Best U.S. Climbing Towns

[layton]

europe seems like an amazing place for an extended vacation, but also seems like a giant seattle. not great place to find a job and buy a house. girls seems like they're way hotter there, however!

[Kiwiclimber]

Has anyone spent any time (lived there) in Jackson? I am interested in a job over there. And I realize that I will not be able to buy over there. But a couple of years working and playing might be fun.

[cj001f]

Europe, it has everything

 

Try moving to a small Swiss or Austrian mountain village the locals will be kind to you

 

You've got these choices in mountain towns/small cities:

 

MegaResort - no professional employment, plenty of marginal seasonal. Absurdly $$$ real estate. Jackson

YuppieCity - professional employment, expensive real estate, crowded. Boulder.

Other - minimal professional employment, minimal seasonal employment, reasonably priced real estate (if you can find a job). Leavenworth.

[fgw]

Flagstaff seems like a nice place and it is kinda high elevation wise -- still might be way too hot in the summer?? Kinda got the same impression of Boulder as MCash (based on 1 visit so I might be off). Can't imagine not being bored out of my mind anywhere east of the Rockies. I really like Portland but obviously you're sacrificing much in 1-4 categories for some 5.

[layton]

You might be right, but Portland should be on the top 25. There is plenty of local climbing, although it does kinda suck. Smith and trout creek aren't too far and the season there is a lot better than vantage or leavenworth. Plus it's a very pretty town (for the most part) NE and the burbs are fugly. And I do remember going ice climbing up fairly huge routes 20 min from my house every year i lived there (for a couple days at least!). It's a good place to buy a house and raise a family. But it sacrifices much on the best climbing town categories I listed.

[fgw]

It's a good place to buy a house and raise a family. But it sacrifices much on the best climbing town categories I listed.

Yeah I think it's tough to find a clear cut winner in all 5. Funny how nobody mentioned (rightfully so IMHO) any CA cities.

[JayB]

Ellensburg. Nothing's right next to town, but there's quite a bit of stuff 1-2 hours away, and the cost of living/job-prospects/etc are probably better than most resort towns.

[DRep]

Bozeman takes the cake.... I can grab an hour of climbing at practice rock, scortched, the pass, or the canyon after class! Hyalite in the winter, spend the entire weekend at pipestone, paradise valley. The night life is decent, Arts fartsy little town. Mt. Cowan cirque is pretty badass to do some alpine cragging and the Beartooths are an hour away. It is way chiller than Boulder for sure!!

[Wakaranai]

I spent about 10 years in Mammoth and as far as weather and quality of climbing it is meca. Ive gone snowboarding in the early morning at Mammoth, then drive 12 minutes to Crowley to do some Wake Boarding (a little chilly in early July, but fun), then drive 15 more minutes to world class bouldering at the Buttermilks. Ahh another nice day in the Sierra. But..Mammoth has gone from a quaint little mountain town to overpriced wanna-be Aspen foo foo richy rich kinda place so... WA state is sure pretty sweet and living in Mount Vernon is a nice central spot to alot of great climbing at Index, Squamish, and Erie..not bad.

-B

[layton]

Mammoth would be pretty sweet...but I do believe that those days are over where it's affordable to live there. You could live in Bishop...but...ug.

 

Bozeman sounds fantastic, and seems up there with Flagstaff but maybe better job opps and much cheaper living. the big problem i see with Bozeman is you're pretty isolated to the immediate area compared with places like SLC or Boulder.

 

No one's mentioned Vegas. It's actually a pretty f'in nice place to live if you disqualify the strip scene.

[JayB]

From what I've heard, Bozeman's generally a tough place to make a living, but since you are in a profession that you can take pretty much anywhere, this might not be so much of a concern for you.

 

I actually think that when you look at all of your factors, Seattle scores pretty well. Colorado was pretty sweet for pure rock climbing, and is a great place to live if you're into the outdoors, and I miss CO a lot when I'm not there, especially the Platte - but I still give the edge to Seattle/WA in terms of across-the-board appeal.

 

 

 

 

[layton]

I'm not looking to relocate (anytime soon at least).

But yeah, Seattle is pretty damn sweet. It is the most beautiful city in America with the most beautiful mountain range in the lower 48. The after work climbing scene does suck as does the late fall-early spring climbing season. But when you do bag a climb in that time - it's more rewarding than any classic route in the rockies.

[ivan]

pdx is a long way from the north, but the afterwork/fall crag of beacon is damned hard to beat - create alpine training conditions today too - dry n' blustery as all hell

[JayB]

Late-fall early spring is prime time for kayaking. Diversify the recreational pursuits and take advantage of all phases of the hydrological cycle...

 

If not kayaking, then Tieton, Tieton, Tieton...

[cj001f]

Mammoth would be pretty sweet...but I do believe that those days are over where it's affordable to live there. You could live in Bishop...but...ug.

 

Yeah, CA is pretty much done as an affordable place to live. I hope for a major quake in Mammoth :tup:

 

Dunno about the medical profession, but the engineering positions I've looked at in Bozeman were pretty poor paying - even considering the lower COL. Worse than PDX. Seattle's a cool city, but WA as a state, and the residents, need to pull their heads out of their asses and lay the ground work now so they can keep it that way.

