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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2002 - 04:27pm PT
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Another place people have kind of ignored is Grand Junction, CO. Colorado Ntl. Monument and Unawheep (multi-pitch trad) are practically within the city limits. Good bouldering. World class sport climbing 1 hour away at Rifle. Castle Valley/Moab is about an hour and a half. Indian Creek is 2 and a half hours away. Black Canyon is 1.5 hours away. Ouray is about 1.5 hours away. 3-4 hours from the Front Range crags. Good skiing within 1.5-2 hours. Great mountain biking.
All in a town big enough that you can actually get a decent job. Its a little red-necky but nothing worse than Fresno.
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LFCfanofNJ
Intermediate climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2002 - 06:17pm PT
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What's so funny about the gunks? Sure it ain;t the valley but it's way better then some of the places that have been suggested. One of the best trad areas in the us for sure and one of the coolest towns I have ever visited (town, not city). It's got it all except big walls and a large variety of sport climbs. Have you ever been? Don't knock it till you try it, western elitist. Did I mention a small, but present international population and some awesome restaurants? Ya gotta be more open minded.
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Brent
Novice climber
EP,CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2002 - 06:48pm PT
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Colorado sucks!!!!!!!! Don't come here. The naked edge is all hype...the diamond isn't really a wall, more lke a mountain crag. The Black is the most worthless pile anywhere, rifle is falling down. There are no boulders anywhere. The women are all ugly...
This Fresno place sounds much more appealing.
I have to agree with Radical....Chamonix baby!!!!
You can wake up (hungover), catch a bigass tram, ski in, climb as gnarly as you want, ski out, go boozing and try to find some swedish bird(s) to exploit, get all boozed/drugged up and wake up the next day and repeat the cycle.
Of course you have to deal with the frogs...
good with the bad.
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Novice climber
anywhere but CO
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 30, 2002 - 08:09pm PT
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well Brent, after reading your post, I wouldn't consider it..
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Klimmer
Intermediate climber
San Diego, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 31, 2002 - 01:05pm PT
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There are 2 easy answers after you qualify what you really want in life: climbing (i.e. bouldering, trad,
sport, mountaineering, alpine wall, ice), skiing, surfing, mtn. biking, scuba diving, hot springs, river floating,
great photography potential, and paragliding. In other words the place has to offer it all and at a world-class
level. No one place offers it all! So you pick two places: live in one and have a vacation home in the other.
I live in San Diego and my vacation home is in Bishop. The best of the big city and small.
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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 31, 2002 - 07:47pm PT
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Vacation home? Jesus, man, I think you're talking to the wrong bunch.
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s
Advanced climber
eldo
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2002 - 06:44pm PT
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i would like to say yosemite ,but it seems it might be a bit to hard to earn a decent living .so i'm going to say eldorado springs, colorado(not boulder).with awesome climbing out yer back door and lots of other areas to climb at ,ranging from a ten minute drive to 8 hrs(diamond, southplatte, canyonlands, etc). that being said ,do not move here!
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SKETCHPAD
Advanced climber
Misery
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 1, 2002 - 07:34pm PT
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Now Hold on to yur brithces, ya cali-boys...
but I live in a place plagued by 100+% humidity in the summer, draped in poison ivy and infested with every known evil varmint that exists. In the winter, we are covered in ice, but nowhere to climb it. White stuff coats the ground, but we have no hills to ski. However, In this realm of Misery many fanatical, sold-out, live-eat-and-breathe rock climbers exist. We have a very small history of climbing and are only recently seeing our "Golden Age" of route development. With all the years of ignorance to the local limestone known dearly as "Choss", we have hundreds of miles of "bluffs" lining our rivers and lakes that are untouched. Overhung, exposed, pockety and adventurous, there is a lifetime of adventures to be had for the stubborn and patient.
Also, within 4 hours is northern Arkansas and Southern Illinois. Illinois seems tapped, but Arkansas has enough untouched (and developed) rock to last for a few more generations; and rivals Red Rocks, Nevada for quality. So..For those of us willing to travel all summer and suck it up in the winter(poison ivy dead; bugs, dead, snakes hibernating); Missouri is a fantastic, obscure place to be stuck. However,all that said...after 4 years in Tucson ,Az. I have to admit it is the most perfect place for a climber to live.
love,
SKETCHPAD
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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2002 - 12:41pm PT
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I hope this last post was a joke. I'm pretty sure it was anyway.
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Mike
Advanced climber
Utah
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2002 - 02:43pm PT
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I got to climb at the Gunks once, it was really fun, but I don't think it's worth moving there. There's not enough variety. What do you do when you want to do some pocket climbing? Is there any limestone or volcanic stuff nearby? I love granite, but if you don't mix it up once in awhile you start to burnout. I think you could get bored in california for the same reason.
