Where do you move?

Christopher Smaling wrote: Yeah how in the hell could you call donner meadiocre AND suggest Sacramento because of the climbing 2 hours away in Sonora?  Put down the pcp my guy

Any town without SOME climbing in a 30 minute radius shouldn’t be on this list.

There is SOME climbing near Sac.  Lake Berryessa has boulders (rofl), and Cosumnes is pretty close if you live in East Sac.  But I went to grad school at UC Davis and used to hit Jailhouse early morning for a few burns and still make class by 2pm.  And Donner is mediocre at best... I was a prof at UNR for years and it was my backyard crag... sorry.

This thread has turned into quite the gang war.

I approve.  Carry on.

Christopher Smaling wrote:

You live in Visalia bro.  Some parts of California are scum holes, others are some of the finest places to live in the world.

I’m trying to solve overcrowding.

Natimuk.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Natimuk+VIC+3409/@-36.7260592,141.8683944,12z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x6acef49dc74062cf:0x40579a430a0b200!8m2!3d-36.7458317!4d141.9352015

I really love Chattanooga, but comparing it's climbing to the Sierra Nevada is a little like saying Bishop's Country Music is comparable to Nashville.

revans90 wrote:

Lol Sonora?

Tuolumne county is one of the greatest places to live as a climber in California, point blank.  Can't think of another California town on the west side of the sierra I'd actually consider to have "good access" other than Oakhurst.  Literally all the central valley / coastal towns seem to have several hour commutes to climbing, absolutely unaffordable real estate, or both.

Mark Frumkin wrote: I really love Chattanooga, but comparing it's climbing to the Sierra Nevada is a little like saying Bishop's Country Music is comparable to Nashville.

In general I agree with you, but I think there is still some room for this to depend on preferences. For someone only interested in sport climbing and/or single pitch trad, I think that the options within an hour or so of Chattanooga are superior to Bishop. Or, for a boulderer who prefers slopers to sharp grainy crimping, again Chattanooga wins. And, ya' know, some people like having a big fancy climbing gym; Chattanooga has that and Bishop doesn't. These aren't neccesarily the metrics you or I care about, but some do. But, if multipitch and alpine terrain is even remotely of intererest, Bishop wins by orders of magnitude. Bishop also gets points for a longer season and better weather.

So, overall, Bishop has more to offer, climbing-wise. But not neccesary in every metric, or for every person. There's room for contention. Also, living in Bishop isn't for everyone (in terms of small remote town in the desert), and Chattanooga may require less compromise on some other aspects of life. Especially the work/finances angle. Getting that to line up (good work, reasonable cost of living) will be a lot easier for most working Joe types in Chatt than in Bishop.

If/when I become financially independent (or have some remote consulting setup) and able to live anywhere, I'd probably choose Bishop. It would for sure be one of the top 3 options (others are Lander WY and New Castle CO). But I don't see that happening for me within the next 10 years. Within the parameters of short-term reality, and balancing with other non-climbing life goals,  a place like Chattanooga is appealling and attainable. Moving to Bishop is more a longer-term dream. 

There are so many nice places on the westside. Sonora is one of the neally nice spots.

JCM I agree with most of what you are saying & really like the way you said it.
I could be wrong, but I really don't think you understand how much climbing there is here.
I have been to Tennessee It's not even fair to compare at all.
This is mountaineering country.
I live at 4200 ft. I'm on the floor of the deepest valley in the lower 48.
There are literally a 100+ miles of granite south of me & 50+ north.
It's 45+ miles of mountains across to Fresno. A big chunk of it above timberline. It's steep!!!  
The bouldering is everywhere.
The popular places aren't even the best.
& then there is the ORG.

Carl Schneider how you doing down there?
What's the climbing like?
Thanks for the input "Natimuk"

caughtinside wrote:

Highway 108 has some very fun summer climbing. 

Yes, as do Highways 4, 88, 50 and 20.   Hwy 108 is the quickest way into far N Yosemite, e.g. Tower Peak area, a greatly overlooked spot.

