Advice on crags and potentially moving

Hi everyone 

i am looking for advice on crags near Denver. I like to sport and trad climb. I’ve been doing trad for 1 season and am not looking to get into anything too hairy but was looking for crag suggestions since I may take an impromptu trip out in a week. 

Also I am looking into moving out there from cincinnati Ohio where my home crag is red river gorge. Looking for advice on cities neighborhoods that won’t break the bank, and general advice. I’m a physical therapist and plan on doing a contract so I’ll more than likely be able to have a job before I even start packing to leave.

any advice from the Climbing community would be much appreciated. 

Move to Utah or Idaho, our state is full and has become way over priced. Climbing is good but no better than our neighboring states, however if your schedule is limited to climbing on the weekends than good luck. Climbing is the new skiing and all the cool kids are doing it. Traffic is shit, even on the weekends, so getting from home to the crag sucks, then there is the traffic at the crags themselves...  This is probably the 100th thread on this same topic that has been posted within the last year. search for those "moving to Denver"... I'm a local and I am looking to get the fuck outta Denver, as it has changed for the worse. 

Well I guess then if that your general attitude it is time for a move for u then...

just looking for some friendly advice not someone’s venting process on why they don’t like their hometown anymore. 

Eldo has the wildest moderates around but the depproaches / people can detract from that. I'd check out the South Platte area, getting out there is pretty easy from Colorado Springs or Denver. LOTS of options where you feel way out there or need endless projects. Granite Cracks, sport climbs, steep jugs, death slabs, cool towers, endless domes, etc... Climbable all year round once you get a lay of the land; which is something the more popular crags of BoCan/Eldo/Lumpy lack.

I lived in Colorado my whole life and just jumped over the range to Utah. But if you are set on paying all your money to rent or a mortgage Colorado is still great ;) that is a joke you can make it work. Move to Golden. If you don't have a significant other perfect you wont find one here and you will have endless amounts of climbing possibilities, another joke. Clear creek has really fun sport. Great bolted multi pitches as well. Eldo is close and has crowds and great for bringing out the rack.Rocky mountain national parking lot has all the alpine you need. Flatirons for scrambling and some history. South Platte is close which is well over looked and tons of fun. in the winter you can run down, not literately you would have to drive, to shelf  (I really miss shelf)  and clip bolts all day long in a t-shirt while others sit in traffic to go skiing. 

There is some sarcasm in this don't be too offended. 

Definitely don't move to Utah. Way too many mormons and pollution, youll hate it. Besides, the mountains are garbage here. Move to Crowdorado with the rest of the midwest and clog up their cool shiz : )

grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:

Definitely don't move to Utah. Way too many mormons and pollution, youll hate it. Besides, the mountains are garbage here. Move to Crowdorado with the rest of the midwest and clog up their cool shiz : )

Greg is right, Colorado is much better than Utah.

Agreed! All the blue ski runs and 2 star crags you can handle! Plus you can enjoy them with the other 5.5 million people in the state! At the same time!

And don't forget about Aspen! Coolest place in the world??

Kevin Kelley wrote:

Hi everyone 

i am looking for advice on crags near Denver. I like to sport and trad climb. I’ve been doing trad for 1 season and am not looking to get into anything too hairy but was looking for crag suggestions since I may take an impromptu trip out in a week. 

Also I am looking into moving out there from cincinnati Ohio where my home crag is red river gorge. Looking for advice on cities neighborhoods that won’t break the bank, and general advice. I’m a physical therapist and plan on doing a contract so I’ll more than likely be able to have a job before I even start packing to leave.

any advice from the Climbing community would be much appreciated. 

In terms of neighborhoods that wont break the bank -- the city of Denver just bought a strip club on colfax that they are converting to affordable housing.  Thats probably your only bet for somewhere that wont break the bank. 

Listen to Grog and try Salt Lake City instead.

grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:

Agreed! All the blue ski runs and 2 star crags you can handle! Plus you can enjoy them with the other 5.5 million people in the state! At the same time!

And don't forget about Aspen! Coolest place in the world??

Damn you're just on the ball today. Aspen is definitely up there, bit of a housing problem but I have four ski hills to choose from, climbing from Indy Pass to Rifle right in my backyard, a huge handful of super awesome amazing people to hang out with... I can't find much to complain about other than Lance Armstrong spends some time here and that's a fucking nuisance, but that's about it.