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BR
Novice climber
The LBC
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> I think you could get bored in california for the same reason.
Mike, been to Bishop lately? And Vegas is plenty close too ...
br
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Mike
Advanced climber
Utah
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2002 - 04:24pm PT
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Yeah, I'm sure Bishop is pretty sweet...everybody seems to love it. I've never climbed there, just driven through. I guess I'm talking about the other side of the mountains where you might actually be able to find a job. It seems like from the LA or SF area the nearby climbing is mostly granite/trad stuff with very little quality sport climbing and zero ice climbing. How long does it take to get to Bishop from the bay area in the winter? Isn't it pretty far? I dig Red Rocks, it's a great winter crag and has some fun long trad stuff too, how far is that from LA? 6 hours? that's how long it takes me to get there.
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coonass
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2002 - 04:46pm PT
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Yall should move to Louisiana, great climbing there, lotsa jobs, stills, and guns. What more could ya want?
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IPA
Novice climber
ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2002 - 10:54pm PT
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Mike, there is ice in Cali, LEE VINING in winter and lots of "unsprayed summer ice, Yea ice climbing a 70 degree couloir in a t-shirt!
Klimmer you can ice climb (I think there is still a lot of unknown BC ice), trad of course, boulder your life away (we're talkin 50 foot solos too), Paraglide, hotspring,6+ indoor gyms, some sport (that wankin anyway), all of it plus the best wine, beer, GANJA, Beautiful girls who kick ass (and earn bank).
Yosemite, Kings Caynyon, Sequoia (all the Granit in between)
Pinnacles (runout volcanic), Castle rock state park (Fontainblue like sandstone bouldering and bolted and trad)
lovers leap, tahoe (world class skiing and it aint always wet), shasta, castle crags, big ass wind (windsurfing, para sialing, sailing, kite flying), High Sierra, J-Tree, Needles, suicide, Taquitz, Sandstone crags up and down the coast, beaches, nude beaches, pretty mellow cops, shall I go on???
California!!!!!!!!!!!
I ski 2 feet of pow and drive 2.5 hr to the bay area and sit on my porch in shorts that nite as I smoke one and drink fresh local beer and napa wine (cheap).
Standard of living is high and cost a lot but I survive on 25Gees. I climb every weel 365.
don't come here I'm lying, it sucks.
Kill me now
Ya.
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Mike
Advanced climber
Utah
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 01:27pm PT
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I'm not disputing that there's ice in Cali, but how far is it from LA/SF? Is it pretty crowded? I've been to Lee Vining in the summer and my impression is that there isn't a whole lot of ice. My guess is that it's probably more tracked out than Vail...when it forms. I may be moving to LA someday, so I'm really curious about it. I have grade V ice a 20 minute drive from my house right now, so I'm wondering if it gets any better. How much ice is there? Are we talking two or three puny grade fours, or is there lots of good hard stuff? Any mixed? I suppose if I have to I'll leave my tools in the closet all winter and get better at trad climbing.
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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 01:44pm PT
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you're moving to LA and think you'll find good ice? c'mon. Last I checked, it's a desert. 5" of rain a year. Would you move to Italy for the Mexican food?
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Rubio
Advanced climber
NM
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 04:44pm PT
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Castle Rock = Fontainbleau quality bouldering?!? Have you ever been to Castle Rock or did you just read about it in Climbing's "Five Best Places to Live and Climb" trash? I've never been to France, but obviously its got to be a helluva lot better than the graffiti stained, broken glass covered, tourist trampled choss-piles of Castle Rock.
And I'd also like to point out, since nobody's mentioned it, that Pinnacles blows ass too. I could see climbing there on occasion if you were trapped in the Bay and didn't have time to drive all the way to the valley. But if that were my very best option for sport climbing I think I would kill myself.
Its got some neat trad routes, but if that's what your lookin for why not go to the Valley?
I'm sorry, I just don't see any variety in California. There's tons of good rock, but its all granite with the exception of Owens and a few tiny tiny tiny bouldering areas around Mammoth.
All the other non-granite climbing areas in California are garbage.
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DS
Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 04:52pm PT
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Yeah...and who likes granite anyway right?
By the way, that's called sarcasm.
The comment about Castle Rock and Fontainebleau was also sarcastic.
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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 05:15pm PT
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rubio: Sorry to be blunt, but you're a moron. First, granite comes in many forms, although it typically does not come in limestone. J-tree, High Sierra, E. Sierra, Yosemite. Castle Crags, Lover's . . . are all very different in feel and variety. Obviously you've spent too much time on peyote. Second, there is other rock here, granted you don't have Smith, Rifle or other huge sport areas other than the Owen's (who gives a sh#t -- Owen's for sport is enough).
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Novice climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2002 - 05:39pm PT
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Ha! Rubio, you all crazeh girl! Git widdit!
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