This is a thread to talk about how much you love or hate Boulder, CO. You need not know anything about it or have even been there to contribute.

Every time you find yourself wanting to talk about your love/hate of Boulder, please visit this thread and spew to your heart's content.

Maybe we can even keep the topic from coming up in every other thread on MP and keep the other legitimate subjects on topic?

Sarcastically,
Paul

Right on Paul, unfortunately nothing is gonna stop boulder bashing from finding it's way into every 3rd post on the proj, despite your best efforts. I've lived here for years. Don't love it, don't hate it. More like a crush at this point but I might be over it and moving on again...

No, No. Don't try and dumb down The Bubble's mystique, deserved or not it's reputation is the only thing it's really got.

+1!! Now I have a place to come and get all defensive!!! :O)

It's true. You are Boulder Advocate numero uno here...

I think there might be A LOT MORE sexy young female climbers frequenting The Spot, Movement, BRC, Eldo, Boulder Canyon, Flagstaff, etc... than the gyms or crags up here. So if climbing is really just a cover for an interest in flexible women (as it is for me), Boulder probably outranks Fort Fun. I'm dreaming about moving there someday. Would I have to shave my legs though?

Can a Californian comment?

O.k., I'll take that as a yes.

I've never been been to Boulder.

I'd like to go.

I hear good things about the sandstone and routes in Eldo. The routes at Lumpy look good.

I don't know anybody in Boulder.

It's not my intention to make friends in Boulder.

I think a good climbers' reality t.v. show could take place in Boulder. Kind of like the 'Real World'.

I like a good smoke, but IMO, a Video-Web-Cast on the topic of climbing is not the place for it.

I never give money to bums, whether it be Boulder, New York or L.A.

Someday...I'll make it to Boulder.

Cheers

Exerpt from today's daily camera.


Boulder named one of Kiplinger's 'best cities for the next decade'Camera Staff
Posted: 05/27/2010 11:09:51 AM MDT


Boulder has been named one of the "10 best cities for the next decade" by Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine.

The July edition puts Boulder 4th on the list, behind Austin, Texas, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

"Boulder is a wealthy, intellectual hot spot where environmental and scientific ideas blossom into business," according to the magazine. "Three economic drivers power Boulder: the University of Colorado, federal research laboratories and more than 6,600 small businesses and corporations, all woven into an entrepreneurial fabric. The city is also a mecca for those seeking healthy, active lifestyles."

The magazine selected the cities based on "out-of-the-box thinking."

"When governments, universities and business communities work together, the economic vitality is impressive," the editor's wrote.

Read more: Boulder named one of Kiplinger's 'best cities for the next decade' - Boulder Daily Camera www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_15173445#ixzz0pA3hc1zX

Okay.

Wasn't going to bring this up, because it's so odd...

My friend Ryan and I flew into Denver to see Ween play Red Rocks last year. We spent a few days prior to the show in Boulder, climbing in the Flatirons and Eldorado. It was awesome.

Our first day in town, we climbed the third flatiron by the classic 5.easy route then did Friday's Folly. As we started up the third, I realized I'd left all my slings at home. I called Neptune from the trail on the way back. They were awesome. They picked out five or seven slings for me and were totally ready to leave them outside for me if I didn't make it in before they closed.

I ended up making it, just before they closed. We were chatting about our plans for the following day in eldo with the staff and bemoaned the concern that there'd be big crowds on a beautiful weekend. The woman we were speaking to said not to worry; most people stayed away on busy weekends, as the "Mexicans" were taking over the canyon.

We nodded our heads "Oh, yeah....the Mexicans..." We've joked a dozen times about how silly that whole thing was. Boulder. I love it.

What was that all about?

Ode to Boulder

Trail-run Tantra might as well make sense
Where karma is confused with happenstance
There's a solar panel unit newly installed
Where prayer flags hang outside shopping malls
Masters degrees provide anemic speciality
For those with no practical world curiosity
Who think for them the bell will never toll
Worship the body, half-ass the soul
Like the job they work at the health food store
Stocking organics and green products galore
To soothe the conscience of a town rife with wealth
A material oasis arrogantly obsessed with health
These people you see,
They're better than thee
They've managed trust funds with a hawkish eye
And voted Democratic, they'll let you know why
With stickers on Land Rovers, Tacomas, or a Suby,
Roaming the land, celebrating the diversity
Of rich white people, over-educated and superfluous
To the frank human race, unspoiled and luminous
Infiltrating their ranks, to commune at picnics
While hypocrites mumble their Freudian slips

Boulder is like so lame because of all the hippies and wierdos, and the people from Boulder always invade my space at Shelf in the winter and make it smell like a mix of weed and b.o, and they always climb better than me. arrrrrg!!!

