Best climbing towns?

This one hasn't been mentioned and it's way off the radar but in my opinion a fine candidate. Las Cruces, NM. It's warmer and more laid back than the northern NM towns. Not much good climbing near town but some rock (bouldering and sport) to get you through the week until you can go to a number of places: Organ Mtns (trad and adventure)- 30 min, Hueco Tanks - 1hr., The Tunnel (sport climbing) - 1 hr., Cochise - 3 hr., Socorro - 2.5 hr, The Tower - 3.5 hr, and others. Also, there's good mountain biking, good food, brewery, a university, but only a very small art, music, city scene. The cost of living is pretty cheap. Not sure about the job market but I'd imagine it's not too bad.

clausti wrote: in other news, the form says "where are you from" not "where have ever lived your whole life and where did you grow up and learn to climb and seriously, after all the jokes upthread you still are pissed about the utah remark?"

Did you mean " Where have YOU ever lived your whole life? And where did you grow up and learn to climb? And seriously after all the jokes upthread, you still are pissed about the Utah remark?"
Who is pissed? You and camheadjob, are the ones trolling to see who you can reel in, what is the point of that? Oh, so you know, I was born in Canada, raised in Australia, attended school in Utah, and learned to climb all over, "the world is not enough" to travel and enjoy all of the climbing destinations out there! Try again, when you have a few years of experience with life.

Lander, WYO

Barstow, CA

O'ahu has great surfing... that's like climbing, right?

I'm suprised there havent been any votes for Las Vegas.

Red Rock is my single favorite climbing destination in the US, We climb year round at R.R. just gotta' know how to avoid the heat in summer. Mt Charelston and Mt Clark are 8000'+ world class limestone crags,1hr or so away, J tree 3hrs, St. George/Zion 2.5 hrs, Bishop 3.5 hrs, 2.5 hrs N. Big Rocks Wilderness,(thanks G.W.)boulderer's call it "Mecca", The list goes on and on...

If you are pre-disposed to stigmas and stereotypes it's ez to understand how Vegas gets passed upon threads like this one, but I've lived here 11 yrs. and can't think of a better "climbing town".

Kia Marie wrote:salt lake city is the bomb.com Yeah, mormon culture absolutely sucks, but as long as your circle of friends is filled with climbers, it's hardly and issue.

I'm not standing up for Mormons, just bagging on you, but ... why the hostility? Do you hate Jews or Buddhists? Muslims? I personally don't understand why people find it necessary to hate the culture that surrounds them.

What if your circle of friends is filled with climbing Mormons? What about rappelling Hindus?

Why on earth would you want to move?

Jeremy H wrote:I lived in Prescott AZ for a while and it was great for climbing. I also lived in Durango CO for years and it was a great place to live, 2 hours from the desert). Carbondale has a climbing community and is 1 hour from Rifle.

Rifle is only 15 minutes from Rifle Mountain Park.

Shawn Neal wrote:I'm suprised there havent been any votes for Las Vegas. Red Rock is my single favorite climbing destination in the US, We climb year round at R.R. just gotta' know how to avoid the heat in summer. Mt Charelston and Mt Clark are 8000'+ world class limestone crags,1hr or so away, J tree 3hrs, St. George/Zion 2.5 hrs, Bishop 3.5 hrs, 2.5 hrs N. Big Rocks Wilderness,(thanks G.W.)boulderer's call it "Mecca", The list goes on and on... If you are pre-disposed to stigmas and stereotypes it's ez to understand how Vegas gets passed upon threads like this one, but I've lived here 11 yrs. and can't think of a better "climbing town".

I agree with you Shawn. I lived there for 3-years in the late 90s and it was the best climbing stretch of my career. Climbed regularly throughout the winters and summers with perfect weather. Between the sandstone, limestone and easy access to St. George, Zion, Sierra Eastside, Vegas is the real deal and really is unsurpassed as a climbing town. It is interesting how it is seen as a roadtrip destination and not a place to live. With the jobs, unbelievably inexpensive housing and conveniences of a city, it really deserves more consideration. If I could find a job in my field there, I'd move there over Flag, Chat, Tucson and most definitely Boulder.

