New V10s in Okanagan

The Okanagan has long been a destination for climbers. The warm spring brought great conditions to the area and climbers have been busy scrubbing new problems and sending old projects.

Andy White, who runs the Okanagan bouldering website, sent two of his projects. White wrote on his website, “A couple weeks back, I finally got a window of opportunity where two of my recent projects dried up for a full session. As a result, I pulled really hard and managed to send the previously neglected low-start to The Mistress and Keep Calm and Compress On. Both lines are beautiful and likely fall in the V10 range. Crazy enough, that now means that there are three double digit lines beside each other in Cougar Canyon.”

The Okanagan hosts close to 20 bouldering areas from Okanagan Falls in the south to Vernon in the north. There’s a mix of granite and gneiss and areas include everything from lakeside paradises to higher elevation, massive boulderfields. There are currently over 1,000 problems throughout the valley on terrifically diverse rock.

The Boulderfields (south of Kelowna) is the largest area in the valley with over 500 problems from V0-V12 and projects at higher grades. Cougar Canyon (south of Vernon) also holds a good number of problems at about 150 lines from V0-V11, with a few tough projects awaiting ascents.

As far the V10s, they are in Cougar Canyon on the Mistress and Prize boulders. The Mistress V10 climbs between a perfect arete and thin seam beside the already classic, steep powerfest of Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger V11. The other V10 is called Keep Calm and Compress On and it is located literally five ft beside The Mistress on the Prize boulder. It climbs from a tough compression stand start and after a few powerful compression moves (and a tricky heel hook), it transitions beautifully to technical crimping on sideways feet before a high and committing finish. Both great lines and that now means there are three double digit lines within 15-feet of each other.

For more, visit Okanagan bouldering here.