TimL Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 (edited) The best place to live in Washington for alpine climbing got me thinking. If you could live any place in the world that where you have a good selection of everything ranging from bouldering to alpine, where would that be? Also consider weather, seasons, amount of climbing you can actually get in, wilderness, amount of new routes, etc, etc. Spain right now is good on the alpine rock climbing and crag climbing in general, one of the best places in the world, but I'm also thinking about other places in the distant future. Maybe in Europe, maybe in the States, maybe in South America. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing some ideas. Edited June 15, 2007 by TimL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 If you don't have to make a living and have inexhaustible funds (assumptions on which such questions are predicated) why pick one? Â You can travel the world and never go home for <$15k/year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevbone Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Flaggstaff AZ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Trippett Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 thats true carl....but say you have a family/life partner/animal friend?....then maybe you want to stay in one place... Â I've thought a lot about this Tim.....because my job allows me to locate pretty much where ever I want....Spain/Portugual maybe one of the best, but I've not been there. But it seems like you're in striking distance to so much from there... Alps, Norway etc...but the lack of granite in Europe would get me I think. Â Bariloche was pretty nice....but it would be kind of a hassle to get to Frey for an afternoon... Â I think Peter Croft may be on to something with Bishop....close to the Valley, Toulmne, Sierras, Joshua, Needles, Owens, etc..... Â Australia seems like a good choice as well...Natamuk or Katoomba, but the lack of alpine would be a bummer. Â Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dechristo Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Sunny Knob   Australia seems like a good choice as well...Natamuk or Katoomba, but the lack of alpine would be a bummer.   NZ is close and has kick-ass alpine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Trippett Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 yea...I guess for Australia...it's "close" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goatboy Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Chamonix? Â Leavenworth??? Â Bishop is a good call... Â I would personally love to live in Wanaka, NZ at some point...but the summers are short and the winters are long over there.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 NZ is close and has kick-ass alpine  and good climbing and bouldering... which are available much of the year in a bad (for skiers) winter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 La Grave. :tup: If you need a big city Grenoble is right there. Â Kick ass skiing, Excellent climbing in France's largest national park. You're only a couple hours from Chamonix for more of the same. The place is cheaper and more low life (in a good way) than Chamonix. There's also good ice climbing there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 thats true carl....but say you have a family/life partner/animal friend?....then maybe you want to stay in one place... I've thought a lot about this Tim.....because my job allows me to locate pretty much where ever I want....Spain/Portugual maybe one of the best, but I've not been there. But it seems like you're in striking distance to so much from there... Alps, Norway etc...but the lack of granite in Europe would get me I think.  Bariloche was pretty nice....but it would be kind of a hassle to get to Frey for an afternoon...  I think Peter Croft may be on to something with Bishop....close to the Valley, Toulmne, Sierras, Joshua, Needles, Owens, etc.....  Australia seems like a good choice as well...Natamuk or Katoomba, but the lack of alpine would be a bummer.   I'm thinking a lot about this as well. Being in Spain allows rock climbing all year. Plus, there is a fair amount of granite. Only the limestone sport routes get the press. There are so many 500 meter limestone trad walls here that its impressive. And trad on limestone takes big huevos.  Always around this time of year I miss the spring and summer in the Cascades. Problem here close to Madrid is that there are mountains, but not very big. We're also thinking about Barcelona, but people from Madrid and Barcelona have this nationalistic thing going on that....well my wife is from Madrid....the thought of living in Catalonia for her is like being a traitor.  South America seems interesting, but the wife as lived in Santiago and she said that its just too far from everything. Still, I'd like to see. I think Boulder might be good, and I'm always thinking about Seattle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 thats true carl....but say you have a family/life partner/animal friend?....then maybe you want to stay in one place... I've thought a lot about this Tim.....because my job allows me to locate pretty much where ever I want....Spain/Portugual maybe one of the best, but I've not been there. But it seems like you're in striking distance to so much from there... Alps, Norway etc...but the lack of granite in Europe would get me I think.  Bariloche was pretty nice....but it would be kind of a hassle to get to Frey for an afternoon...  I think Peter Croft may be on to something with Bishop....close to the Valley, Toulmne, Sierras, Joshua, Needles, Owens, etc.....  Australia seems like a good choice as well...Natamuk or Katoomba, but the lack of alpine would be a bummer.   