As for the foothills, yes Sonora, Groveland and Oakhurst are best positioned (Yosemite!) but there's a lot to be said for Downievelle, Nevada City, Auburn and Placerville, including access to Donner/Tahoe, the Sierra Buttes, and quicker to Lassen/Shasta.  You won't find a cooler foothill town than Nevada City IMO, though I might be biased from having lived there a while (KVMR = bestest radio station in the country).

On Bishop: what Mark said, but I will add that it's just one spot among many on one of the greatest drives in America, albeit a little bigger than most.  But drop me anywhere between Carson City and Lone Pine, and call it better than best.  If I have a choice in the matter I'll take Bridgeport.

^^^^^^^

Cpn Dunsel wrote:

I have lived:  Ny, Las Vegas, Miami, Madrid, Majorca, El Paso, 29 Palms, Bishop, Chattanooga, Sao Paolo, Paris, Key West,San Diego, Montreal, South NJ & Philadelphia.

Chattanooga has the most climbing days per year of all of those places if we stay in the USA; Majorca has even more climbable days.  

There is no way Chattanooga has more "good" climbable days than Bishop, that's nuts 

Nick Votto wrote:

There is no way Chattanooga has more "good" climbable days than Bishop, that's nuts 

It is out there, Bishop is a desert town with sun close to 300 days a year. Chatty is a southeastern rainforest.

As someone who's 30 and lived their whole life in Dallas Texas. It’s pretty funny someone would mentioned a hot chossy slippery limestone place like Reimers or a sharp chossy place like E-rock.

Location                 Annual days with precipitation           Average annual temperature
Chattanooga                   52                                                                      61
Bishop                                5                                                                      56
J Tree                                 5                                                                      65
Las Vegas                         4                                                                      69

Doubt if I'd get more climbing if I lived in Chattanooga.

Mark Frumkin wrote: There are so many nice places on the westside. Sonora is one of the neally nice spots.

Agreed, tons of nice spots on the west side. BUT how many of those nice spots are within 30 minutes of climbing? 

Tuolumne county summers are hot at low altitude, yeah.  Obviously, highway 108 spots are all within 1.5 hours AND lets not forget Tuolumne Meadows (2 hours away!)  Tuolumne Meadows (which is technically in Tuolumne County even though it's in YNP) is one of the finest summer cragging locations in the WORLD.  I actually work at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge in the summers - pretty sweet gig!  The other 9 months of the year, the weather in Sonora is between 50 and 70 degrees and mostly sunny.  Yeah, some people would consider Tuolumne county a cultural wasteland, but I would consider most suburban neighborhoods a cultural wasteland.  YMMV

Idaho Bob wrote: Location                 Annual days with precipitation           Average annual temperature
Chattanooga                   52                                                                      61
Bishop                                5                                                                      56
J Tree                                 5                                                                      65
Las Vegas                         4                                                                      69

Doubt if I'd get more climbing if I lived in Chattanooga.

That should be labelled annual inches of precipitation, not days with precipitation, fwiw. It rains about 29 days a year in Bishop and 120 days in Chattanooga. That's a 4x difference in days rather than a 10x difference, though that's still a big difference

Average annual temperature can be deceptive when referring to places with temps with relatively less seasonal and daily swing. Better would be somehow finding out how many days on average have high temps between 45ish and 80ish. aka temps most of us are willing to climb in

The all time record high for Grandfather Mountain in NC (Ship Rock) is 83. It's rarely above 75

Having ranted on this already, and being totally honest, I've lived here long enough that I'd move to the Sierra East Side or southwest of Tahoe in a second if I could

M Mobes wrote:

It is out there, Bishop is a desert town with sun close to 300 days a year. Chatty is a southeastern rainforest.

On average, there are 207 sunny days per year in Chattanooga.

What kind of job do you plan to get in Chattanooga? It's not exactly a booming metropolis.