Moving from Boulder-->NYC. How is the climbing scene?

I'm looking at moving from Boulder to NYC for a year or two. How is life as a climber living in NYC? I'm trying to moderate my expectations. Is the Gunks the main place to go (rock) climbing? What is the best gym to join? Thanks in advance for any information!

Scotty Nelson wrote:I'm looking at moving from Boulder to NYC for a year or two. How is life as a climber living in NYC? I'm trying to moderate my expectations. Is the Gunks the main place to go (rock) climbing? What is the best gym to join? Thanks in advance for any information!

It's OK. Yes, the Gunks is the closest destination area. There's some dumpy stuff closer, and a bit of bouldering in Central Park.

I think Brooklyn Boulders is the best gym, currently. It's more of a bouldering gym, as the name may suggest (the routes are just too short to be any good, 30-35 feet). A new place is opening soon in Long Island City, and might be a better choice.

The things that will suck compared to Boulder are the weather and the lack of decent, truly local climbing for after work. Give me a shout if you're looking for a partner when you come to town, mine keep moving out west.

The Gunks and the Daks are your best bet for outdoor climbing. Rumney is obviously great, but it is quite a ways away for the weekend unless the weather is stable for both days (driving 5+ hours for one day of climbing because it rained sucks).

There are better gyms than Brooklyn Boulders. Chelsea Piers is by far the best gym in NYC (46 foot lead wall), but you will need to shell out huge cash to climb there. There is also a gym in New Rochelle but I think that the route setting is pretty terrible unless you like dynos, no feet, and tendon injuries. I think probably the best option for indoor climbing when you take into account travel distance/gym fee/gym quality is the Cliffs of Valhalla. The setting at Valhalla is decent, the membership price is reasonable, and the travel time to get to the gym is not so bad (if you have a car). Don't be fooled though, none of the gyms compare to say Ironworks in Berkeley or the BRC in Boulder.

On the upside, if you climb ice during the winter, then the Daks are a reasonably close place to get some good sticks in. And if you are willing to drive a little bit, Willoughby has arguably the best ice in the lower 48.

Good luck man!!

Chelsea Piers:
chelseapiers.com/se/corpora…

Cliffs of Valhalla:
thecliffsclimbing.com/valha…

Gunks is the local outdoor scene. Rumney is also great for a 3 day weekend. Not too bad of a ride. As far as climbing gyms go I`d say The Rock Club in New Rochelle is your best bet. Its not too far from metro north train station. Brooklyn boulders is nice but its mainly bouldering, whereas TRC has more lead climbing and top roping with a decent bouldering area. A little further is The Cliffs, but that might be a little more of a haul for you from the city.

The Rock Club

There's white horse, cathedral , and cannon in North Conway just a bit farther than rumney.

Get ready to increase your travel time to anywhere! I grew up in Queens and left back in 2001 for Colorado Springs. Don't do it!!! LOL! JK there's some good stuff back east, but it's not going to be like walking out in your backyard to the Flatirons.

Used to take me almost 2 hours to get to the Gunks and that was leaving at 4 in the morning. Those were day trips. (Used to spend more time camping up off of the hairpin there before they built the visitors center.) Want some longer routes? > You'll have to head up to NH or the Daks. Oh and you might gain weight there as the food rocks! I always gain weight when I go back home.

All cool places and you'll run into cool people and some idiots as well. Have fun and don't act like a tourist. LOL

Lots of good climbing within 5-6 hours, I've made it to the Gunks from there in and hour and 15 but traffic can kill ya...what you gotta worry about is rent though! More roomates you find the better the price but still largely the most expensive real estate in the country. My cousin lives in a nice quaint 1 bedroom there, for $3200.

Still one of the greatest cities in the world though, something to do any hour on any day of the week.
Good luck

Nick Votto wrote:Still one of the greatest cities in the world though, something to do any hour on any day of the week. Good luck

Yeah except the stuff that most of the people on this site are interested in.... Great I can go see a play or go to a bar. I would rather live somewhere cool and enjoy the outdoors. And not pay $4000 a month for an apartment.

EricSchmidt wrote: Yeah except the stuff that most of the people on this site are interested in.... Great I can go see a play or go to a bar. I would rather live somewhere cool and enjoy the outdoors. And not pay $4000 a month for an apartment.

