Moving to Seattle (maybe); what climbing?

[Saffron]

Hi all

 

How accessible is the sport or trad climbing around Seattle? Can it be an afternoon outing or a weekend?

 

And the ice routes? Ok, I don't expect these to be 30 mins or so away from the city.

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Rad]

Approximate times to a few trailheads:

 

45 minutes: Northbend (exit 32 and 38). Mostly sport, some trad.

75 minutes: Index town wall. Mostly trad, some sport.

90 minutes: Nason Ridge. Sport.

120-150 minutes: Darrington, Leavenworth, Erie. Sport and trad.

140-200 minutes: Washington Pass, Vantage, Tieton, numerous alpine backcountry. Mostly trad, some sport.

200-240 minutes: Squamish BC. Sport and trad.

 

Others can comment on ice.

[cfire]

Ice;

 

600-700 minutes to Banff

[Doug T]

400 Minutes Smith Rocks and Skaha

[TrogdortheBurninator]

For a few weeks a year you will have ice within 1-4 hrs. For a few months you will have ice within 5-6 hrs. For half the year you will have ice within 10-14 hrs.

[Spencer]

If you move here I hope you don't limit yourself to just ice, a incredible amount of climbing is aways a short drive from anywhere here in the Olympics or Cascades.

It's like asking if you know where you can get a good cup of coffee around here. : )

[Greta]

No climbing here. Keep moving

[AlpineK]

Lots of bc skiing within 1 to X hours from Seattle.

 

Back years ago there was briefly some ice climbing about 30 minutes from Seattle, but I wouldn't count on that reappearing any time soon.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Nothing to climb here. Move along.

[Greta]

Is there an echo in here?...in here?...in here?

[Hugh Conway]

yes - because you've nothing upstairs

[Greta]

yes - because you've nothing upstairs

 

Hmmm...and you're the one that missed the :pagetop:top

Pot-kettle-black

[Spencer]

you could have at least echoed my "coffee in Seattle" analogy took me 4 hrs to come up with that

[rob]

SPRAYERS!!!11

[Saffron]

Well, my first love is sport climbing so ice and trad are recent acquisitions.

 

It sounds like I won't be short of climbs in the Seattle area...just don't know if I can handle the rain!

 

If you could live anywhere in the US (depending on climbing), where would you?

 

 

[kevbone]

 

If you could live anywhere in the US (depending on climbing), where would you?

 

 

Flaggstaff, AZ

[Hugh Conway]

If you could live anywhere in the US (depending on climbing), where would you?

 

Mobile, AL

[paramagic]

Bishop

[Saffron]

Thanks everyone for the input! I'll give Seattle a shot next year.

 

[shaoleung]

There really is a lot of cool climbing around here. The self-deprecation is deserved only if you're a wuss about getting out. We don't have a huge selection of big stuff or super hard stuff, but there isn't a city in the country that beats the variety of rock, snow, mountains, water, wilderness, biking, etc etc that we have here.

[marc_leclerc]

B.C is close ... B.C = much bigger than washington = much, much more climbing

[Braydon]

B.C is close ... B.C = much bigger than washington = much, much more climbing

 

But washington has the volcanoes!

[mike1]

Climbing too dangerous. Try golf.

[Buckaroo]

Hi all

 

""How accessible is the sport or trad climbing around Seattle? Can it be an afternoon outing or a weekend?""

 

yes to both

 

""And the ice routes? Ok, I don't expect these to be 30 mins or so away from the city.""

 

WA ice comes in for a few DAYS per year on average. Lilloett usually comes in, it's 5 hrs away. Banff is 13 hrs away, ice climber paradise

 

The rain is not as bad as they say, it's WORSE. Probably why we were the first to have an indoor climbing gym.

 

actually it's the short winter days combined with overcast skies for sometimes 2 months in a row during winter that can cause S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder) The sun lamp companies do good business here.

 

but it's a climbing mecca. Rainier is good training for the bigger ranges and we're central to the Canadian rockies and Yosemite.