Seeking your opinion on climbing towns

Ian C wrote: Well, that depends. Are you into trad climbing, sport climbing, or bouldering?

The southeast is pretty broad. Are you including Lexington? Where do you draw the line?

I'd look at towns like Asheville, Knoxville (not very blue), Chattanooga, Roanoke, or Lynchburg. Anything along the Appalachia range.

Search for jobs first... compromise on the rest. You need money to live and it opens up so many more options when you have the funds to travel and take road trips. Just my opinion. Good luck!

As someone from Lynchburg, There isn't much climbing anywhere near here or Roanoke. The New River Gorge is about 4 hours away and Seneca Rocks is 3. 

That being said... It has a low cost of living with a vibrant and growing progressive population. The downtown is exploding. But so is Jerry Falwell's conservative Liberty University.

I'd suggest either going south to Asheville or north to Charlottesville. Both are larger college towns with better access to good schools, more people, more ideas, and most importantly, more climbing. 

Noelle Rizzardi wrote:

I love Burlington! The winters are a little long for my liking but I guess the skiing would make up for it.  From what I could find, they only offer remote workers $10,000 to move there.  Unfortunately I don't have a remote worker career.

I have a remote work career. Where can I find details about this program?

If you’re willing to commute 40+ minutes, housing outside Asheville can be as cheap as anywhere in the country. We have a 2100 sq foot 3/2 home in great condition 55 minutes from Asheville that we bought 5 years ago for $95k. Our mortgage payment with taxes and insurance is $545 a month.

I realize that it's not the SE, but albuquerque is worth a thought. There are Northrop Grumman/Lockheed/intel/Sandia labs for the engineer, and the US Forest Service is headquartered there. The climbing opportunities are good for sport, trad and bouldering, while the cost of living is extremely cheap. The state and city are solid blue, and the culinary and entertainment options aren't bad.  On the downside, the economy is depressed, it is a particularly ugly city, and the crime is high.

David K wrote:

I have a remote work career. Where can I find details about this program?

https://www.thinkvermont.com/remote-worker-grant-program/ 

Noelle Rizzardi wrote:

I love Burlington! The winters are a little long for my liking but I guess the skiing would make up for it.  From what I could find, they only offer remote workers $10,000 to move there.  Unfortunately I don't have a remote worker career.

I just moved the Burlington, as an entry level mechanical engineer. There's a few firms here that provide good opportunities. The winter is a perk if you like skiing, ice climbing, or those other winter sports. Petra Cliffs is moving to a bigger, better facility too, within a year I think, too

Oak Ridge, TN (right outside Knoxville.) Smaller town but not your regular "southern small town." I grew up there and it's a pretty interesting place. It home to the oak ridge national lab which brings in a large amount of individuals with Phd's and master degrees. You definitely could land a job at the lab with a mechanical engineering degree and I think they have wildlife biologist positions as well?

It's 45 minutes from The Obed, 1.5 hours from all the Chattanooga climbing, and 2.5-3 hours from the red river gorge. Also its in a really pretty area of Tennessee. 

Just spent a week around Chattanooga and Asheville. Chattanooga rocks. Progressive and surrounded by excellent mountain sports. 

Matthew Strader wrote: Oak Ridge, TN (right outside Knoxville.) Smaller town but not your regular "southern small town." I grew up there and it's a pretty interesting place. It home to the oak ridge national lab which brings in a large amount of individuals with Phd's and master degrees. You definitely could land a job at the lab with a mechanical engineering degree and I think they have wildlife biologist positions as well?

It's 45 minutes from The Obed, 1.5 hours from all the Chattanooga climbing, and 2.5-3 hours from the red river gorge. Also its in a really pretty area of Tennessee. 

There are a lot of engineers in Oak Ridge and a lot of wildlife research going on in the area. It’s also home to a National Park. Manhattan Project NHP.