Top 10 Best Climbing States
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Jon Moen wrote: And those sorts of drive times are what Californians do regularly to get to their "home" crags in their own state.hmmmm. I'm pretty sure I don't drive 4 or more hours to get to my home crags. Its not a half an hour either, but 1.5-3.5 gets most folks to incredible amounts of great rock. |
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Now that the Riverside Quarry is fully developed, SoCal folks have great sport climbing within 1 hour. An hour more and you have Tahquitz. An hour more and you have Joshua Tree. I spent three years climbing in Josh and now that I've left cali I tend to agree that the rock quality there is slightly overrated, but it is still an incredible place and has a unique feel unlike anywhere else. |
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Spri wrote: By "Easy" do you mean the 7 hour drive to Colorado, the 5 hour drive to Lander, or the 12 hour drive across the great basin to get to CA? Yeah, it borders other good states, but the drives are not for the faint of heart... or for those without 3+ days off in a row.Yes, that is actually what I mean by "easy." Salt Lake to Yosemite, for example, is much easier than Denver to Yosemite. Or Salt Lake to Seattle vs. Los Angeles to Seattle. And yeah, obviously we're not talking about day trips here. |
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Tristan Higbee wrote: Yes, that is actually what I mean by "easy." Salt Lake to Yosemite, for example, is much easier than Denver to Yosemite. Or Salt Lake to Seattle vs. Los Angeles to Seattle. And yeah, obviously we're not talking about day trips here.Hmm, dont get it. I think it shows your prevelance to the West. Someone from Denver would say they are closer to the Red, or NRG, or Seneca, or the Gunks. I think we just rate things differently. I still rate Utah in the top 3, I just dont think it contends with Cali. Tomato, tomatoe. |
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Christian "crisco" Burrell wrote:You need to explore more...again, only the most excited FAers are getting out there and finding the stuff.Well if you are talking about unclimbed stuff, you'll have to admit that Alaska has the most. :D |
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Without reading the thread, I know it's been said. I'll say it anyway - California, without a doubt (on my part). |
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final count from 3 days of responses: |
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fossana wrote:final count from 3 days of responses:outside of the top 3 thats a joke......^^^^^ |
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Dave Cummings wrote:Grand Junction is a great for being right in the middle of it all!I lived in Grand Junction for 9 months. Another one of those towns that has way more stuff than most would imagine. Plus the mountain biking is pretty darn good there! |
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WTF? No one has mentioned North Dakota here? What a cheezy-azz review. |
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I'm surprised Oregon isn't ranked higher on peoples lists. Smith Rock and Trout Creek are both world class! |
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Lucas79 wrote:I'm surprised Oregon isn't ranked higher on peoples lists. Smith Rock and Trout Creek are both world class!I have never climbed at either but I believe it. Though, it takes a lot more than two great crags to make a whole state great. |
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Evan Sanders wrote: Tennessee Wall which is definitely comparable to the Red (one is mainly sport and one is mainly trad, but they're still comparable as national climbing areas)...Ummm... I was wondering which of those two places you've never climbed at... because it must be one or the other. I like both, and I climbed at both for 5 years, but they are certainly not comparable. |
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"Tennessee Wall which is definitely comparable to the Red (one is mainly sport and one is mainly trad, but they're still comparable as national climbing areas)..." |
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While most of Smith Rock is volcanic tuff....the lower gorge at Smith is columnar basalt. Same with Trout Creek....columnar basalt splitters. There are a bunch of good crags, as well as, alpine/ice climbing opportunities on and near Mt Hood.(See photo below of Illumination Rock near the top of Mt Hood) There are also several notable bouldering areas littered throughout the state. Not worthy of a top 5 spot probably....but top 10 worthy for sure. Here goes.... |
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It is quite cragger-centric here... to see that Alaska is gettin' no love whatsoever, isn't it? |
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Tony B wrote:It is quite cragger-centric here... to see that Alaska is gettin' no love whatsoever, isn't it?This has been an interesting discussion so far. The thing with AK I should think is that its great for big stuff but totally lacking everything else. Not to mention the near total darkness for half the year. Even if there aren't any full on cave sport area's I think CA gets the top billing for everything else it has to offer. CO is a certainly a close second but unless you are all in for snow and ice winters get to be slim pickings I should think. Whereas CA has something for everyone year round. After that there are a lot of close ones but IMO they are almost all west of the big muddy. Though the NE no one state but the region has a lot but again full on winter sets in. No doubt the SE has a lot of great craging but no real elevation for mountaineering. |
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Here is a bit of a numbers look at it, with the assumption the MP.com is the be-all end-all of climbing routes (i.e. if it's not on here, it doesn't exist) :) |
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@Cory - population certainly influences these metrics. Population most likely can be directly correlated with how many routes are posted. For an example, see Alaska versus Cali. This influences how popular the area is in a metric such as "Top Ten Most Routes". Then, the "Top 10 routes per Capita" should be weighted towards the lower-capita side to account for fewer people getting a hard on about posting routes (yes I'm bored too) |