Tracy Ellingson wrote: Did you mean " Where have YOU ever lived your whole life? And where did you grow up and learn to climb? And seriously after all the jokes upthread, you still are pissed about the Utah remark?" Who is pissed? You and camheadjob, are the ones trolling to see who you can reel in, what is the point of that? Oh, so you know, I was born in Canada, raised in Australia, attended school in Utah, and learned to climb all over, "the world is not enough" to travel and enjoy all of the climbing destinations out there! Try again, when you have a few years of experience with life.

Silence, Athiest!

I agree with the earlier poster's qualifications about Odgen. I always considered it sort of Utah's own little New Jersey. While it is reasonably close to all the great rock around SLC, it is not the best place on the Wasatch Front to live.

I will mention my hometown of Logan, however. Reasonably good limestone sport about ten minutes from town. You only usually hear about Logan Canyon in reference to the über hard routes in China Cave, but there is TONS of really good vertical, techy stuff as well in the 5.11-12 range. SLC, City of Rocks, and a variety of Idaho Basalt climbing that is often good in the winter are all within reasonable day-trip distance. And, the mountain recreation as a whole is much less crowded than the SLC area.

Overall, it is a nice, mid-size college town. Drawbacks are that Logan is starting to have all the drawbacks of a larger city (ugly sprawl, bad traffic), but very few of the perks (nightlife is very weak). It definitely has some elements of the insular Mormon "happy valley"-type towns. And, jobs associated with the university there tend to pay terribly.

logan utah. its got it all within a 20 minute drive.

some crazy guy named casey hire is still around them aprts, from what i been hearing....you out there still, mate?

Ben Woods wrote:logan utah. its got it all within a 20 minute drive. some crazy guy named casey hire is still around them aprts, from what i been hearing....you out there still, mate?

Casey actually just came up in the recent LCC accident topic.

alisaandcasey.blogspot.com/…

DURANGO,for all of the reasons already mentioned, but also for all the new route potential.

camhead wrote: Casey actually just came up in the recent LCC accident topic. alisaandcasey.blogspot.com/…

Had no idea casey was involved in that one...gotta get back in touch with the old man.

Kia Marie wrote: I have nothing against mormons. i have some mormon friends and we get along great. but utah is a cultural wasteland. being a non mormon living in utah valley is kind of like having turrets during the salem witch trials. you always end up getting burned at the stake in some way or another.

real simple solution to any and all cultural problems when climbing in utah: more time climbing and less time getting cultured.

Ben Woods wrote:logan utah. its got it all within a 20 minute drive. some crazy guy named casey hire is still around them aprts, from what i been hearing....you out there still, mate?

Casey is here in SLC. Still kickin' ass.

Price wrote: Casey is here in SLC. Still kickin' ass.

him and blake were the guys who taught me everything to get me going in climbing back in logan...great days, them late 90's in logan

I recommend giving Reno, NV a good look. I learned to climb there while at the Univ of Nevada. There's a lot of good single- and multipitch day-climbing there on perfect granite (Donner Pass), sportier stuff around Lake Tahoe, and the classics of Lover's Leap are <2 hours away. There's some alpine west of Lake Tahoe...but if you always liked the Sierra batholith, Bishop and the Sierra eastside are a few hours south which offer the Lower 48's best alpine rock. If you're into exploration and FA's, the desert of central Nevada is totally undeveloped and full of opportunity.

There's tons of lift-served skiing around the lake, but the backcountry opportunities are excellent (<1 hour from town) and uncrowded.

Reno's climbing scene, such as it is, is small but energetic. People that climb in Reno like to get after it. The town itself, outside the casino district downtown, is relatively bike-accessible and affordable. There is a very active mountain-biking community; two excellent breweries; and a hilarious, campy, lounge scene. The town's economy is fairly diverse and job opportunities exist outside the usual gambling/hotel thing.

There are a few disadvantages...the climbing (except for a few minor local crags) requires the use of a car, and climbing season isn't year round unless you want to drive to Owens River. Yosemite isn't too far away--but the passes close in winter. But it's a pretty nice place to live overall, IMO much more livable than Vegas or the California west slope.

Pig Rock pretty good winter crag (AM) reno area. Iron Buttes. Plenty of obscure desert pebbles to wrestle, too...

Snowshed Wall, America's "11th best" crag (via an old Mountain Mag)