Top 10 Best US Large Cities For Climbing

Kevin Worrallwrote:

I’m happy with that, Thanks!

And I’ll happily go toe to toe with anyone who still thinks LA is better!

I am curious about Sacramento’s place in line, though. Bakersfield is same distance to Yosemite, it’s closer to Josh and all those scrappy desert crags, closer to Domelands, A Hills, Whitney, The Needles and Dome Rock, Kern River Canyon, Sequioa/Kings, Shuteye, and Courtright.

Plus it’s closer to San Diego!

I will say San Diego has the best weather on average of all on the list. Sacramento and Bakersfield score pretty low on the weather meter.

Bakersfield? seriously? and climbing in san diego in the summers is no bueno. Why is no one talking about vegas on here?

Deven Lewiswrote:

Please how many MTV music awards does merel haggard have 0

Grammys 0

4 grammys.  38 number one hits.  Kennedy Center honors.  Etc etc etc.

You just keep drinkin' that free Bubble Up, and eatin' that rainbow stew.

Gbk you ignorant slut, 

You can climb all summer in San Diego, you just have to time it right with afternoon shade and cooler days. Fall, Winter, Spring are wide open.

Vegas is great, but lots of what Vegas offers is butt cold in winter.

Re: Travis H: still here and editing list based on comments. Initial concept for list is that once a city is big-enough, they are then judged based on climbing. So LA doesn't get extra points for being bigger than Vegas; both are big-enough to have a reasonable supply of urban amenities. However, if you have a concept for an alternate ranking bringing in other attributes, that would be interesting. Post it up.

Re: ABQ. Added it back to the list.

Re Vegas: it's #1 on the ranking. We actually haven't had any notable discussion on the relative ranking of the top 4 (Vegas, SLC, Denver, Tucson). Thoughts?

Re San Diego vs Sac: It's a tradeoff of proximity to quality. San Diego definitely has better climbing options within an hour, but I'd argue that Sac has much better climbing within the 2 hour radius. For multipitch trad, what within 2 hours of SD compared to Calaveras Dome or Lovers Leap? Tahquitz doesn't measure up IMO (and I used to live in Idy). For hard steep sport, what does SD have to match Jailhouse?  For bouldering, can options near SD compare to the vast amount of quality granite in Tahoe, or the variety of also having limestone, basalt, sandstone, rhyolite, schist, and serpentine boulders all within 2 hours? For summer conditions, what does SD have to compare to climbing in the Sierra at 8,000+ ft at Kirkwood?

Also, given the 1 hour approaches to a lot of the best quality roped climbing cited for SD, is it really even that close once you factor in drive + hike time?

San Diego also lacks reasonable weekend access to true 5-star destination climbing. Sac is 3.5 hours to Yosemite. SD has J-Tree, but, meh, J-Tree. That's my bias though  If you really like J-Tree, SoCal is more appealing.

In short, SD does has lots of decent local climbing for after work, but falls short in weekend access to great destination climbing. In Sac you're in the gym during the week but have reasonably easy weekend access to some of the best climbing. Which is better? Is convenient access to Woodson really better than weekend access to the northern Sierra?

Deven Lewiswrote:

Helped create a new genre of metal. 

Don't you mean a nu genre?

Kevin Worrallwrote:

Gbk you ignorant slut, 

You can climb all summer in San Diego, you just have to time it right with afternoon shade and cooler days. Fall, Winter, Spring are wide open.

Vegas is great, but lots of what Vegas offers is butt cold in winter.

Are you slut shaming me? Its 2021 Kevin..... Didn't you know slut and kink shaming are frowned upon?

JCMwrote:

Re Vegas: it's #1 on the ranking. We actually haven't had any notable discussion on the relative ranking of the top 4 (Vegas, SLC, Denver, Tucson). Thoughts?

You can’t argue with these as top 4. 

Kevin Worrallwrote:

Gbk you ignorant slut, 

You can climb all summer in San Diego, you just have to time it right with afternoon shade and cooler days. Fall, Winter, Spring are wide open.

Vegas is great, but lots of what Vegas offers is butt cold in winter.

Agreed, after work climbing in SD is on par with the Wasatch in IMO. The goods are in the shade no later than 3 an usually you get a cool ocean breeze.

JCM; as far as MISC criteria...I know its silly, but having lived in both SLC and SD....it is pretty cool to climb 5.10 fingers at Woodson at 9 am and be in the Pacific by noon. What are you gonna do in Vegas? Go gamble? SLC...go to church?

