Opinions - Moving to Fort Collins or Grand Junction

I will be moving from NC to Colorado sometime within the coming year and Im looking for opinions from all of you Colorado climbers. I am a paramedic and will be looking for work in a decent sized city. Right now I am trying to decide between Fort Collins and Grand Junction. From a climbing standpoint only, what are the pros and cons of the eastern vs. the western slope? Crowds? Rock/Route quality? Climate? Any info is greatly appreciated!

Greg

Greg,

You might want to rename your title to something like Moving to Fort Collins or Grand Junction.

Since I don't live in either of those places I can't give you an opinion other than to say that they are widely different! I'm sure you will get lots of feedback.

Cheers

john

PS: I just changed the title for you :-)

Gosborn, Ft. Collins is an hour or so from Lumpy Ridge, and a short two hours from Eldorado and Boulder Canyon. If you like granite and bulletproof sandstone, I'd send you there.

If you prefer the desert and softer sandstone, Grand Junction is spitting distance from Colorado National Monument and only a couple of hours from Moab. GJ also gets into the 100s during the summer while Fort Fun doesn't.

And welcome in advance. Seems like we can always use another paramedic.

Depends on what you like to do. Rock, ice, alpine routes, big wall? GJ is really close to Moab and Ouray/Silverton as well as the Black Canyon of Gunnison, but Ft. Collins is really close to RMNP and Boulder.

The access to climbing is good in both places but by and large Ft. Collins is much better town...and the beer is off the chains.

Note: This is not an opinion.

Thanks to all for the responses so far....

While we're at it if you have any first hand experience or info in reference to the reputation of any EMS/Fire Departments in either of these areas I'd like to hear what you have to say. Thanks again for the quick replies!

And yeh the beer from Ft Collins is off the hook....I know that from 1500 miles away....

Greg

Greg,

Anywhere you live in CO has great climbing.

If you want to get into ice/desert towers GJ would be better.
East slope has great alpine/some good ice (crowded)/ better rock quality.

I would think that it's more what suits you're life style.

If you want to party a lot, like city living, and live with millions of people then the east slope is right for you. If you like quiet country living, with more laid back surroundings GJ would be good.

Also remeber that the rockies are in between your 2 cities and many classic climbing objectives can be reached from either town with a 2-3 hour drive.

Welcome to CO in advance

Grand Junction sure has grown but nowhere near the front range soon to be mega city. GJ also gets damn hot but the front range can warm up quite a bit too.

Greg,

It's REEEEAALLY crowded in the front range (e.g. Fort Collins). You'll surely find better climbing and smaller crowds on the western slope. Unless, you're bringing a bus load of single women over the age of 18 with you. In that case, I'd highly recommend Denver over Fort Collins.

Greg, I work in Fort Collins and it is a pretty nice College town, a little crowded for my taste of living but nothing like a big city has so I live in a little mountain community called Drake and commute in. Fort Collins has very low crime, a nice old town area, nice in-town trail system and like mentioned before Lumpy Ridge and Rocky Mountain Nat. Park are within an hours drive, halfway between Loveland and Estes Park you can find Combat Rock and the Monastery for climbing.

Poudre Valley Health System is the big hospital network in Ft. Collins, Loveland has Mckee Medical Center, Estes Park has the Estes Park Medical Center.

Wow, both great places. The elevation is nearly identical, but the climes are different.

Some thoughts, if you like desert Windgate, desert towers, overhanging bolted limestone, magnificent ice potential 2-3 hours away, rock FA potential, funky towers that you can't believe are standing, wine, peaches, mountain biking, heat and lots of space, Grand Junction is amazing.

If you like the college town atmosphere, great bouldering on Dakota, being close to lots of alpine rock, lots of granite, amazing offwidths an hour-ish away, great beer made locally, fishing, Ft. Collins is terrific.

I know nothing of Fort Collins but my wife and I moved to Junction a little over 4 years ago. It’s an ok place to live and you can climb real rock after work as long as you get off at a reasonable time. Boldering 10 min drive from down town. Single pitch 20-30 min drive, 20-30 min hike. Multi pitch 20-30 min drive 45-60 min hike. Other then climbing we have world class mountain bike riding in Fuita and Moab, the local ski resort is reasonably priced around $50 a lift ticket, year round kayaking/rafting at every level, and the hiking/mountaineering is good.

Crowds? No crowds really, a couple popular routes can get a line but you can go around the corner and it’s all good. Indian Creek, Moab, Riffle, and Ouray Ice Park are world famous and can get crowded. Locals complain about traffic but we’re from LA so we just laugh at them. And no matter where you are in town you can be in the middle of nowhere in about 30 min.

Rock/Route quality? Depending on where you go we have everything from complete crap to really good. The local Monument has some of the worst rock quality and can scare the crap out of you quite a bit but there are some really good routes in there and if you stick to the popular routes they’re clean. Unaweep is good hard old granite and can be slick but some of the best climbing around. Ouray has great ice climbing in the winter and good rock climbing the rest of the year. My wife doesn’t like the quantity of easier routes around though. If you climb 5.10 or better you will have more options and if you aid climb you will have endless options.

Climate? One of the few places in the country that gets below freezing in the winter (we hit -10 last month but that was the first time since we moved here, 0 is more common though) and over 100 in the summer. We stay around 100-107 for around a month every summer. We get snow in the valley but you hardly ever have to shovel, and the 8” we got last month is the most we’ve seen at one time since we moved here.

Thanks to all for the good replies... and for the link to the previous GJ thread!

Greg

Thanks fir putting up this thread, Greg. I'm preety dead set on moving to GJ this summer and the info helped!

Dave Deming wrote:Thanks fir putting up this thread, Greg. I'm preety dead set on moving to GJ this summer and the info helped!

Yeh Ill definately be hitting you guys up for some climbing when I get out there. Right now, Im at the mercy of the housing market but once this sells we're out. Right now we are 90% leaning twords GJ but I gotta go where the work is you know...we'll see soon enough. Thanks again for the info on the area.

Greg