[kevbone]

Has anyone spent any time (lived there) in Jackson? I am interested in a job over there. And I realize that I will not be able to buy over there. But a couple of years working and playing might be fun.

 

I had a plan to move to Jackson 7 years ago.....show up and had a job 4 hours later in an outdoor store.....I guess I got lucky....

[Rad]

Seattle's a cool city, but WA as a state, and the residents, need to pull their heads out of their asses and lay the ground work now so they can keep it that way.

 

 

Amen. It floors me that people don't understand that you taxes to fund things like transit and schools. I would gladly pay income tax to improve a lot of things in this state, but the short-sightedness of voters and Tim Eyman's initiatives are a lethal combo.

[gslater]

One other town that I think gets dismissed for political reasons is Colorado Springs. If you live on the western side of the town, you're usually just a few minutes from Garden of the Gods and a bunch of other small granite Crags, a bunch of stealth crags on Rampart Range Road, about 40 minutes from 11-Mile Canyon, and about 10 minutes beyond that you are into Turkey Rocks and the granite infinity of the Platte. There was even a somewhat stealth two-pitch 3-4 ice line about 20 minutes outside of town, and a spot offering `~100 feet of 1-2 ice that I could play around on before work. The trailhead to Pikes Peak was also about 15 minutes away. Head about 1.5 hours South and you're at Shelf Road and warm south facing rock that you can climb just about all winter long.

 

Also big enough for real-jobs, the downtown core has Colorado College, small bookshops, bars, restaurants, etc - just about all of it with a great view of the Front Range. And ridiculous amounts of Sunshine.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Was in C. Springs just last weekend (Colorado College alum, there for a reunion), and stayed at a buddy's house on the west side. I'd forgotten how easy the access is from there to great terrain.

[bcollins]

I solved the Boulder blight problem by simply moving 12 miles away to Longmont. Hiking today in the sun on a bluebird day I scanned for ice routes that will soon be in up at RMNP. Tomorrow I'll drive 20 min. for nice granite in St. Vrain canyon, then Monday it's 40 min. to Eldorado for literally hundreds of routes to choose from. I was raised in Seattle, yea it's a great place but the weather shuts you down way too much. Hard to go back after living with over 300 days of sunshine per year, and enough rock within an hour to keep me busy for years. Oh yea I skied over 30 days of BC last winter too. Got it all right here!

[schizoid]

I just moved up to Gold Bar this past summer from Colorado Springs. As a teacher, I've been fortunate over the years to have lots of time off to visit and rock/ice/snow/alpine climb, mountain bike, kayak, ski, cave, backpack, canyoneer and dive all over the western U.S., Canada, and Alaska. For proximity to the widest variety of outdoors activities and overall quality of life, the pacific northwest is the best I've ever found.

[Dechristo]

Detroit... OK, maybe Cleveland... but no, Detroit.

[AlpineK]

I solved the Boulder blight problem by simply moving 12 miles away to Longmont. ..... Oh yea I skied over 30 days of BC last winter too. Got it all right here!

 

On the one hand I agree with you Longmont rules. I've climbed a ton of the green ash trees there; both street trees and those in the parks. I also used to enjoy driving by the turkey processing plant on the east side of town. It's quite an experience to drive by the factory and see tons of turkeys in boxcars waiting to meet their maker. The trailer parks in Longmont are cool too; tons of trees to climb and folks out drinking on the front steps at 8 AM after a hard 8 hours on the night shift.

 

I'm not joking about liking Longmont.

 

As for skiing in CO there are some good bits, but it's mostly a bunch of overrated bullshit. Mostly what I can tell you is the state has spent a boat load of money on advertisement. If skiing were the subject I'd pick BC, WA, OR, ID, MT, WY, UT, and maybe CA head and shoulders over CO.

[bcollins]

Hey you'll be thanking the good people of Longmont around the end of Nov. when your nawing on the end of a drumstick. After dinner I'll be planning a trip up to El Dora ($25 all day tickets) or perhaps cruising up to Eldo for some world class climbing in the SUNSHINE. It seems I can afford to take Friday off cuz the COST OF LIVING is low! I do miss standing at the base of some moss-covered lichen infested slab up at Exit 38, squinting into the mist and rain while my stereo get's jacked from my truck.

 

Oh BTW, when's the annual thread start on CC.com called "Any ice up at Alpental?"

[cj001f]

After dinner I'll be planning a trip up to El Dora ($25 all day tickets)

 

They pay you to ski there?

 

The cost of living is low because you live on a big, flat, prairie filled with subdivisions. It's cheap to live in Pierce county too but you don't hear people raving about it, do you. The front range of colorado is like southern california east of the 101. just because you are close doesn't counteract the shitty boring place you live.

[bcollins]

Right..........shitty and boring. I put over 8K on my motorcycle since march and have ridden in the rain ONCE!! Just got back from a glorious ride up the Big Thompson to Estes Park to scope out routes for tomorrow at Lumpy Ridge. Come on cj if it was boring here for you that's cuz you spent too much time indoors making up shit you know nothing about. People don't rave about Pierce County, they just move there..........

Was it the Alpental ice comment that got you worked up??? Surprised you haven't said anything about the Rockies.........