Thinker Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 A job I'm interviewing for would give me the choice to live in Boise or Salt Lake City. I've only spent minimal time in each one. Give up the pros and cons of them.... To start things off: they look about equidistant from City of Rocks. Boise has the Black Cliffs...what does SLC have that's similar? Sawtooths! vs Wasatch? Quote
ncascademtns Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 If Boise was on the west side of the Cascades, I'd say Boise. Besides, that's Idaho! Go to Salt Lake. Quote
John Frieh Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 The city is 2.5 hours from SLC and 4 hours from Boise... but Boise is closer to the sawtooths which I think is better… I don’t know if the sawtooths and Wasatch are really comparable… (apples and oranges?). Boise would be my pick... Kegs or polygamy... you decide... Quote
Squid Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 They both have shitty traffic SLC has Big Cottonwood, Little Cottonwood > Boise w/ Black Cliffs Boise has excellent whitewater SLC has better skiiing Alcohol laws are really weird in SLC, but you can work around them if you live there. Boise has a better art/music scene (Built to Spill!) SLC has more 'culture': opera, theatre, etc. SLC has Mark Twight. SLC has Grivel, Black Diamond, and a thousand other gear manufacturers, so you're more likely to find gear deals. Idaho will offer more solitude, wilderness, wolves and grizzlys, Utah will offer crowds, the vacationing elite, and the Beautiful People. I'm an Idaho guy, and I always dream of going back. Quote
Alex Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 I'd go Salt Lake if * you were really into skiing * you were into good rock climbing, mostly sport near town * you wanted to have good desert options closer, like Indian Creek and Moab for long weekends * you can survive 3.2 beer * you are already married and dont have to worry about dating. * you wanted closer access to Wind Rivers and Tetons I'd choose Boise if * you wanted closer access to Sawtooths * you wanted a slightly "smaller town" feel * you didnt like the pervasive Mormon brainwashed culture of SLC * you wanted to get to the Cascades every so often ("shorter" drive, compare what like 6 hours to 10 hours?) Quote
skyclimb Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 SLC is AMAZING. In my opinion there is NO comparison in climbing between SLC area and boise area. Within 1 hour of SLC you have tons of granite, quartzite, limestone and other types of rock, plus towers, tetons, wind-rivers, rockies close. HOWEVER, after living in Utah for a year and a half, and dealing with the mormon cult bullshit, boise would be my choice for ease of living hands down. Quote
Squid Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Gentlemen, its clear we're losing sight of priorities. MORMON CHICKS ARE HOT!! REPRESSIVE RELIGIOUS CULTURES BREED KINK! Quote
Thinker Posted October 7, 2004 Author Posted October 7, 2004 HOWEVER, after living in Utah for a year and a half, and dealing with the mormon cult bullshit, boise would be my choice for ease of living hands down. Expound please. (PM if you think that's more appropriate) I lived in Idaho Falls for a few months and wasn't bothered by it, though my friends with children in school seemed distraught over it. Did you live IN SLC? Quote
iain Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 SLC: You can't really beat getting in some great skiing in the morning and still come back to get in a good day of work. Quote
Winter Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Yeah, I think the choice is pretty clear for pure outdoors quality - go with SLC. But the mormons may weird you out. I've spent a lot of time with family near SLC, and I also spent a week in LCC earlier this fall, and a lot of people I met complained about the mormon culture. But the Wasatch is not alpine climbing, and there isn't a lot of alpine rock close to town, it mostly cragging. Actually maybe the choice isn't so clear. But you can get Polygamy Porter in Utah!! You can have 10 beers at once and 45 little beers runnig around just waiting to grow up to become full blown drinking beers. Quote
iain Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 You can also play a engaging game of "mom or sister" in town. Quote
ken4ord Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Hey Thinker, I have lived in SLC before, but never lived in Boise, been there though. I myself would choose SLC. The snow boarding out there rocks, great rock climbing, more diverse surrounding enviornment (deserts and alpine nearby), great mountain biking. Pretty whitebread city though, yeah them morom women maybe hot, but I don't believe they are any hotter there than other areas or any wilder. SLC seemed to get some decent music there, when I was there. There use to be all kinds of cultural festivals happening all the time that were always fun to go to. The state of Utah is one of my favorite states, next to WA. As for the mormon, there is a enough jack moroms and non-mormons to keep it interesting. Quote