Travis Haussenerwrote:

Agreed, after work climbing in SD is on par with the Wasatch in IMO. The goods are in the shade no later than 3 an usually you get a cool ocean breeze.

JCM; as far as MISC criteria...I know its silly, but having lived in both SLC and SD....it is pretty cool to climb 5.10 fingers at Woodson at 9 am and be in the Pacific by noon. What are you gonna do in Vegas? Go gamble? SLC...go to church?

Hike, trail run, MTB, ski...I don’t know, go climbing?

Travis Haussenerwrote:

What are you gonna do in Vegas? Go gamble? SLC...go to church?

Apparently you've never been to SLC.

Brian in SLCwrote:

4 grammys.  38 number one hits.  Kennedy Center honors.  Etc etc etc.

You just keep drinkin' that free Bubble Up, and eatin' that rainbow stew.

Brian I never said I didn’t like Mr haggard. He just doesn’t embody Bakersfield CA like Korn does I’m not sure if you’ve heard their music before. Here is one of their best. It aint no pancho and lefty but pretty good.

Hahah yes fritz I meant NU.

JCMwrote:

Re Vegas: it's #1 on the ranking. We actually haven't had any notable discussion on the relative ranking of the top 4 (Vegas, SLC, Denver, Tucson). Thoughts?

Okay, I'll bite: having lived for nine years in the Denver metro area and ten years in Tucson, I'd put Tucson ahead of Denver (I'm breaking a promise here I made to myself a couple years ago to stop spraying about Tucson, but whatever). The access and quantity of climbing is similar, depending, of course, on where you live in each area. The climbing is probably higher-quality in the Front Range, though I think that's debatable. However, the advantages of Tucson are that, if you're a weekend warrior, you can climb almost any weekend of the year - there is always shade or sun to chase, and the weather is almost always stable. It makes it really easy to climb year-round and to plan and just not worry about it. And if, say, you're injured or out of commission for a while (or just extra busy with work) you don't have to worry about cutting into "climbing season" because any time of year is equally climbing season (this is partially so because, IMO, the best climbing on Mt. Lemmon is at the top and is feasible in the summer). The other factor in favor of Tucson of course is the relative lack of crowding in the Tucson area.

I'll admit that the Denver area probably wins if you have the flexibility to climb any day of the week, or if you're a 5.14 climber. Also, if you can't live without access to a large number of crack climbs, you'll suffer in Tucson, although there are superb cracks within easy weekend distance (Paradise Forks, the Waterfall). I'm pretty into crack climbing and still loved the Tucson climbing with the occasional trip north, and it was fun ferreting out the few hidden crack gems in the Tucson area. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Apparently you've never been to SLC.

Marc being a little facetious...I lived in SLC for 11 years, probably climbed Bongeater hundreds of times and ran up W Grandeur at least 400. I'm not saying those things aren't an option and yes I do miss those "mountain benefits". But IMO this thread has matured to where we should include other extraneous factors besides athletic endeavors; in which case I think So Cal blows other cities out of the water pun slightly intended. 

“For multipitch trad, what within 2 hours of SD compared to Calaveras Dome or Lovers Leap?”

For multi pitch, Eagle Peak, @250 pitches, Corte Madera, maybe 150  pitches, El Cajon Mtn, @300 pitches, those 3 with routes up to 500’, some of them “trad”, averaging 300’. I don’t see multi pitch trad as being high priority for the majority of climbers. Quality rock and bomber bolts seem to be popular currently, and SD has both on multi pitch.

Additionally, there are two major areas, currently with @ 100 pitches each, and currently on a need to know basis. As I’ve mentioned SD climbing is in its infancy.

“Tahquitz doesn't measure up IMO (and I used to live in Idy).”

I dunno, Tahquitz has a shitload of good trad routes in a beautiful setting. It is generally low angle, but the stone is excellent.

“For hard steep sport, what does SD have to match Jailhouse?”

There is no match for Jailhouse, but Jailhouse is not for your average climber. San Diego’s best sport climbing, with around 100 pitches has a 100 yd wide wall with 40 80 -100’ overhanging pitches on the best granite you can imagine, plus shaded walls with insanely good vertical stuff with lots of roofs, all in a top notch setting  Access is tricky, location mostly secret, at this point, but it is on BLM land. There are also some steep sport routes, vertical anyway, at Valley of the Moon for Josh lovers.

