, change the dialogue around the aftermath of accidents in the outdoors and bring people together to heal.
