Mythologic is a Mega Okanagan Ice Route

The team of Lyle Knight and Marc Piche bagged the first ascent of Mythologic, a long difficult ice route on the Enderby Cliffs in the North Okanagan, in 2011.

Knight described Mythologic WI6 140 m as “a skinny version of Nemesis in the Rockies” with “consistently hard” climbing for the entire route.

New climbs of this length and difficulty are rare and finding such an unclimbed line in the Okanagan Valley, a region not known for difficult ice climbing, makes Mythologic even more special.

The Okanagan Valley’s climate is not conducive for ice climbing, it is warm and damp, so when Mythologic does freeze, climbers have to rush before it melts.

As Paul Taylor reported in 2014 after an ascent: “The ice was challenging, but climbable and protectable after lots of cleaning. Being at very low elevation  it wont last long. The overhead hazard from various daggers would be a real concern in warm weather.

“We thought it was an amazing climb and an excellent choice when the Rockies are in deep freeze. ”

His partner on the day of the climb was Jasmin Fauteux, who said: “From far, it looks like the roofs have filled in to form steep pillars but instead, free standing pillars have now formed from the far edge of these roofs and you climb well behind them.

“First time I had ever seen a free-standing form off another ice climb.”

The mega ice route hasn’t formed for the 2017/18 ice season yet, but with cold temps in the forecast keep you eyes on the condition forums here.

For approach information on Google Earth (need to download) visit here.