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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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How are the beaches in Anchorage or Squamish?
Good waves? Lots of eye candy?
I'm guessing some of you shut-ins need to get out more.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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t*r, Anchortown sucks*, Juneau is the town, but it isn't big enough to qualify
as a city. Who the hell was so ignorant as to nominate Buenos Aires? They
had to be joking. I never even saw any bouldering except at the zoo!
*Although surfing the tidal bore is unique!
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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I arrived in Rio on in the early '80s. I had my EBs and a chalk bag and wanted to climb on those old granite walls. I'd seen some folks climbing here and there, and hung around one of the areas with the hopes of meeting up with some of the locals.
I met André, one of the Carioca Climbing Club members. He was totally psyched on the climbing in Rio. He'd been reading Mountain and Climbing magazines, and had no idea of how the Brazilian grades compared with those in other parts of the world.
I climbed with André for about a week, and gave him an idea of what grade the routes were. We did a route on Sugarloaf, Pao de Gavia, and CEB--an outlying crag that we took a bus to, then dashed through the forest, leery of thieves. (These are all from a crusty old memory, so please help me out if you know the proper names.)
On Pao de Gavia, André and I tried to free a line that had a few points of aid. It was beautifully classic, and I got all but one move free. Grabbing shrubs growing out of the vertical wall was novel, as was the descent. Straight through a favela. I sent a trip report into Climbing, but they later printed only the grade-conversion chart I'd drawn up.
We strung up a TR on a famous crack problem, and they were disappointed when I was the first to send it, calling it .10a. They didn't have much experience with cracks, and I introduced Andre to the idea of bouldering, telling him it is a great way to hone skills.
For shoes, the locals used a specific soccer cleat. They'd grind the "cleats" off of, giving them a very soft-soled tennis shoe type of rig. Gear for them was very expensive and they didn't have much. Wolfgang visited a year or two later, and really opened up the possibilities, and I guess the rest is what it is.
Rio is one of the best cities ever. Love the people, love the electricity in the air. Would love to climb some of the new routes...
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Who the hell was so ignorant as to nominate Buenos Aires?
No one.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Um.... Rain?!... Yeah,...
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Fumbling towards stone
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Bergbryce beat me to it, but I was going to mention Hong Kong. There have been a thread or two with images and I think a trip report too. It's long had it's own guide book. Probably not the "best" but definitely amongst the most interesting.
Eric
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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You can be urbane or you can be a climber.
OK, if we're nitpicking grammar, we can nitpick spelling.
It may not be possible to be an urban climber, but it is surely possible to be an urbane climber!
:)
Does Tucson qualify and if so how does it rank?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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A couple of candidates....depends on what you like to climb I suppose:
1. Ha Long City, Vietnam. 185k pop with the sweet limestone towers of Ha Long Bay.
2. Yangshuou Town, China. 300k in the county, with this town the seat of govt, so likely meets the 150k arbitrary number we're using.
Personally, I'll take Rio because it's granite and the football and women are unbeatable. But if you enjoy limestone sport crankin, get your Asia on.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Never been to Rio. Of the places I have been, I'd vote Vegas if RR is in City Limits, but I doubt it is. So then I have to vote Boulder.
Prod.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2012 - 04:39pm PT
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I´m going to "prod" you to buy a plane ticket and get your butt down to Rio. Sunny tomorrow for some final cragging on my last day here. Was going to Tres Pico Riley, but weather wasn´t right.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Might have to be a destination next winter. Your last recomendation, The Frey, was tits up for sure.
Prod.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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tucson anybody? mt. lemmon alone....
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ducha
Trad climber
rio de janeiro
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City of Rio has changed quite a lot since the 80's.
You probably climbed with André Ilha, one of the most active climber with over 500 first ascents all over the country. still climbing in our days.
Local climbing also developed a lot since it, many new routes on Sugar Loaf as well as in Tijuca Forest and two main sport climbing crags: Barrinha and Campo Escola.
Another thing I forgot to mention earlier, our main activity in the rest days: birdwatching
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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I think we have a winner!
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Wanna bump this thread.
From post so far, Rio is the winner and unlikely to be dethroned. Ducha's photographic proof (two posts ante) seals the deal, no doubt.
So how about narrowing down now to best U.S. city with climbing within (or so close as to count as "in") its borders?
Nominees seem to be:
!. Chattanooga (no way is this the best);
2. Salt Lake City;
3. Boulder:
4. Tucson;
5. Las Vegas.
If so, I'd go with Las Vegas (in spite of personal and sentimental reasons to quixotically lobby for Tucson.
Donini may chime in with another candidate from his recent travels to Tajikestan and Sichuan. Would be funny if he nominates a superior candidate to his first offering: Rio de Janeiro.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Well, I'm not sure how we're defining city/metro limits. But if we say less than 45 travel mins from downtown... Salt Lake has an awful lot.
Big and Little Cottonwood, Bells Canyon, Lone Pine Cirque, American Fork, Ogden, Provo Canyon ice. Probably more 1000 routes, sport, trad, single and multipitch. And hundreds of boulder problems.
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fgw
climber
portland, or
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other potential candidates:
Monterrey with La Huasteca NP (maybe outside city limits ala LV & RR?).
HK with its Lion Rock (other?)
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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font
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