Thinking of moving to Denver... how crowded are the mountains really?

Shay Subramanianwrote:

Yesterday we were the only party at Riviera (Boulder Canyon) in the afternoon which should be popular given it’s south facing and moderate.

What time were you there because I was at Riveria yesterday afternoon and there were ~5 parties climbing

Dan Dwrote:

What time were you there because I was at Riveria yesterday afternoon and there were ~5 parties climbing

I got there at 12:30, there was 1 party and another way far left, another showed up (thanks for letting me see your guidebook!) shortly after, then at some point yeah I think there were 4 or 5. However no one stayed very long and I would say by 3ish we were the only ones left until we left around 4:30/5.

I guess my initial post was misleading as it wasn’t empty all afternoon, but a decent chunk was and still never had to wait on a climb.

Probably said hi to you at some point, hope you had a good day!

Shay Subramanianwrote:

(thanks for letting me see your guidebook!) 

No problem!

Shay Subramanianwrote:

still never had to wait on a climb.

Yeah I think this is a good point: unless you're at the super busy crags and/or are looking to climb a very specific line, you'll likely be able to climb on the weekends in the fall. Summer can get crazy at some crags, but just show up a bit early or have alternative plans and you'll probably be fine.

Uhh, I mean go away, Colorado has too many people who live here or something.

Shay Subramanianwrote:

Playing devil’s advocate here, it’s not as bad as people are making it sound. I’m a Denver weekend warrior with an 8-4 and spring thru fall I have climbed 3x a week after work in Clear Creek. It’s dark after work in winter but you can gym climb in the evenings and do outdoors on weekends. There are sunny crags to climb at year round. Big mountain traffic is a non issue outside of ski season (which I don’t really do big mountains in winter anyway), just be ready to drive 1.5-4 hours to the trailhead on average. RMNP is accessible and empty in the winter though.

Can’t speak to buying a house but rent is fine in Denver if you keep an eye out. I paid $950 my first year here (2017) and have never paid more, even scored a room in Sunnyside for $450 for a year. Been averaging $700-$800 since.

Weekends are busy at the big crags but it’s easy to find a spot that’s not. Yesterday we were the only party at Riviera (Boulder Canyon) in the afternoon which should be popular given it’s south facing and moderate. Even at busy crags (Canal Zone) it’s rare to have to wait for more than 1 party to get off a climb as long as you just speak up and ask to go next. If you’re doing multipitch just wake up early. If you like being the only person at a crag you’re gonna have a bad time, but if you generally don’t mind being around other people and waiting every now and then to get on a climb you’ll be fine.

Denver probably isn’t the best place for any one type of climbing, but I think it’s one of the best cities if you like a little bit of everything and ease of access is important to you.

Yet another confused soul. This is what climbing in Denver looks like

Shay Subramanianwrote:

well I disagree lol

i mean, you can disagree all you want...but you're wrong. there are substantially MORE cars on I70 during the summer months than the winter. this trend is true for at least the past 5 years..

https://www.codot.gov/travel/eisenhower-tunnel/trafficcounts#collapseOne

curt86irocwrote:

i mean, you can disagree all you want...but you're wrong. there are substantially MORE cars on I70 during the summer months than the winter. this trend is true for at least the past 5 years..

I hate I 70 any month of the year, but in winter the traffic is less spread out, to sync with the chairlifts, and moves slower due to snow conditions.  Winter is way, way worse.  You will generally sit in traffic much longer during the same peak hours.

James Wwrote:

I hate I 70 any month of the year, but in winter the traffic is less spread out, to sync with the chairlifts, and moves slower due to snow conditions.  Winter is way, way worse.  You will generally sit in traffic much longer during the same peak hours.

that's true for peak hours, but if you average travel time data across an entire day, it's basically a wash (it just seems way worse in winter because the "spikes" in travel time are so high).

https://www.westword.com/news/the-best-and-worst-times-to-drive-into-the-mountains-on-i-70-from-denver-8920824

i drive i70 nearly every weekend of every season...and my subjective analysis aligns with my above statement, which brings me back to my original point. I70 sucks any weekend of the year.

One thing I’ve noticed about Colorado is widespread nativism among people whose mothers were located in Colorado when they gave birth. It’s damn near as bad as Vermont, where it’s repulsive—like, people going to Vermont to deliver their babies just so they can say they are Vermonters (although just because a cat crawls into an oven to deliver her litter doesn’t make her kittens into muffins, you know?).  I once dated a woman who was quite proud to let me know that she was a fifth-generation native, which I suppose meant mostly that her great-great grandparents were directly involved in swindling some earlier natives with red skin. People! We live in a federal republic where interstate travel and residence is permitted, and even that is just a story we tell about how we belong to a population of 8 billion worms trying to co-exist on a rock floating in space. Climate change or nuclear war is likely to whack us all, even if our obsession with non-nuclear widgets doesn’t destroy our quality of life first. Nativism is never attractive; welcome your fellow human being, use your birth control, worry less about circling your wagons, and spend more time sharing the love!

Matt Antoniowrote:

... , and spend more time sharing the love!

If anyone wants to share their trust fund with me I'd love to move back :)  Thanks in advance!

curt86irocwrote:

that's true for peak hours, but if you average travel time data across an entire day, it's basically a wash (it just seems way worse in winter because the "spikes" in travel time are so high).

People probably don’t care about the total daily volume of traffic on 70 so much as they care whether they are going to sit in traffic during the time that they are on the road.

Front range and ski towns - lots of people.

Western slope and San Juans- pretty chill and not many people. 

Travis Bieberwrote:

Fact, Colorado climbing is underwhelming. Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota have much better climbing. 

absolutely correct. and that judgement includes the tiny and underwhelming Black Canyon of the Gunnison. trivial.

Chad Millerwrote:

Front range and ski towns - lots of people.

Western slope and San Juans- pretty chill and not many people. 

Except in the summertime and all the trailheads look like walmart parking lots.

Kevinmurraywrote:

Except in the summertime and all the trailheads look like walmart parking lots.

Never experienced that in the last eight years. Then again I get to trailheads by 8am. 

Ice lake was going to try a shuttle from Silverton because of 300-600 people a day on the trail. Didn't because of a fire and trail closure for a year. Blue lake at the base of Sneffels is crowded at 7:30. Hope lake is the same way .Covid sent people that would have normally gone  to Disney World have come  here. When I moved here years ago you could still go camping in the summer but now I don't even try.. Now it was real quiet over here in 1976 when I lived in Ridgway.

I wear that name proudly as I have earned it. Just like the  wrinkles and bad joints.

Kevinmurraywrote:

 bad joints.

You live in Colorado, I'm pretty sure you can get good weed if you wanted