Do you have a job lined up? If so, then move close to the job. If not, you'll go broke paying rent until you find a job. Don't be so sure that the physical therapist market isn't saturated.

jason.cre wrote:

Listen to Grog and try Salt Lake City instead.

Not what I said!! Go to Crowdorado

Just like the Asspenite said, all the ski HILLS you can every ski. Colorado climbing is all about which 2 star crag do you live closest to so you don't have to climb with 150 other people from the midwest. 

I do acknowledge shelf and eldorado as pretty fucking sweet. 

grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:

Not what I said!! Go to Crowdorado

Just like the Asspenite said, all the ski HILLS you can every ski. Colorado climbing is all about which 2 star crag do you live closest to so you don't have to climb with 150 other people from the midwest. 

I do acknowledge shelf and eldorado as pretty fucking sweet. 

Nope, you don't get to backpedal. Either Colorado is fucking rad (it is) or it isn't and everyone should move to Salt Lake City, and convert to wearing short sleeved dress shirts.

Okay Crowdorado is rad, you should go there : ) 10 bucks says Marcus is from out of state. 

grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:

Okay Crowdorado is rad, you should go there : ) 10 bucks says Marcus is from out of state. 

Of course I am, most of us are. I'm from entirely out of country. Even people with "Native" stickers usually bought them before they got here.

I'm not debating there are some over crowded areas, but I live here because it's one of the coolest places I've lived and I've been around the block like a dirty SL, UT.

Grog is right though, you'll feel like cattle at the resort and not have your first pick at crags if you can't ski lifts with only black and double black and climb in the 5.12 range. I climb in 5.11 range and it's not enough to avoid waiting for some routes to open. If I didn't have family to help with kids and if SLC had better tech then I'd probably be out there instead.

physnchips wrote:

Grog is right though, you'll feel like cattle at the resort and not have your first pick at crags if you can't ski lifts with only black and double black and climb in the 5.12 range. I climb in 5.11 range and it's not enough to avoid waiting for some routes to open. If I didn't have family to help with kids and if SLC had better tech then I'd probably move out there instead.

Alas, Vail is our red-headed stepchild.

physnchips wrote:

... and if SLC had better tech then I'd probably be out there instead.

Huh? SLC and environs is a tech hub. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/2017/04/03/silicon-slopes-vs-silicon-valley-four-tech-unicorns-thousands-of-startups-no-frenzy/#f1d9743922f4

Kevin Kelley wrote:

Hi everyone 

i am looking for advice on crags near Denver. I like to sport and trad climb. I’ve been doing trad for 1 season and am not looking to get into anything too hairy but was looking for crag suggestions since I may take an impromptu trip out in a week. 

Also I am looking into moving out there from cincinnati Ohio where my home crag is red river gorge. Looking for advice on cities neighborhoods that won’t break the bank, and general advice. I’m a physical therapist and plan on doing a contract so I’ll more than likely be able to have a job before I even start packing to leave.

any advice from the Climbing community would be much appreciated. 

My GF has her doctorates in PT and is working travel gigs. We just had this discussion how moving to boulder/denver area would be a 50% cut in her pay and 2x the rent. There's way better places to live and climb and no traffic either. 

If your looking at denver and dont want to break the bank I suggest playing lottery if your a PT. Or you can take the 60 grand a year paycheck and scape by with an efficiency, while barely making those student loan interest payments and eating ramen nuuders. (stretched a bit I know)

Dude, take a fucking travel position. Are you on drugs? 

http://www.westword.com/news/least-expensive-denver-neighborhoods-for-rent-fall-2017-9625907 

I spend a lot of my time climbing in the front range in the South Platte area, which is really never too crowded. And I really can't say for sure as I live up in the mountains when I'm in state, but it seems like Castle Rock is a decent sized and priced city to live in that is very close to S.Platte, while also being pretty close to climbing near Boulder and Colorado Springs.  My main climbing partner in CO lives in Sedalia which is a very small town maybe 10-15 mins from Castle Rock and right in the foothills. I love visiting him there, and the 15 minute drive to Devil's Head is pretty great.