Is Philly a climber's city?

Haha this thread is awesome! But just for the record I am already from Philly .. Just started climbing after I left the city at 19 years old. I know of the surrounding areas as well due to my folks still living there.

The question that still looms is ... Are there a lot of climbers in the city or surrounding areas? Or is it lacking the because the distance to good climbing is too far?

A good point was brought up - 'loving climbing so much a few hour drive isn't a big deal'. I would say that is common amongst our people but to start loving would be difficult without good areas or a big badasss sport/boulder gym.

Chris Blanchard wrote:Haha this thread is awesome! But just for the record I am already from Philly .. Just started climbing after I left the city at 19 years old. I know of the surrounding areas as well due to my folks still living there. The question that still looms is ... Are there a lot of climbers in the city or surrounding areas? Or is it lacking the because the distance to good climbing is too far? A good point was brought up - 'loving climbing so much a few hour drive isn't a big deal'. I would say that is common amongst our people but to start loving would be difficult without good areas or a big badasss sport/boulder gym.

Well, I was a huge outdoor person in Philly, I'd drive to Maine every year. Climbing wasn't even on my radar then because no one did it. Maybe after 11 years it has changed.

I spent a year in Rochester New York for a post doctorate and tried the Dacks and Gunks and maybe it was just me at that point but after climbing out west they all seemed kind of not worth the drive. The backpacking and fishing are good in the NE and there is great whitewater and climbing farther south but for climbing its a bit of a let down even with big drives.

Where I live now its a given that I drive 2-5 hours for climbing and canyoneering but the destinations make the drive worth it.

Merlin wrote: I won't agree with tolerable but I'll plus 100 WAWA, my wife agrees with RItas. Its darn hard to beat a made to order hoagie at 3 AM with fresh milk and coffee. I wonder how many Philly transplants there are? I moved to Boulder for seven years, so did the guy in the office next to me. He's a huge Philly Eagles fan and doesn't share my views but then again we both live in western Colorado (Junction to be precise) these days. :) My favorite area back there was Ricketts Glen and I guess Temple University was very good to me. The two things I miss most about Philly are the driving and the really good food. Drive really fast to really good food. Out here, drive really slow to really mediocre food.

Haha I graduated from Temple :)

Kelly P wrote: Haha I graduated from Temple :)

Looking back on it, I loved Temple. I have a psychology, math, and physics degree from there. The students were no nonsense and the campus was beautiful. I loved the annual grackle migration over the garden.

It might be before your time but we used to have a crazy travelling preacher guy who would call the students fornicators and whores and scream at them. I remember when this guy started screaming in the face of a 6 foot + black muslim that allah was a false prophet. The guy knocked him a few feet back and about 100 students started clapping. After that the cops showed up when this guy came on campus. He was one hell of a performer.

I might bash Philly but it had its upsides, Temple was one of them, it was a school that gave anyone the opportunity to get ahead if they wanted to.

Too funny, I remember that crazy preacher guy from temple. Dude with short blond hair, right?

I live in Philly and its not a climbers town, but if you open your horizons you can keep busy and stay in good form. I can basically find climbing in some form to suit my needs. Relatively good access to ice hasn't been mentioned.

As much as I would dream about living in some climbing Mecca, Philly has good access to many many things, and good jobs in my industry. Looks like I am staying for now.

craghead wrote: There is nothing in Philly!

you're wrong son.
if i took the time, i could list 20-30 TR/Sport routes on rock, up to 5.13 and probably close to 200 boulder problems up to V12, in the 191XX zip code. that's just IN philly. we're not even touching montgomery/buck/chester/delaware counties.... add in another 2000 boulder problems?

with that said, no, Philly isn't Boulder.

No,

It is just as much of a climber city as any city with good climbing within a 3-6 hour drive. That would be like moving to LA to climb Yosemite, Dallas to climb Hueco, Etc.

While there is lots of chossy bolted routes and some sketchy underpar Trad routes within a 1-1.5 hour drive. Philly is not a happening "outdoor" town. I like the city more than NYC and the people aren't stuck up on how the city is the mecca of the US (unless you talk sports teams).
It just doesn't have destination spots nor does it have great weather.