Gray Creek Pass Road celebrates 25th anniversary

The opening of Gray Creek Pass Road, designed as shortcut between Kimberley and Kootenay Lake, was celebrated by many.

A large contingent of people and dignitaries were bused to the top of Gray Creek Pass for the 1990 official opening. — Photo courtesy Tom Lymbery/The Eastshore Mainstreet/George Commandeur

It might be hard to believe but 25 years ago this summer the Gray Creek Pass opened for regular traffic. There were high hopes that the road would provide a much anticipated shortcut between Kimberley and Kootenay Lake, however the road, primarily because of maintenance cut backs over the years, has never really reached its full potential.

The grand opening was a big event in the summer of 1990, as Tom Lymbery, owner of Gray Creek Store, wrote in a recent issue of the East Shore Mainstreet newspaper, “Nine dignitaries were at the official ribbon-cutting for the official opening of the Gray Creek Pass Road on Sunday, August 19th, 1990.” The dignitaries included then BC Minister of Forest Claude Richmond, Nelson-Creston MLA Howard Dirks, Columbia River MLA Duane Crandall, Nelson mayor Gerald Rotering, Kimberley mayor Jim Ogilvie, Kalso mayor Jack Morris and others.

Due to a shortage of parking space at the summit of the pass, five chartered 45 passenger buses, two from the Kimberley/Cranbrook side and three from the Nelson/Gray Creek side, brought a large contingent of people to the top for the event.

The cost of construction of the road was an estimated $1.5 million. Planning and surveying had started back in 1988-89 and most of the construction was done under the supervision of Forestry's Road superintendent George Commandeur.

The goal was to build a road passable by any standard two wheel drive vehicle, though today the 6,800 foot summit pass is best traveled in a four wheel drive unit. Kokanee Springs Golf Course was one of the early major supporters of the road, hoping it would give golfers quicker and easier access to their resort and golf course.

Maybe the high point of the road's usage came when a German travel guide published a map indicating the Kootenay Pass on Highway #3 with a dotted line and the Gray Creek Pass shown by a solid line.  Thus a number of touring European visitors found themselves high on the Gray Pass Road in their motor homes.

Unlike the floods of 2013 which kept the road closed for almost the entire summer, a relatively open winter and mild spring this year, should allow the Gray Creek Pass road to open in and around mid-June for the 2015 summer season.

Tom Lymbery, points out that the BC Backroads Mapbooks calls the Gray Creek Pass road, “BC's most important back road.” By 2017 the route will be designated as part of the Trans Canada Trail. Kootenay Lake businesses continue to press the BC government to assign it the designation of a Tourism Resource Road.