Boulder is great because it is super wealthy - but no one seems to work.

Examples:
Why is the gym packed at 2:30 on a Tuesday?
Why are the happy hours from 3 to 6?
Why is there a traffic jam (Boulder Traffic = more than 10 cars at the Starbucks)at 11am on Tuesday?

I once saved an off-leash dog from the ranger to return it to a really pleasant femi-nazi owner; hindsight, I should roped that little bastard up strung it off a flatiron, then made the call


If only it were a cat

If only

From an old climbing mag:

Ahhhhh Boulder. Where you can go to a coffee shop and order an organic bulgar wheat muffin and a decaf soy chai latte and talk about climbing grades JUST LOUD ENOUGH TO BE OVERHEARD....

Nice one Matt!

Boulder is a beautiful eclectic city surrounded by gorgeous scenery and filled with people full of passion. For a small city, Boulder has character and a rythm of its own. Oh and those Flatirons. I just can't get enough of them. So much to explore and climb. I'm up there at least once per week. If I had it my way, I would live there.

Probably situated in the best location for a town/city in the US, there is a lot to like about Boulder...

I'm with Legs, the Flatirons are my absolute favorite place to climb (albeit my selection has been pretty limited thus far).

The only problem I have with B town is the fact that it is home to CU. If CU wasn't in Boulder, I would live there in a heartbeat, but being a CSU alumni, I just can't bring myself to do it.

This is personally my favorite piece ever written about Boulder: bit.ly/de8GGl

A couple weeks back I was in CO visiting, specifically Fort Collins, since a job opportunity might have me moving there from here, Bay Area, CA. I spent about a half day in Boulder...the weather was kinda crappy and we didn't have much time so I just hit up the downtown area.

I didn't know quite what to think...there were more hipsters playing guitar and asking me for money, be it for themselves or for some eco-organization, than 'regular' people. The downtown area seemed like it wanted to be a "cute little town", but I couldn't take it seriously once I passed the Tesla Motors store selling $100k sports cars. Honestly, it reminded me about everything I hate in the Bay Area...wealth is no longer enough to make you stick out, so you have to find other ways of being 'unique'. Unfortunately, most people fail...they all drive the same import cars, they all wear the same expensive clothes, and they all sit around on their laptops at starbucks drinking drinks that have names long enough I can't even say in one breath. Sure, they may be healthy, but they still make sure you take notice as they do that hill climb on their $5k bike.

What I wrote above certainly applies to the Bay Area, and in my very short visit to Boulder I was getting the same impression. I grew up in a small town in Canada where people seemed to be more interested in other people than with themselves, and I do miss that environment a lot.

Boulder is still a place I would love to visit more in the future, especially outside the town, but I don't think I'd ever want to live there. Fort Collins seemed a lot more down to earth and 'normal'...I'm still thinking hard about whether or not to make the move.

Ahhhh, Boulder....

Where else can you ask a dreadhead "rasta" where the nearest dispensary is and get met with a blank stare?
Where else do "climbers" wear their approach shoes and climbing clothes to the Starbucks in the middle of the city? (and then spew loudly about climbing)
Where else can a street begger be better dressed than you?

Boulder is the epicenter of poseurism. Too bad because I really wanted to like the place. I even gave it several chances... over several years... still no redeeming value.

I travel around a quite a bit for climbing and always hear the same Boulder bashing schpele. Bottom line is that Boulder is sweet if you like to rock climb nearly full-time and still have a job nearby that can be considered a career.

In my experience the people that diss on Boulder the most either a) are butt hurt that they will never be that "strong" climber they try so hard to be or b) only know rock climbing and get butt hurt when someone with a life comes and sends their project or c) both.

Boulder is like anywhere else, its cool if you focus on what you like about it and avoid what you dont.