Best College for climbing

Ben F wrote: I agree. CU is a little better than mediocre, even though we here have witnessed an example of the kind of lawyer it can produce (haven't heard from PR in a while). However, if the OP is looking into going into engineering or hard sciences, and still wants to be able to climb every now and then, then the obvious choice is North Avenue Trade School in Atlanta.

CU Boulder is so outrageously expensive as to be a less viable option. And the climbing just ain't that great either. Sure, in terms of shear mileage, Boulder is hard to beat. But there's basically two parties for every route worth getting on any day of the week. There are a TON of climbers in the Boulder area, way more than the area really deserves.

I've only looked at this last page of posts and I'm very surprised that nobody has mentioned Plymoth State in NH. It's less than 15 mins. to one of the best climbing venues in the country- Rumney. And not far from the other premier areas in NH and VT. Not to mention all the skiing etc.

ASU!!! we have queen creek, mount lemmon, jacks canyon, winslow wall, Blue ridge, cochise stronghold, the homestead, tam oshanter, the dry, everything in flagstaff (the pit, the overlook, etc...) all at our fingertips.

We WIN!!

Go Devils

CU is so obvious. Assuming education itself isn't an issue I'd say it's got to be no. 1.

Another good choice would be Dartmouth. Rumney, Cathedral, Whitehorse, Cannon. Tons of ice in winter. Awesome academics.

The NE is so compact, there have to be other really good schools not that far from the climbing. Weslayan is close to Ragged, etc., etc.

CU Boulder has an amazingly organized Alpine Club: colorado.edu/studentgroups/…. On top of all this you get to go to school at CU, which is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country.

I think the important thing here is the school itself. Find the school you want, and the rest will fall into place. Don't pick a school based on the rock climbing. There's more amazing, undocumented rock climbing in this country than one can imagine. Just because Boulder Canyon seems to have a billion routes on this website doesn't mean it's amazing.

Find where you'll be happy and the climbing community and the climbing itself will happen. you'll be psyched no matter what.

as always, the wasatch, and utah in general are under represented. If you want to climb Granite, sandstone, quarzite and limestone all in one day you can only do it in one place.
Move to Utah, and bring a woman with you.

Having spent most of my life on the east coast around Mass and NH, I have to say the weather blows there. Sure you have good climbing spots and excellent schools, but it's usually too rainy, snowy, rain-snowy, ice-snowy or humid with crap load of mosquitoes. And the whole thing about excellent schools is only halfway true, because in the end, it is how much effort you put in at school, unless you go to some ivy league school, like Yale, where the school name gets you jobs, not your actual achievements.

Having said that, there are plenty of awesome schools on the better side of the Mississippi. Honestly, you should be so busy with school work during the week that climbing should be something that takes no more than an hour out of your day, so find a close-by gym. Weekends become the primo time to go outdoors. So if you are located in the Southwest, you have Red Rocks, JTree, Zion, Bishop, Yosemite, etc. all around you within weekend road trip status, especially if you leave Friday after class. So in the end its up to you, but personally I would rather climb someplace like Red Rocks or JTree once a month than climb at Quincy Quarries every other day. In the end you'll end up with better grades because you are focusing on school and you can reward yourself with some incredible climbing after a particularly hard semester.

Then again, take my opinion with a grain of salt, I've turned into a desert rat since moving to LV 4 years ago.

I spent a couple of years at UNCW, cause I wanted to be close to the beach so I could surf. I spent more time surfin, than in school, lost a swimming scholarship. But when I transferred back to a school back in NYC, I got in to climbing becuase one of my Professors. Hopefully you'll be ready for it. I wasn't ready for college. Hell I didn't get serious till I joined the Corps. Then they paid for my Master's degree in education, which I am currently not using as I am a Mortgage Banker!!! Who knows where the road will lead you. Just be open to the opportunities that come. I'd wish you luck, but I don't believe in it.

Given that your only 14, in retrospect, I think the whole issue of where to go to school is really premature. Study hard, get good grades, climb hard over the summers, then when you're a junior and have an idea of where you'll get accepted then have this discussion.

University of California, Merced, right by Yosemite, one of the most famous places in the world.... El Capitan, need I say more? (I dont need to, but the Sierra Nevada is FULL of wicked granite and Basalt) How about Cornell... lots of rock in upstate New York..... U Arizona..... Pick a school with good academics, you can put up a wall in your garage if you are really no where near a gym....

CSU unless your a trustifarian

A not so obvious choice is University of Texas. Here's why:

-Good bouldering, free water soloing, and limestone sport in and around town.

-Hueco Tanks is only 8 hours away for spring break.

-Austin is an awesome city.

-and UT is a good school.

rafael wrote: How about Cornell... lots of rock in upstate New York.....

Colorado College

MSU Bozeman, Montana. climbing gym, tons of ice, some of the best ski areas in the US, some good rock, best alpine climbs 3 hours away, the list goes on.

Central Oregon community College/ OSU Cascades campus, Bend, Oregon
an REI to work at, Smith rocks, a good gym, super good bouldering, skiing, one of the best mt biking trail networks in the us and a good place to start mountaineering.

I agree with Fatdad, this is a bit premature.

But when it is time to start looking,

-find a school that will work for you. I hired some one once who had a perfect GPA from a top rated school in 5 fields (no joking). The person did very little for me. The next year I gave the same project to a woman from a mid-ranked school but she was driven and for her work over the summer she got a patent. Its not where you graduate from but what you do with it (unless its an MBA or a Law degree and then where you went does matter).

-if you are serious about classes AND climbing, find somewhere that the climbing is within 5-30 minutes. If you are seriously studying, you will not want to spend 2 hours on the road driving somewhere.

-when you get there, make the most of your education. You'll be spending a shit load of money and 4 years of your life. Don't waste the opportunity, but also maintain perspective.

Somebody mentioned Plymouth State University in NH. I go there now and went to high school in the same town, so I figure I'll give it a proper run down.
Climbing:
-15 minutes to Rumney. What more to say, 2 hrs between classes? go take a burn on your project
- 1:15 to North Conway: land of incredible trad climbs with stunning variety.
- 25 minutes to Franconia Notch and Cannon Cliff= climb 1,000' of granite after class
- 1 hr to Pawtuckawy for those pebble pinchers, and bouldering at rumney too.
Ice/Alpine:
- Cannon is some of the most bad ass alpine stuff in the east: 25 minutes
- Crawford notch. Alpine/ Water ice: one of the more renowned ice festivals and destinations in the country.
- Tons of ice cragging with in 30 minutes of campus
- Mt Washington = 1.5 hrs. Bad ass BC skiing, alpine climbing and mountaineering
Other:
- 30 minutes from the White Mountain National forest for trail running/ hiking
- Best road biking in the state
- Really good mountain biking
- Lots of resort and Back country skiing
Weekends:
- 2 hrs to Boston
- 3 hrs to Burlington
- 5 hrs to Adriondacks, Gunks and Acadia

Best of all is that Plymouth is still a small community oriented town. The climbing communities in Plymouth and North Conway may be small, but are as stoked and motivated as just about anywhere. Once you're here for a little while finding partners should not be a problem, nor should overcrowding if you know your way around.