Bellingham, WA climbing and outdoors

[emsung]

Hey,

I'm looking into the Bellingham WA area and was hoping for info on the rock climbing and outdoor scene in the area... i've been told it is an awesome town with tons of great access to stuff. any advice? i know it's close to sweet spots like washington pass, leavenworth, index, and squamish, but is there anything good local? are the climbing walls at the YMCA or Western Washington University any good? how easy is it to find climbing partners out there, is the vibe there pretty chill?

How about other stuff, such as cycling and skiing/snowboarding?

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

[tyree]

The Bellinghm climbing scene suks!!! ask anybody on this site, especially if you are coming from p-town or seattle. There was a thread on this a year or two ago; do a search and you can see for your self...search: bellingham climbing scene sucks.

[Sol]

yeah, ty's right it super suks!!!!!!!!!!!

prolly should just move to seattle.

[jordansahls]

Yeah, the local climbing sucks unless you have a fetish for crumbly sandstone and sketch bolts with lots of glue on them. The nearest decent climbing would be mount Erie, which is about 45 - 60 minutes from B-ham.

 

As for the WWU rock wall and the YMCA rock wall, there nothing special. Basically anything you can find in Seattle is going to be as good, if not much better than the climbing gyms B-ham has to offer, most likely the later.

 

[Mountains]

Hi,

WWU has a pretty decent little climbing wall...pretty much brand new and barely used. There is a small number of climbs past Glacier (town) on rt 542...but they're pretty chossy and uninspiring.

 

There's some nice climbing near Newhalem just spitting distance from the road rt20. I've heard a little bit about some bouldering and TR routes in the state park just S of bham...also

supposed to be an area called "bat rocks" or something like that? Not sure about the quality...there's always Mt Erie (a few good routes) and of course the mighty Squamish up in BC!

 

My friend just moved to Bham last month and loves living there.

cheers

[ashw_justin]

There is a nice big wall up at the Oyster Dome/Bat Caves. It is developed a bit with a handful of routes (bolted, w/ anchors) starting from the top or the bottom. Lesser known perhaps due to the ~1hr approach hike, so bring a brush for some of the routes. Pretty woods, nice views. Your recreation there might even help the case to protect those woods.

 

ps. it's no Index or Squamish, i.e. as others have said don't move to B'ham for the climbing

Edited October 31, 2007 by ashw_justin

[Choada_Boy]

Bellingham is a shithole. Don't move there. You'll regret it.

[DrDre]

Maybe you should stay in PDX. The skiing kicks derriere.

[dberdinka]

Bellingham is sweet. Unfortunately there is no local cragging to speak off. Index, Squamish, D-Town are all about 90 miles away. Erie is better than generally thought (I think) but it's still at 45 minutes away.

 

The Y-wall does not compare to a real gym....WWU is for groms.

 

Lots of mtn biking, hiking and kayaking to do right on the edge of town.

 

Ski area is an 1hr 15min out of town and the N Cascades are about 2 hrs.

[Bill_Simpkins]

Don't listen do Darin! He is a cube monkey with his finger sitting on the big red button!

 

Bellingham is full of people driving Outbacks while they talk on the cell phone and drink a latte while driving their kids to soccer practice. It's dangerous. Live somewhere safe like Lebanon!

[Tennessee]

yeah, bellingham bites the big one. Snobby people, crappy weather, no climbing and as culturally rich as, well, Tennessee except Tennessee has more climbing. Not as bad as TX, I'll at least give it that. If you really want to move somewhere with lots of climbing, try Boulder, CO. I hear it's a cool place.

[G-spotter]

How about other stuff, such as cycling and skiing/snowboarding?

I would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

 

That stuff is wat you will end up doing b/c there is no climbing.

[AlpineK]

I like climbing and skiing, but skiing kicks butt on climbing.

