Moving: Portland, Reno, or Seattle?

Tapawingo Markey wrote:

I get what you're saying but you could just as easily say "but then again, if you move to Portland, then you live in Portland." 

traffic aside, I'd rather live in Portland than Reno

Menna Mourad wrote:

traffic aside, I'd rather live in Portland than Reno

It definitely fits your sense of chauvinism.

Portland local here.

Reno pretty obviously has the closest and driest rock, and a lot of it.

Between Portland and Seattle: Portland has several hundred routes within a 45 minute drive (150 routes at ozone and farside/drop zone, 100 at beacon, over 100 at broughon, around 75 at madrone, 30 or 40 at carver and i'm not even counting rocky butte, viento, rat cave, the mt. hood/hwy 26 crags like hunchback and the swine/DQ). Most are single pitch basalt or andesite where you need to lead 5-9 trad or 5-10 sport to fully enjoy them. Not a lot of 5-8 and under on basalt. Beacon Rock is mainly multipitch trad and is under an hour and curiously under-climbed. I've climbed here since 2001 and it's easy to climb mid-week if you lave work at  2 or 3. In summer it stays light until 9 or 10 (take that, Reno). I also climb outside every month. there are walls at most crags that stay dry due to aspect, overhangs, trees, etc if you just hike out there and see what's dry.

Meanwhile, Seattle has way better access to granite - which counts a lot IF you climb trad and love granite.  But it has much less climbing within a true one hour drive, and insane traffic which makes it hard to get to crags during the week.

In short i think Portland has the most extremely close by climbing of any west coast city over a million. Is it great? not always. But it's all fairly decent, and accessible, and there's a lot of it. Now that I have 3 kids and way less time, that really matters. I can spend just 4-5 hours door-to-door and climb several pitches on a weekday morning or after work. Or you can do that in Reno. But not in Seattle.

bryans wrote: Portland local here.

Portland has several hundred routes within a 45 minute drive..   In short i think Portland has the most extremely close by climbing of any west coast city over a million....

LOLZ.

The obvious answer, as Billcoe sagely noted is, #1 - Reno, and fighting for DFL would be Seattle and Portland.  I live in Seattle and my wife's parents lived in Portland for a long time.  Seattle is good in the summer time, other than the horrendous traffic.  It's about 4 hours to Squamish and the North Cascades are pretty sweet.  However, you will spend the other 9 to 9-1/2 months trying to keep from blowing your brains out.  As in, literally - you better hope your health insurance covers a lot of co-pays in the psych ward.  It's awful.   Portland isn't even that good of a climbing destination in the summer to be honest with you.  The winters aren't really any better than Seattle's.  It's not really that close to Smith.  Not super far, but not super close either.  The climbing within 45 minutes of Portland is pretty limited in quality and quantity.  You will need to set your bar low.  Really low.

slim wrote:

LOLZ.

The obvious answer, as Billcoe sagely noted is, #1 - Reno, and fighting for DFL would be Seattle and Portland.  I live in Seattle and my wife's parents lived in Portland for a long time.  Seattle is good in the summer time, other than the horrendous traffic.  It's about 4 hours to Squamish and the North Cascades are pretty sweet.  However, you will spend the other 9 to 9-1/2 months trying to keep from blowing your brains out.  As in, literally - you better hope your health insurance covers a lot of co-pays in the psych ward.  It's awful.   Portland isn't even that good of a climbing destination in the summer to be honest with you.  The winters aren't really any better than Seattle's.  It's not really that close to Smith.  Not super far, but not super close either.  The climbing within 45 minutes of Portland is pretty limited in quality and quantity.  You will need to set your bar low.  Really low.

Yeah that one made me chuckle. Best climbing town of over a million, with several hundred routes, and you can duck under overhangs and trees to climb in damp conditions year round! 

The dark grey gloominess is something to seriously think about. You may not even realize at the moment how it will affect you. For years it didn't get to me, then one winter I just went fucking crazy. There will be days that you wake up and you're not even sure it is day out it is so dark. You'll have to turn all the lights on in your house to see during the day It's so gloomy and depressing. Most people that live there will tell you it's not that bad, and in some ways they are right because you just get used to it, I guess. I love the PNW and the Cascades, but the weather sucks. It's better to live somewhere else and visit in the summer, IMO. 

Thanks everyone for the great discussion and information. Of course the definition of "good climbing within a reasonable distance" is of course highly subjective, so this is providing a lot of data points to help me get a good idea of what's out there and how it fits my thinking.