Macho Man EricSchmidt in NYC:

youtube.com/watch?v=cr0BljP…

The SchmidtHead has spoken!

CT may be worth a look as well...

CaptainMo wrote:CT may be worth a look as well...

pretty central to everything.

Gunks 2 hours
Rumney 3 hours
Daks 3-5 hours depending where
Catherdral, whitehorse, cannon, mt wash 3 and 1/2 hours.

Good climbing in CT for afterwork depending where you live. Soon to be a really good gym in glastonbury.

Only 1-2 hours from NYC or less depending where you live. 1-2 hours to boston. 1-2 hours to beaches in CT/MA/RI.

Good climbing in NJ I hear...

Another indoor option - The Cliffs in Queens opens in a month or so.
thecliffsclimbing.com/lic/

Dude is moving from Boulder to NYC so east-coast 'locals' are trying to convince him to move to CT instead because it is a great location for climbing. Only on MP.

wasnt trying to convince him of anything. and he only said he was loojking at moving. god forbid mentioning other areas in new england...

No one's mentioned Farley Ledge? No guidebook but great climbing, few crowds, and only 3.5 hours from NYC.

Scott, you're definitely heading in the wrong direction. I climb with several people from The City (yes, THE city, because their 0.10% of the world's population are the only .10% that matter - bitch!). None of them are super excited about their climbing lives, especially if you actually work a full time job and can only get out on the weekends.

The nearest climbing is probably the Gunks, and a few minutes more to CT (Gunks by most measurements is 'better'). You can certainly stay busy for a long time only climbing in New Paltz, there's certainly worse! If you climb hard you can get on the oddball routes during the busier days to avoid waiting to get on the more popular and/or easier climbs. Otherwise, if you're a 5.8 gumby like me expect to be spending a bit of time during the summer camping out at the base of the climb you want to get on.

Also be warned that much of the Gunks are sunny until mid afternoon in the summer, and it bakes on the walls. I don't even head down if temps are to get above 85F or there's sun and high humidity. You may not have a choice but to endure. I tend to do single pitch if its warm, then do the multipitch routes later in the day out of the sun.

The Adirondacks (4+ hour drive) are probably the nearest big wall crag with some nicer multipitch options. New Hampshire is even further with equally impressive stuff to get on. If you can get some 3-4 day weekends it might be worth it. In the summer it's easier to find a coolish place to climb, or at least cooler than the Gunks would be. Bugs are about the only drawback, so the Fall is usually the best time for the ADKs.

The weather as mentioned sucks unless you want to climb in the rain or on wet rock at least a couple times /month, then in the winter things can be too cold for months. If you do ice, the Catskills have good ice but they don't always come in. Two years ago there was a whole 2 weeks of ice in the Cats. This past year was decent. 3 years ago was stellar.

We make the most of the situation but it is not, by any standard, an ideal place to live for many outdoors sports. As a climber my attention is to figuring out how and when to move West.

Kevin Heckeler wrote: As a climber my attention is to figuring out how and when to move West.

that about sums it up. but we make do while we are here.

The new gym in LIC queens is going to be the best gym in nyc, if not the best in the northeast:

THE CLIFFS

If you can have a car in the city, you will always have a climbing partner because every single week I spend wed/thur/friday trying to find rides to the gunks for that weekend. Central park bouldering is shitty greasy mess pile that has broken glass and human urine on 90% of it, Poison ivy wall is bunk, birdsboro seems whack too, but the gunks are kind of heaven.

Kevin Heckeler wrote: We make the most of the situation but it is not, by any standard, an ideal place to live for many outdoors sports. As a climber my attention is to figuring out how and when to move West.

Could you complain a little bit more? Let me get my violin.

You're just over an hour to the gunks/catskills and two hours from keene valley. Sometimes you have to deal with weather too! Are you sure you even like the outdoors?

And to the OP, you don't need to wait in line at the gunks even if you climb mostly moderates like me. There are plenty of climbs no one lines up for, the gunks are often empty early and late in the day, and most PG moderates rarely have a line. Last weekend at peak hours I strolled right up to Baby, Drunkard's Delight, Pas De Duex, etc with no problem, and we had a good time meeting people lined up for the climbs nearby.

But if you have a shit attitude, I can guarantee you won't have fun or make friends.