MOUNT HOLMES

MT. HOLMES   2498m 8195’ July 17 by Kim Kratky 
Map Slocan 82F/14
Mt. Holmes, part of the Kokanee Group, is 5 km. northeast of Mt. Carlyle and lies between Keen Creek and Twelve Mile Creek. “Back in the day,” as the kids say, it was accessed via a bridge across Keen Creek and a road up Montezuma Creek, but the bridge and road have long ago disappeared. For some years the upgraded road up Twelve Creek was gated at the Kaslo River bridge, 18.5 km. from Kaslo.
On May 29th this year, I found the gate was removed, and so drove to about 4800’ (take switchback left at km. 1.7 and then stay on mainline) for an attempt on Holmes.
Travelling solo, I gained a long north ridge but turned back at about 950-348 (7100’) after 2 hrs. 45 min., as deep clefts farther south looked impassable.
On a mid-July Sunday, I returned with Peter Tchir to finish the job. This time we drove to the end of the driveable portion of the Twelve Mile road at km. 6.1 (946-363; bridge broken out; passable for ATVs beyond this point).
Starting at 9:30, we hiked up the road to the southwest for 10 min. past cliff bands and a narrow chasm in the creek (941-360). From this point, we headed straight up through steep, open timber to reach the crest of a north ridge (942-352), which we followed to 7550’. Here, we exited left or east onto grassy meadows and descended into a spacious alpine bowl northwest of Holmes. We then traversed southeast and ascended a snow tongue to a 7800’ col at 943-339. After following the ridge east for 1 km. to the base of Holmes, we finished the climb with 350’ of class 3 steep, crumbly black shale on the west ridge/southwest face.
On top at 1:45 after a 4 ¼ hour effort, we unsuccessfully inspected the cairn for a record, admired five lakes in the Montezuma basin to the southwest, commented on the mild and sunny weather, and speculated about ski-touring opportunities.
At 2:30 pm, we headed down, re-tracing our steps to the basin and following it north to a rockslide at 6100’, whence we re-gained the north ridge, thus avoiding its annoying portions. The ridge gave way to timbered slopes, we then slithered down steep, rhody-infested terrain to emerge on the road 100’ upstream from where we had left it. As we meandered down the road, we were passed by two ATVs and a dirt bike descending from the Utica Mine site northeast of Paddy Pk.
Back to the truck just after 5:00, we calculated a 7-hour day and a brisk 2½ hour descent. Excellent minor outing with a chance to explore an attractive, seldom-visited landscape. Kim Kratky