[scm007]

Depends on how far you want to drive, and what type of climbing your looking for. True, there isn't much rock climbing in the city, but you have Index, Leavenworth, and Squamish in relative proximity to the city. Good BC skiing/snowboarding @ Mt.Baker, which is ~1 hour away. Tons of alpine rock in the Washington Pass area.

 

So if you want legendary rock climbing, move to Yosemite. In Bellingham you can enjoy the San Juans right out the door, or drive East 1-2 hours for awesome Cascade climbing.

 

There are quite a few hippies who live here as well. But there are also a ton of climbers, skiiers, boarders, kayakers, etc.

[ashw_justin]

There are quite a few hippies who live here as well.

As a child I used to watch music in fields of grass in the middle of Fairhaven. Now it's all designer retirement condos and brand new souvenir shoppes trying to appear 'historic.' Welcome to 'historic' Fairhaven, the sign says... the best faux-history that development money can buy.

[timmy_t]

The Bellinghm climbing scene suks!!! ask anybody on this site, especially if you are coming from p-town or seattle. There was a thread on this a year or two ago; do a search and you can see for your self...search: bellingham climbing scene sucks.

 

Totally true: don't move to Bham for the climbing or the climbing scene. In fact, everything you've heard about good climbing around Washington Pass, Leavenworth, N. Cascades, etc. is all bullshit. Cali's got the granite; Oregon has the super-fun linkup volcanoes; Colorado's got the elevation; Alaska's got the glaciers. Bham, and Washington state in general, is just full of a bunch of liberal caffeinated activist hippie grunge flakes.

[AlpineK]

There's nothing to see here please move along.

[whirlwind]

its not so bad, i got worn out on the wanabees and think they are's the lack of good paying jobs with and adiquite time off puts a damper on it. but I'm a usetabe so what do i know. watch out for people that say they climb but dont have/own a harness or shoes, as well as people that want to go climb and bring there "climbing" friends that dont have harnesses or shoes. no shit, i had this happen to me more than once.

[Tony_Bentley]

I don't have any kids and I like drip thank you very much.

 

Are you stoopid?

 

Anyways, Darin it is more like an hour plus. The rock is fine for cragging. Index and Squamish are a little further but you get the preferred batholith condusive to whiny bitches and their need for clean perfect cracks and one minute approaches.

 

Bolder at Rosario if you're a hard man. It kicks my ass.

[Adventureboy]

word to bunk-ness of the bellingham climbing, thogh....

If one is inspired there are gems in all of the bouldering areas

probably 7 or eight truly great problrms all told. It's always sort of a quest to find and scrub sandstone doulders in the jungle amd beach.And the 'Ham is equidistant from squmish and index. The skiing is, well legendary when it's good the mountain biking is sweet

( i hear, but mt biking is barbaric sport)also an interesting music scene and a blooming art scene.

 

Just don't move there for the climbing

[diretissimo]

There isn't much local rock but no one has mentioned the bouldering on Sehome Hill or is that closed off now due to impact reasons?

[svilar]

Unless you're talking about alpine climbing, everyone who climbs in western Washington ends up driving to the other side of the Cascades where there's good weather and... rocks. B'ham is a long drive from Leavenworth, Vantage, WA Pass on $4/gall gas. Depending on your job look at Mazama, Leavenworth, Wenatchee, Ellensburg if climbing is that important.

[glassgowkiss]

no real climbing gym. the drive to squamish or index is at least 2 hours (mostly due to slow pieces of shit, who can't drive worth a fuck), 9 mo of rain a year (yeah, it pretty much rained every weekend this summer). for ice you have to drive up to BC- at least 3 hours! anyway- as soon as we can move- we are out of here!

[JayB]

no real climbing gym. the drive to squamish or index is at least 2 hours (mostly due to slow pieces of shit, who can't drive worth a fuck), 9 mo of rain a year (yeah, it pretty much rained every weekend this summer). for ice you have to drive up to BC- at least 3 hours! anyway- as soon as we can move- we are out of here!

 

Where are you thinking of heading? Colorado, Utah, Canada? Overseas?

[glassgowkiss]

canada.