Seattle Area beta--
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Hey everybody, |
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-How rainy is it? |
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The rain is not that bad! I grew up in Pittsburgh and found the weather less rainy and more pleasant. No snow or bitter cold. |
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Rain? |
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Hahaha Eric I lived in the east side, its so funny how different it is from the downtown area! |
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Dan I'm pretty sure he means the eastside of the state, not Bellevue/Kirkland. |
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Ashort wrote:Dan I'm pretty sure he means the eastside of the state, not Bellevue/Kirkland.You are correct! |
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Dan Cooksey wrote:I failed to mention to the OP that nothing beats Squamish in the summer!!!!!What about Index? |
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The worst part about the Seattle area that you might miss coming from New England is the ice season. I.e. there might not be one. Maybe that isn't an issue for you, though; and it's only 5 hours to Lillooet.... Eric K wrote:IPA diversityIf you call a million copies of the same Northwest-style IPA "diversity", then yeah. Vermont has better IPAs/APAs at and above 7%/70 IBU, but the sessionable IPAs out here are good. |
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Todd Anderson wrote: If you call a million copies of the same Northwest-style IPA "diversity", then yeah. Vermont has better IPAs/APAs at and above 7%/70 IBU, but the sessionable IPAs out here are good.First statement is uninformed Second statement is most likely false |
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I'm from PNW but live in New England now. Outdoor sports including rock climbing in PNW crush New England, not really that close...unless you only like ice climbing |
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Ashort wrote:Dan I'm pretty sure he means the eastside of the state, not Bellevue/Kirkland.Hahahahaha whoops. Still bellevue and east things get weird. |
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I came here from flagstaff were I could climb in near perfect conditions something stupid like 280 days a year. While I for sure miss it there the pnw is awesome. In two hours I can surf, ski, do every manner of quality climbing from big wall to pebble wrestling, fish, and be on a glacier. I have never lived anywhere with those kinds of possibilities so that has been cool. It rains a bunch in the winter but that is when I surf and ski so it is not too big of a deal. The quality of climbing here is exceptional, and our summers are pretty hard to beat. Biggest downside I have is the lack of a real fall. Sometime in October it starts to rain and then rains pretty steady through november. That being said last year I rock climbed outside at least once every month of the year so if you are flexible you can still get out. I can't imagine it being worse than new england. In fact I would be real surprised if it is not better as far as conditions go. |
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Leavenworth could be good in the winter depending on your willingness to drive two hours the night before and sweep off everything you want to boulder. Gold bar usually gets pretty good winter days in jan-feb |
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Vantage is a winter option, in the desert rainshadow. I've been on sunshine wall when there was fresh snow on the ground in the morning and it was damn near 70 by the afternoon in January. It's quite a haul over the mountains though. |
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I moved here after years living in Reno (and points international)--Reno's light traffic, unlimited sunny days, easy access to crags and skiing, and small population meant it was easy to find uncrowded crags...so take that for what it it... |
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chrisccc wrote:there are two resorts in the vicinity of the Seattle area. Snoqualmie is about 40 minutes away, and Steven's Pass is about 90 minutes away.You're forgetting the best one! Crystal has some phenomenal skiing, and it's only about 10-15 minutes further than Stevens, usually with less of a traffic disaster. And the backcountry skiing is some of the best in the country. Since you can start skinning up basically from the highway rather than up some closed forest road, I was often skiing the good stuff more quickly in Seattle than Bozeman. I live in Boston now. I am literally counting down the days until I can move back to the Pacific Northwest for multiple reasons, with outdoor recreation at the top of my list. I might not choose Seattle. If I had to go to a major city, I'd look closely at Portland. Smaller cities on my list would be Wenatchee, Bellingham, Ellensburg, Hood River, and of course Bend if you can make that work. For what it's worth, with a 2-3 hour drive I think you have significantly more climbable days per year in Seattle than in New England (not counting ice). It simply doesn't rain at all from mid-June through early September. In 2012, we went 110 days without precipitation. In the winter, you can drive to desert crags, and if it's raining out there, the skiing is pretty much guaranteed to be good--and not New England good, actually good. Best of luck with the move. Get the hell out of New England, you won't regret it. Edit: not to mention, you can drive to the REAL desert in a long day (~14 hours to bishop, ~18 to J tree). Yeah, it's a long drive, but I did it 3 winters in a row and it was without a doubt worth it. |
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Dan Cooksey wrote:Skiing and snowboarding is up and down. This winter it dumped, the year before there was almost no snow.Two winters ago was rough, but that was the lowest snowpack in a century. 20 years of skiing/riding in the Northwest and I've never experienced anything remotely close to the winter of 2014-15. Last winter was more like average. |
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not to mention when the skiing is terrible like that the climbing is great. I was climbing in a t-shirt in February in leavenworth with no snow on the ground. |
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Thanks for all the great info. Look like I'll have to re-read through all the responses but the general gist I'm getting is that the rain isn't any worse than New England but the backcountry skiing(most years) and alpine climbing is fantastic. And if the rain gets too much just head east for the weekend. Plus on top of it Whistler(also a big biker) and Squamish is right there. |
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the bouldering is fantastic too. some of the best i have done in the country. New guidebook just came out for the west side so it is now easier to find all those hidden granite eggs in the forest |