The Big Three crags mentioned above all have lots of steep sport climbs, some overhanging stuff, and there are numerous small crags with vertical and slightly overhanging stuff. 

“For bouldering, can options near SD compare to the vast amount of quality granite in Tahoe, or the variety of also having limestone, basalt, sandstone, rhyolite, schist, and serpentine boulders all within 2 hours?”

Rainbow Boulders are superb, and possibly will become public, Woodson has boatloads of problems with development continuing, Culp Valley and Jasper, dozens of desert clusters, plus staggering potential beyond that awaiting trails. Boulder Basin, and the tramway boulders is 2 1/2 hrs - not much different than Sacto to Tahoe. Granted, it is all granite, and I’d say the bouldering is better than Tahoe, from what I’ve seen, which isn’t a lot. The Hatchett brothers would have a valid opinion - they live in Tahoe and are owners of the Rainbow Boulders property.

“For summer conditions, what does SD have to compare to climbing in the Sierra at 8,000+ ft at Kirkwood?”

Nothing. But how is that stuff from December thru March?

“Also, given the 1 hour approaches to a lot of the best quality roped climbing cited for SD, is it really even that close once you factor in drive + hike time?”

It does require an effort to get to the good stuff. Corte - one hour plus hike, ECM 1 1/2 to 2 hrs, but it’s close to the city, EP 45 min. There is a major “secret” multi pitch area with a 20 min approach, lots of moderates up to 400’, top notch stone. The positive side of the hiking is the resulting wilderness experience.

“San Diego also lacks reasonable weekend access to true 5-star destination climbing. Sac is 3.5 hours to Yosemite. SD has J-Tree, but, meh, J-Tree. That's my bias though  If you really like J-Tree, SoCal is more appealing.”

Nothing compares to Yosemite, but Tahquitz and Suicide are pretty damn good, Corte Madera and Eagle Peak are on USFS land with no camping fees or restrictions, and no crowds. I think EP has potential to evolve into a minor destination area, but admittedly I’m biased - people occasionally do come from LA and Arizona to climb there. It’s better than Tahquitz or Josh where sport climbing is concerned, and it’s only been public for 10 yrs or so. Josh is an acquired taste, or lack thereof, depending. The Needles aren’t much farther from SD than Sacto, Lone Pine is equal from both. El GranTrono Blanco deserves mentioning again. Bottom line, I think SD offers effectively more climbing than Sacramento, particularly in wintertime.

“In short, SD does has lots of decent local climbing for after work, but falls short in weekend access to great destination climbing. In Sac you're in the gym during the week but have reasonably easy weekend access to some of the best climbing. Which is better? Is convenient access to Woodson really better than weekend access to the northern Sierra?”

See above. 

Having lived and climbed in both San Diego and Sacramento... I'd call them a tie. Summers are a little easier in Sac, winters a little easier in SD. I'm a little more biased towards trad (love Jtree, Idy, Woodson, HW50, not a big fan of grid-bolted type sport crags like Emeralds and Auburn). A little more driving is necessary in Sac to get to the goods though. Also don't think it's fair to use secret or private property areas when making a comparison. 

Korn sucks

No, Primus sucks. Korn just blows.

Now we are getting somewhere.

Dinah Washington is where it's at.

Why isn't Colorado Springs part of the discussion? It has a separate identity from Denver and is big enough (on par with SLC and Boise).

Kevin Worrallwrote:

“For multipitch trad, what within 2 hours of SD compared to Calaveras Dome or Lovers Leap?”

For multi pitch, Eagle Peak, @250 pitches, Corte Madera, maybe 150  pitches, El Cajon Mtn, @300 pitches, those 3 with routes up to 500’, some of them “trad”, averaging 300’. I don’t see multi pitch trad as being high priority for the majority of climbers. Quality rock and bomber bolts seem to be popular currently, and SD has both on multi pitch.

Additionally, are two major areas, currently with @ 100 pitches each, and currently on a need to know basis. As I’ve mentioned SD climbing is in its infancy.

“Tahquitz doesn't measure up IMO (and I used to live in Idy).”

I dunno, Tahquitz has a shitload of good trad routes in a beautiful setting. It is generally low angle, but the stone is excellent.

 

To compare eagle peak, ECM or corte madera to cal dome or the leap has to be a troll right?