iN VIDEO: Kelowna lottery winner will realize mountain climbing dream

One lucky lottery winner from Kelowna will live out her dream because of how well she described it in a video to the B.C. Lottery Corporation.

Aiyla Forgie from Kelowna entered the Lotto Max Dream Studio contest, in which participants were asked to share their dreams in a 30 second video. More than 230 people made submissions, and Forgie was among the five lucky “dreamers” to be chosen as a winner, according to a lottery corporation media release.

“I’m shaking, I can feel my heart beating so fast,” Forgie said in the release after discovering she won.

READ MORE: Kelowna woman wins B.C's largest ever scratch and win lottery prize

Forgie’s dream is to summit the tallest mountain in North America, which is Mount Denali in Alaska, where she plans to pay tribute to her late mother by spreading her ashes at the top. Her mom passed away unexpectedly in April 2020, and while her mother was not much of a traveler herself, she lived vicariously through her daughter’s hiking trips and encouraged her to keep chasing her adventurous dreams.

“She was always the one person who, it didn’t matter how big or how crazy my dream was, she was always like, ‘OK, yeah, you can do it,” Forgie said in the release. “Even though this is such a huge, crazy feat, I know that I can do it, because I still have that piece of her in me — believing in me.”

Winning the Dream Studio contest means Forgie will be taking all-expenses paid trip to Alaska and a Mountain Equipment gift card, which combine for a value greater than $13,000.

After summiting Mount Denali, Forgie’s next goal will be to climb the tallest mountains on each continent.

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