I'm thinking a lot about this as well. Being in Spain allows rock climbing all year. Plus, there is a fair amount of granite. Only the limestone sport routes get the press. There are so many 500 meter limestone trad walls here that its impressive. And trad on limestone takes big huevos.  Always around this time of year I miss the spring and summer in the Cascades. Problem here close to Madrid is that there are mountains, but not very big. We're also thinking about Barcelona, but people from Madrid and Barcelona have this nationalistic thing going on that....well my wife is from Madrid....the thought of living in Catalonia for her is like being a traitor.  South America seems interesting, but the wife as lived in Santiago and she said that its just too far from everything. Still, I'd like to see. I think Boulder might be good, and I'm always thinking about Seattle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrogdortheBurninator Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Seems to me that canmore would be tough to beat with it's combo of ice, rock, alpine (rockies and bugaboos) and skiing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 Canmore :tup: :tup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 We miss you Tim! Â Canmore has a pretty damn short rock season. Though, given infinite cash, I would certainly be there part of the year. Â I think if money were no object I would likely spend about half my year in Canmore (Fall, winter), and half my year (spring, Summer) in a La Grave/Chamonix/Innsbruck-like locale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 Not sure if I'm coming back this summer, but for sure next. We'll have to plan something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 All this talk almost makes me think that Spokane would be good. CA Rockiez/Bugaboos 3-5 hours, N Cascades 3-4, meth, crack cocaine, well maybe not so much Spokane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted June 15, 2007 Author Share Posted June 15, 2007 We miss you Tim! Canmore has a pretty damn short rock season. Though, given infinite cash, I would certainly be there part of the year.  I think if money were no object I would likely spend about half my year in Canmore (Fall, winter), and half my year (spring, Summer) in a La Grave/Chamonix/Innsbruck-like locale.  Cham is a good idea, problem is work. Good thing about Barcelona is its only about 6 hours away from Cham and 2 from the Pyrennes.  Thing that I'm starting to see here is that all the good lines have been opened here. Its not like the Cascades. You can get a lot of climbing in, techincally very hard, but the adventure scale is pretty low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Trippett Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007  well my wife is from Madrid....the thought of living in Catalonia for her is like being a traitor  .....Still, I'd like to see. I think Boulder might be good, and I'm always thinking about Seattle.  Hahahaha....my wife is Brasilian...she feels the same way about Argentina....  As long as you're considering Seattle....you may as well come to Vancouver.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 erm, you be able to make a much better living in Chamonix than anywhere close to the mountains in S. America. Unless you are smuggling Coke  Coyhaique, Chile? Nolse would approve.  Western China. India. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted June 15, 2007 Share Posted June 15, 2007 The best place to live in Washington for alpine climbing got me thinking. If you could live any place in the world that where you have a good selection of everything ranging from bouldering to alpine, where would that be? Also consider weather, seasons, amount of climbing you can actually get in, wilderness, amount of new routes, etc, etc. Spain right now is good on the alpine rock climbing and crag climbing in general, one of the best places in the world, but I'm also thinking about other places in the distant future. Maybe in Europe, maybe in the States, maybe in South America. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing some ideas. Â Tim...you are so pig-in-shit...seriously...you're livin' the life that i dream about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLC Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 My wife and I could pretty much live anywhere we want; we have enough money, so I guess you could say that we've decided that the best place in the world to live is Woodinville, WA... Â There's fantastic skiing, kayaking, mountain biking, and climbing within a few hours drive. Hop a plane, and you can be climbing in Red Rocks or Moab or Alaska or Canmore in a couple hours. Â When we get tired of the rain, we head to Hawaii or the Bahamas. Â The only place I'd consider moving would be Australia / New Zealand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdietsch Posted June 16, 2007 Share Posted June 16, 2007 La Grave. :tup: or Briancon  The Ecrin is one of the sweetest places on earth. Words don't do it justice .. very fond memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric8 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Chamonix has granite  You can go skiing or rockclimbing in Itlay when the weather sucks.  And of course the ice/alpine climbing is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric8 Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 Chamonix has granite  You can go skiing or rockclimbing in Itlay when the weather sucks.  And of course the ice/alpine climbing is awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted June 17, 2007 Share Posted June 17, 2007 The one picture missing is the line for the tram in Argentiere on a powder morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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