swaterfall Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 (edited) Winter is almost over in CO and I'm itching to head to the land of the volcanos and big glaciers. I work from home so I can live wherever I want. Right now I'm thinking that Bend has the best access to (in order of importance) mountaineering, spring skiing, rock and social life. My question... where would you go if you were moving to the N West? Edited March 11, 2004 by swaterfall Quote
scratchandsniff Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Good call about Bend. Its almost dead center in the middle of Oregon. Check Mapquest. Quote
Rodchester Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Winter is almost over in CO and I'm itching to head to the land of the volcanos and big glaciers. I work from home so I can live wherever I want. Right now I'm thinking that Bend has the best access to (in order of importance) mountaineering, spring skiing, rock and social life. My question... where would you go if you were moving to the N West?  Bend is a cool town, but Bend is way too far from the great alpine stuff in the central and north Cascades. At least for my taste. Its not that close the volcanoes either. At least not closer than many other areas. And Hood gets really crappy in the summer. Hood is best climbed in the later winter or spring...like right now.  So if you’re moving soon and will be here most of spring and really want to hit Smith. . .Bend rocks. But if your focus is mountaineering and/or alpine climbing I’d be further north so you can hit the North Cascades.  I guess Bend would have good access to spring skiing.  2 cents   Good luck. Quote
ken4ord Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Twisp is cool, but I just moved to Seattle love it here. Sometimes a pain in the ass to get to the mountains, but well worth it when I am not climbing. Quote
specialed Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Fuck Bend. Especially in the summer. Move to fucking Canada. Quote
cman Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 actually Vancouver, or Squamish would fit your criteria perfectly. Â have you thought about bellingham, wa? it's a cool town, not too much rock though. Â or leavenworth might be good, lots of rock and alpine Quote
AaronB Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Get a boat and live on it.. Stay in Squamish, if you don't like it, move to Seattle, ? no good move to Bellingham ,still not happy try Portland. Still not happy, give it to me and take my shitty apt. Quote
sill Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 leavenworth might be good, lots of rock and alpine   After living in Ouray, Levenworth will weem cosmopolitan, a pretty scary thought. Quote
JoshK Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Unless you like long drives, boring hills (aside from hood) stay away from oregon... Â one choice only... BELLINGHAM. Second would be Seattle if you want a big city. BELLINGHAM owns. Quote
nonanon Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Bend would be better suited if your list items were reversed. You'd also have to include welded mud under the "rock" heading... Quote
sill Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Bellingham probably fits the bill better for the things you listed. Ouray is pretty good in the summer though. Mountaineering in surrounding peaks, tons of rock climbing-sport climbing in town(good granite in Unaweep Canyon, and long routes in the Black Canyon) and awsome spring skiing (powder skiing until early may last year), no real social life though. If you can figure out a way to work, Canada is the way to go. Quote
ivan Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Unless you like long drives, boring hills (aside from hood) stay away from oregon... one choice only... BELLINGHAM. Second would be Seattle if you want a big city. BELLINGHAM owns.  big second, or third i reckon...i too moved to the pnw recently for climbing purposes, but couldn't get further north than vancouver...er, vancouver, washington that is. i'd have loved to have gotten north of seattle. the volocanoes are there if you want, plus sweet rock (the smiff stuff is cool, but totally unalpine feeling), plus ice (won't see much of that in oregon). just stay the hell away from tacoma. Quote
Uncle_Tricky Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ritzville. The town is as cool as the name implies. Besides it's nice central location in Washington ensures that you are only a couple hours from everything (and anything). Still, despite it's name, it's relatively undiscovered and not overly ritzy--yet. Think Aspen 30 years ago. Once you get to the great PNW, take a road trip to Ritzville and behold the potential. Quote
scot'teryx Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Everett rocks the northend! Â But I would move to Bellingham if I did not have a commute Nothing wrong with Concrete either! Quote
scratchandsniff Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Squamish is awesome, as is NW Washington (think Olympics and N Cascades and everything in between) but it rains so much that you better have a hell of a nice raincoat. Either that or cable TV, a stack of videos and a hot girlfriend for all the time you'll spend inside off the rocks and not outdoors. Â If mountaineering is more attractive to you than pure rock climbing, thse would be the prefered locations IMO. Â For primarily rockclimbing, Bend. Quote
Alasdair Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Everett rocks the northend!  Your kidding right? Everett is a total shit hole. Quote
Blake Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 If you are into fly-fishign at all, bned is pretty much tops. I think I'd still choose somewhere on the I-90/hwy 20 loop area though, preferably east side. Quote
Billygoat Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Ridgeway is NW of Ouray and has a better sociaL scene... Â Seriously, rent a place in Squamish and check it out, then try B'ham, then try Bend. Then get a boat and try the San Juans and you will find that you can live wherever you want. Or get an Airstream trailer. Quote
Winter Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Bend sucks (EXPECIALLY during the summer), Portland sucks ... Oregon pretty much sucks. I stongly recommend you move to Washington. Or better yet Canada. If you do move to Oregon, try Gresham. I hear there's some sweet granite there. Quote
Thinker Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 The climbing in Squamish is awesome. Â The hassle of getting there and back will become horrendous with the development for the Olypmics in full swing, and the 'homey' character of the town will be forever changed. Quote
scot'teryx Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Everett is where it's at fool. You just don't know the secret bouldering spots and crack problems that are in suburban everett. Quote
Rodchester Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 leavenworth might be good, lots of rock and alpine   After living in Ouray, Levenworth will weem cosmopolitan, a pretty scary thought.  Actually L-worth is a really good idea. Close to Seattle, yet right in the heart of good crag climbing and the entrance to some GREAT alpine trad and mountaineering, and close to the volcanoes for mountaineering. I could think of a lot worse places. For a few months to a year, L-Worth would rock.  How about spring skiing? When do the local areas shut down? Stevens? Quote
Alasdair Posted March 11, 2004 Posted March 11, 2004 Everett is where it's at fool. You just don't know the secret bouldering spots and crack problems that are in suburban everett. Â Yea yea there are lots of crack problems in Everett. I hear about it on the news every night. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.