North of McBride in Kakwa Provincial Park lies Mount Dimsdale. From the south, the peak looks like an imposing obelisk. It has long tempted mountaineers.

On August 8, 2001 Lyle Knight, an Engineering Technician at the Lillooet Forest District, and Kevin Taylor, a faller in the McBride area, climbed to the summit of Mount Dimsdale. It was the first recorded ascent of the 3,200-metre peak in the Northern Rockies.

At 10:00 a.m., in clear sunshine, a helicopter dropped the pair on a glacier at the base of the peak. Upon their arrival, Lyle and Kevin immediately set about the task of climbing the mountain. The trip involved a 300m elevation gain up a steep snow slope followed by four technical pitches of rope-climbing to reach the summit. They reached the summit by 2:30 p.m., but lingered only long enough to take a few quick pictures and build a cairn marking the accomplishment of being the first to reach the summit. "At 1:30 we very nearly turned around—even though we were more than two-thirds of the way to the summit. The weather appeared to be building, with thunder rumbling in the distance. We didn’t want to be on top in a lightning storm!"

After some quick rappelling, and an arduous descent back down the snow slope Kevin and Lyle returned safely to their equipment cache. They set up camp on the glacier, and mercifully, the storm kept its distance. After a quick call home using a satellite phone, they settled in for a calm clear night. The following morning dawned clear and hot, and they spent the morning planning climbing routes of several other peaks in the vicinity. In the afternoon, the two departed the glacier, climbing down a major icefall (like a frozen waterfall) to the tree line, and spent the next day bushwhacking to their vehicle on the Walker Creek Forest Service road.

Congratulations Lyle and Kevin, on being the first to climb mount Dimsdale, a first ascent of a major peak is an accomplishment shared by very few.