Squid Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 You can also play a engaging game of "mom or sister" in town. Quote
cj001f Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Doesn't Idaho have more Mormons per capita than Utah? (and utah has FUFMO: Free Utah From Mormon Oppression - a bumpersticker spotted in LCC). There's a lifetime of climbing in the Southwest, SLC hands down. Quote
nolanr Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 I don't know about SLC, but Boise gets STINKY hot in the summer and everything around town turns lovely shades of brown. At least that's what it looked like from the freeway in August, and one of my buddies here grew up in Boise and seemed to verify that assessment. Just one factor to consider. I was in St. George, UT this spring, not really that close to SLC, but I have to say the women were pretty hot down that way. Quote
selkirk Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Of course they're hot, they're all trying to bag husbands by the time they're 18. And the mormons are pretty bad in Boise too to tell you the truth. My wife grew up there and during college returned for the summers. At one point her coworkers dubbed her an old maid at the ripe old age of 22. Quote
lancegranite Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 SLC has a thriving counter culture, a good place to like punk rock, blondes and right hand turns. Boise?.... I've heard of it, that little town just past Mountain Home. Quote
Ricardo_Montalban Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 boise has much better air quality just found a comparison site: link Quote
Dr_Flash_Amazing Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 The Salty Load: no more than 4 hours from a head-spinning variety of world-class rock climbing, some decent neighborhoods, Patagucci outlet, one independent theatre/movie store, one slayingly awesome library across the street from a mighty tasty coffee roaster (that serves tasty pastries & food to boot), and supposedly some decent snow nearby somewhere. Boise: much further from the rock climbing (and anything else), but is home to the BEST grocery store ever (Boise Co-op -- must be experienced), which is across the parking lot from an excellent bakery/coffee joint, and ... someone come to Boise's rescue, here! Quote
Squid Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Boise sucks. Utah's cool, hip, got rock climbing, skiing. Stay away from Idaho- its a lousy state. Quote
Dechristo Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 From your query I assume that you are more interested in rock climbing than alpine climbing. If this assumption is true (and your decision is based primarily on climbing), your choice is easy: SLC. As Dr. Flash provided, there is no better location in the mountain west providing a high-quality, jaw-dropping array of rock climbing locations. I wouldn't be concerned with the Mormon influences. The valley has become less provincial and relatively cosmopolitan in the last thirty years. Back in the mid-seventies, an entirely different cultural environment left this climber feeling as if he'd landed on another planet... Quote
iain Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 face it, Portland's the place to be. We even have a zoo, and the starbucks/meter^2 index is a close second to Seattle. Quote
Gaper_Jeffy Posted October 7, 2004 Posted October 7, 2004 Wowwww wait a sec here. Don't you guys realize Boise also has a plethora of Mormons? Based on culture alone I'd say SLC is more diverse. A much larger outdoor non-moron contingent there as well. Most of the Motards you meet will be pretty nice--and they will provide an endless source of amusement and inside jokes. Gaper Jeffey fka Peter Priesthood Quote
MisterMo Posted October 8, 2004 Posted October 8, 2004 The sum total of my SLC experience is less than a week but even in that short time I formed a clear impression that the state of Utah is very much under the thumb of the Mormon Church. I don't think I'd be happy for long in a place so influenced by one religion. Your mileage may of course vary. I don't, BTW, mean just the weird liquor laws; hell, Washington has weird liquor laws. It was rather lots of little things that all added up. Quote
Distel32 Posted October 8, 2004 Posted October 8, 2004 SLC!!!!! If you like bouldering: LCC Joe's Triassic Ibex plus hundreds of others. But even with those 4 you have multiple lifetimes of rock, 3 different kinds of rock, and very different settings. plus all the other trad/sport in utah Quote
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