I'm pretty used to driving 3, even 4 hours for good climbing. If that expands the space for Portland to beat Seattle a bit, then that's a major consideration.

i would think it would expand the space for seattle to beat portland, not vice versa.  it would be a very big difference in seattle's favor.  but that being said, i would take reno any day of the week over seattle or portland.

i always suggest Tallahassee as  great location.  

Fair point A.M. Staying in Fresno is disadvantageous for non-climbing related reasons. But you're right. Finding a next-best place is going to be tough! Especially since Portland beats Reno for my personal considerations other than climbing...very complicated decision.

I don't have experience living in Seattle or Reno but the worst part about being a climber in Portland is constantly driving over Mt. Hood to get to Smith or Trout - it gets tiring. Local crags are good/ok enough so that you don't need to drive there every weekend, however during the winter months Smith is about the only option. All in all I think it's a pretty good place to live as a climber.

This is a no brainer, you will be fine at any of these places if your wife is happy. If not ...

take it from me, your wife won't be happy in seattle....

I just moved from Monterey,CA to Portland, 6 months ago. I had killer beach weather, and a 3 hour drive to The Valley.

The weather is depressing, but if your work schedule isn’t strict you can get some climbing in here and there. I was honestly suprised at how good the climbing at Broughtons is if you can climb 5.11+ on bolts. In fall i made several trips up to Index and Lev which i found nearly as fun as fun as Yosemite. Smith and Trout aren’t all that far, but really really cold.

My advice if you choose Portland, find a winter activity. I ski, climb indoors, and do partner acrobatics. 

Definitely can't climb 11+ on bolts -- I am starting to push into the low 10s on bolts, not really comfortable above 5.7 on gear. Secondary interests are mountain biking and snowboarding, and have been looking to get into snowshoeing, so that could be cool.

This is a really tough decision for me, I need to make it by Friday as well. My wife is equally torn. The job opportunity (for me) is slightly better in Portland, but tough to tell some of the subtleties (like culture, people I'd be working with) based on relatively short visits for interviews. Seems like opportunities for my wife are relatively even. We had a great Christmas in Red Rock climbing and that made me want to cash it all in on climbing opportunities.

Personally, I think if the job and culture appeal to you then you should go and keep your mind open to other ways of enjoying being outdoors outside of climbing. For me, if I'm not happy with my job/overarching culture of a city it doesn't necessarily matter how much climbing is nearby since unfortunately I spend much more time in the office than climbing. If there's an area around Portland with a trail system, try to live near it, and take up trail running or just using it to walk the dog could be your go to activity to just move outside for a bit. The PNW is beautiful you could do a lot worse than having the coast somewhat close by as well as Mt. Hood for snowsports/mtbing. Also, a change of scenery now doesn't necessarily mean it's permanent.

Reno often has what I call “Nevaditude” amongst the populace but for your activities you’ll be doing great. Living near Lake Tahoe for beach fun, ski resorts, great MTB, and awesome local climbing. But people generally plug what they know, there are more factors than a couple activities.

Colonel Mustard wrote: Reno often has what I call “Nevaditude” amongst the populace but for your activities you’ll be doing great. Living near Lake Tahoe for beach fun, ski resorts, great MTB, and awesome local climbing. But people generally plug what they know, there are more factors than a couple activities.

I've been here 18 months and haven't heard that term yet. Love it.

Anywhere is better than Fresno, Modesto, or Bakersfield.

Tapawingo Markey wrote: For me, if I'm not happy with my job/overarching culture of a city it doesn't necessarily matter how much climbing is nearby since unfortunately I spend much more time in the office than climbing. 

I think this is good life advice. For example, I tried living in Vegas for a short while. While the climbing was amazing, I found the city kind of soul-sucking, and didn’t much like where I was working. I eventually found a better job in Seattle, and moved there. I like the city and culture more here, and while the climbing access isn’t as good, it is adequate.

 It can definitely be worth sacrificing some climbing access to improve your overall lifestyle. There is a balance, though. A place needs to be doable as a climber. I wouldn’t move to a place like Chicago for any job, no matter how good. The climbing access for both Portland and Seattle isn’t amazing, but it is adequate enough to be satisfied as a climber. At least for me; YMMV.

Tapawingo Markey wrote:

I've been here 18 months and haven't heard that term yet. Love it.

As far as I know, I coined the phrase. In the words of a Hawaiian Demi-god: You’re welcome! And thank you!