Good colleges for skiing, climbing, and mountain town atmosphere

Im trying to find a good school with a wrestling team in the rockies. Im headed south from AK, so im a wee bit spoiled as far as biking, ice, and skiing go, so im trying to find a good fit. Im looking at Gunnison, Golden, Laramie, Boise, Tempe, Palo alto, grand junction and alamosa. Any tips or info would be super dope. THanks!

Consider Missoula or Bozeman. Both are stellar

Got a good list there. I'd also add Durango to the list.

Gunnison dude. Golden is cool, but not the mountains by any means. And coming from the boonies up north, the traffic up to the skiing from the front range will crush your soul. I like the area around Alamosa, a lot, but you don't want to live there, no f'in way. Grand Junction is cool enough, but pretty hickish still, and it's a ways to decent skiing, like all the way to Aspen... not an easy drive these days from what I hear.

My god, Laramie? Hell no, that town is the hole to end all holes. I drove through there once and left addicted to meth with a Hep-A infection - I didn't even get out of the car!

Seriously though Missoula is pretty Awesome. I think Fort Collins is the bees knees, but I wouldn't really call it a mountain town.

Durango is awesome and so is the fort

Dave Bn wrote:My god, Laramie? Hell no, that town is the hole to end all holes. I drove through there once and left addicted to meth with a Hep-A infection - I didn't even get out of the car! Seriously though Missoula is pretty Awesome. I think Fort Collins is the bees knees, but I wouldn't really call it a mountain town.

I must be going to the wrong bars. Now Rock Springs, that's a whole other story.

missoula is full of liberal queers (just kidding, but that's the stereotype)

In all seriousness, UM is undergoing a big shakedown after it was revealed that the U was covering up and not investigating many rape allegations against several members of the football team and student body. All incoming freshman now have to take a rape education course. Wonderful!

Bozeman has great skiing and world class ice climbing, there's maybe 2 weeks where the temps are too cold to rock climb, but the ice hasn't come in yet, otherwise you can truly climb year round. Ski hills aren't too crowded and there are quite a few AK kids. If you like the outdoors Bozeman is hard to beat! Only downside is the male to female ratio, it ain't favorable.

Dunno about a wrestling team, but we got a rodeo team! wrestle some bulls.

Montana, where the men are men, and the sheep are afraid!

Montana is full, try South Dakota.

What is your order of importance?

Quality of wrestling team?
Quality of academics?
Quality of skiing?
Quality of climbing?
Quality of atmosphere?

Because the answer of where to go will be different for every different top priority. If you can get into Stanford and can afford to go there, then fuck all the other stuff..the quality and rep of the education will be more than worth any minor tradeoffs of living in Palo Alto..and you'll be a weekender in Yosemite in fall spring, with plenty of decent skiiing in winter.

Durango (and to a lesser extent, Junction) would be killer for all things considered, the Creek, Ouray, the Black, Rifle, good skiing, killer mtn biking...but the quality of education won't be up to par (depends on your major, but regardless, Ft Lewis and Mesa St aren't exactly academic powerhouses). Same with Bozeman or Missoula.

I'm working on my own research project in a lab as a sophomore at MSU. Yeah, Stanford might be "better", but you wouldn't be working in a lab right off the bat. Don't get caught up in the "rating" of a school, if you hate the atmosphere it doesn't matter how prestigious the institution may be.

I thought about Northern AZ, but everyone there is from Phoenix, Phoenix fucking sucks.

Keenan Waeschle wrote:I'm working on my own research project in a lab as a sophomore at MSU. Yeah, Stanford might be "better", but you wouldn't be working in a lab right off the bat. Don't get caught up in the "rating" of a school, if you hate the atmosphere it doesn't matter how prestigious the institution may be. I thought about Northern AZ, but everyone there is from Phoenix, Phoenix fucking sucks.

Keenan has half a good point here. I did my undergrad at Montana Tech and my Master's at University of California, Berkeley. My Bachelor's that I got from MT was just about as good as anywhere else, I had almost unlimited access to my professors and my degree cost me $5,000. UCB's profs would never have the time to talk to students about stuff like Physics 101. My Master's from UCB was far better, however, than MT could ever provide. At that level, you benefit from having the top professors in your field in the entire world and you also benefit from the prestige of the institution. I say for your undergrad, pick the school that has good value and a good quality of life. Work hard and set yourself up for a Masters at a more prestigious institution.

BTW, Bozeman is the town I would be in if I were in your predicament. Although I will admit that Berkeley is a close second for me (despite not really being a mountain town).

jack s. wrote: Keenan has half a good point here. I did my undergrad at Montana Tech and my Master's at University of California, Berkeley. My Bachelor's that I got from MT was just about as good as anywhere else, I had almost unlimited access to my professors and my degree cost me $5,000. UCB's profs would never have the time to talk to students about stuff like Physics 101. My Master's from UCB was far better, however, than MT could ever provide. At that level, you benefit from having the top professors in your field in the entire world and you also benefit from the prestige of the institution. I say for your undergrad, pick the school that has good value and a good quality of life. Work hard and set yourself up for a Masters at a more prestigious institution. BTW, Bozeman is the town I would be in if I were in your predicament. Although I will admit that Berkeley is a close second for me (despite not really being a mountain town).

The professor that runs the lab I work in got his Phd from UC Berkeley.

Keenan is right dont go to nau and climb Sedona sandstone when it is too cold for forks, pit, peaks, iso, winslow wall, the draw, jacks, the waterfall, and the overlook...with easy access to creek and red rocks for endless road tripping....

Unless you prefer to climb on rocks. Then you might consider it.....

I'll add another vote for Durango, dang I wish I still lived there, climber/skier/mtn bikers paradise!

not cu

colorado springs or boulder for sure hands down... grand junction is like suicide in a cup... nothing to do 500 miles west and just about the same east except vail and stuff which is about 3 hours away... boulder is epic and colorado springs is epic

Addison wrote:not cu

Yeah I'd kinda second that. Nice campus, decent education and close proximity to climbing but it doesn't have the mountain town atmosphere whatsoever.

The stereotypes of most of the students that attend CU are pretty spot on. But if getting face down wasted with rich kids from New Jersey is your idea of a good time, come on down.

Good colleges... in the rockies... don't think they have any of those.

Gunnison is lookin reaaallllly good, i wish bozeman had a wrestling team, half of AK goes there. Does anyone know anything about boise state?

Gunnison is awesome, as is the Crested Butte.