Best College for climbing

Patrick Hardy wrote: +1 for Colorado College. The school uses a "block plan" that is amazing for climbing: Most classes go 9-12, so you can grab a partner at lunch, climb, then get your work done in the evening. Every month there is a 4.5 day "block break" that most climbers will use for climbing trips. Hundreds (thousands?) of crags are within a days drive and Colorado Springs has a dry, sunny climate that's ideal for climbing most the school year.

I continue t work there primarily for this reason. I don’t think I could ever go back to a normal schedule.

I'd add that you shouldn't go into a bunch of debt to go to a college like CU Boulder. If you can do it without going into debt, go for it. Otherwise go somewhere cheaper. Play the long game. I'm in a bunch of student loan debt and without my debt I'd probably be dirtbagging around right now getting tons of climbing in, but instead I'm typing this from my desk job. 

Cesar Cardenas wrote: The University of California schools are considered to be part of the "Public Ivies" -- meaning they are as good as the private Ivy League Schools except they are FREE. If you are seriously thinking about getting the best education you can get AND have access to good weather and climbing year round...California and its UC schools should be on your list--where you go is up to you.

I think it is challenging to say the UCs are free but they are certainly a good deal.*

*Spray: I have four degrees from two UCs...one signed by the Arnold!

I'd throw in UCLA or anything in LA- not far from Bishop, closer to Vegas than in Nor Cal, if you boulder throw in Black Mountain, Tramway, maybe even J Tree.

UC Davis would be my pick in Nor Cal. Super close to Tahoe, about the same distance to the Valley as the Bay (with traffic), head down 50/88/395 to Bishop every now and again.

University of Washington or UBC are good if you wanna be close to Squamish, Index, Gold Bar, all that stuff.

University of Arizona is slightly underrated. Mt. Lemmon has good climbing for more of the year than you might think. Not close to much else tho.

Pick your major(s) first then narrow down from a long list. It shouldn't be that hard to find a place near some good climbing.

I surfed this page bitd. Am now going to Western Washington University. There are some sandstone boulders more or less on campus and the school is 90 minutes from Index and Squamish. Not too shabby. 

The UC's are all great. I would note UC Riverside is also a good school for proximity to climbing. Joshua tree, bishop. Tahquitz, and other spots in the SB mountains in summer. Local climbs at Mt. Rubidoux, Riverside Quarry (when it's open). Plus decent gyms in the vicinity. Southern Sierras good for trips too. Red Rock is also closer than other spots in SoCal.

Bonus -- if you're a skiier, Big bear, mountain high, and Baldy are not far (all only worth it if the snow is good). Mammoth is ~4.5 hours away.

Academically, make sure it's in line with your career goals. you won't be recruiting to Goldman Sachs from there, but it is not as hard to get a 4.0 at UCR as it is at Berkeley, and that will go far when applying to med school/law school/etc.

If ur the try hard type, Dartmouth is a great school with proximity to climbing, apparently. AND they have their own ski mountain.

WA and CO i'm sure have lots of options as well. 

If you go to schools in NYC or slightly upstate, the gunks is a reasonable drive as well. Boston too, apparently has okay climbing in the vicinity.

Ease of making day trips to decent climbing outside has definitely been part of the calculus for me when planning where i want to go to grad school, so i am definitely following this thread.

Central Florida Tech

Redyns wrote: Central Florida Tech

Definitely not the best school around but Eastern Kentucky University is the cheapest state school in Kentucky. You can get a pretty good undergrad for a very reasonable price. It's located in Richmond, about 20 minutes south of Lexington.  It's not in the best town but it's only 45 minutes from the Red River Gorge and a very affordable place to live.  They're opening a new recreational facility spring 2020 and will have a brand new climbing gym (walltopia walls, lead climbing, bouldering).

I am about to graduate from EKU and it's been a fun time. I can go to the Red 2-3 times a week, which is pretty sweet. I think the climbing community here will see some growth with the opening of the new gym on campus. 

If you can deal with bitterly cold winters, University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point is a wonderful school for anything in the natural resource disciplines with some pretty good graduate programs as well. Theres a really tight climbing community with the students and locals. Im 30 minutes from Hillbilly Hollow and Necedah and an hour and a half from Devils Lake. Also, Silver Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan isn't too far. People are pretty much always psyched to go climb and when the weather is good you can get out 3-4 times per week. Also, theres a lot of good beer here in Wisconsin.

Patrick Hardy wrote: +1 for Colorado College. The school uses a "block plan" that is amazing for climbing: Most classes go 9-12, so you can grab a partner at lunch, climb, then get your work done in the evening. Every month there is a 4.5 day "block break" that most climbers will use for climbing trips. Hundreds (thousands?) of crags are within a days drive and Colorado Springs has a dry, sunny climate that's ideal for climbing most the school year.

Amen Pat. The community at CC provided an unreal amount of support and experience for me to learn from. Though everything you mentioned played a huge role, I think having a massive partner base in a smaller setting allowed for easier networking and for me that was my main reason for continuing to learn and enjoy the sport. Edit, these old revived threads are fun!