Concentrated Climbing in the US

Gearing up to graduate from grad school next Spring and I've been liesurely searching for the next town/city to call home that has access to awesome climbing. I know this topic has been talked about before, but I thought I'd start another thread since livability is always changing. 

What US towns/cities have the highest concentration of climbing AND a favorable job market, reasonable cost of living, and decent amenities (i.e. while a town like Moab has great climbing, any jobs outside of tourism are almost non-existent). 

I'm afraid the 9 to 5 grind will kill any motivation to drive an hour or more to climb after work, so I'm more interested in learning about what cities/towns have plenty of climbing within 30 min. Been in SE Wyo my whole life so it's time to branch out!

Kirby Despain wrote:

Appreciative for sharing such mind blowing idea

Seems like thread isn't for you. You can continue on with your day and ignore content which isn't interesting or relevant to you without being a total knob ya know. 

The Northeast (specifically New Hampshire Whites) has a lot of climbing, not sure about job climate, I think it depends on your industry but I live just a bit away and don’t mind the commute

Time to move from SE Wyoming all the way to the front range. Boulder, Golden, Eldorado Springs.

SLC and surrounding area would probably be pretty high up your rankings.

Las Vegas

Boulder

Rapid City South Dakota, and Grand Junction Colorado 

St George UT

Tucson AZ- (one of my favorite cities of all cities, even though I hate cities).  

Here's to new horizons. Best of luck 

Even without climbing, asking for a favorable job market, reasonable cost of living, and decent amenities is in and of itself asking a lot.

You also don't really specify what kind of climbing interests you the most, or what weather you like. And most importantly, what industry you're in. 

There are plenty of places with uber local crags too that may interest you. St George would tick a lot of those boxes for me - cool local crags but with weekend trips to Vegas, Moab, SLC, Phoenix. Still semi-good COL (though rising fast, as everywhere), good amenities (great outdoor theater if that's your thing!, cute historic district, great hiking/canyoneering outside of climbing), and city enough to have a job market. Can get hot in the summer, but pretty easy to get to Cedar City that's much cooler. 

Others to consider, though may be higher COL:  Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Chattanooga, New Hampshire, Tahoe, Boulder, Phoenix/Sedona, Tucson, Vegas

Does all the criteria still even exist in one place?

Since there seems to be a large number of people suggesting cities/regions that are in nearly perpetual drought and wildfire conditions, you may want to also consider if the region will be inhabitable in 10-15 years. 

B C wrote:

Profession of choice?

30 minutes? My first thought was Boulder/Golden too.

Second thought: Riverside, CA.

I would quit climbing before making the decision to live in Riverside.

Aside from shitting on Riverside, where is the concentrated climbing that is only 30 minutes away??

You should definitely move to Boulder, CO. Hands down the best climbing town. 

Downtown Portland OR has the following crags within 30-35 minutes, closer if you live on the east side: Broughton, Ozone, Drop Zone, Carver, Madrone and Rocky Butte. That's over 600 routes within 25 miles of downtown. Another 100-200 routes if you include Beacon Rock, about 50 minutes away. Seattle has better overall climbing in the 1 to 3 hour range, but Portland has much more climbing close in.

Andrea Wilhelmwrote:

Even without climbing, asking for a favorable job market, reasonable cost of living, and decent amenities is in and of itself asking a lot.

You also don't really specify what kind of climbing interests you the most, or what weather you like. And most importantly, what industry you're in. 

This. 

I have lived a long time in SE Wyoming, so I will say as it regards "awesome" climbing: lower your expectations. Laramie and Cheyenne have as much or more high quality climbing within an hour of them as any city you'll hear mentioned.

That said, if you can be happy with a lot of easy access, mediocre to good climbing, Denver and SLC should be at the top of your list.

Of Steck & Roper's Fifty Classic Climbs, three are within an hour of Wenatchee, WA.  The North Cascades have the only significant glaciers left in the forty-eight contiguous states  Index and Winthrop offer wall climbing worthy of Yosemite.  The Channeled Scablands present miles of columnar basalt, and the Peshastin Pinnacles & Swauk Pinnacles approximate sandstone (its actually granodiorite).  Want to climb after work?  Leave Wenatchee in almost any direction, and you'll find roadside cragging within about a half-hour.  likely less expensive than Boulder.   Lift served skiing 15 minutes from downtown.  Passable fly-fishing, but not like Wyoming.   Salmon & steelhead runs instead of Yellowstone Cutthroat.  Work?  With this geography who has time for work?!?!

-Haireball

Eli, what’s your industry? My company is small and not really hiring at the moment, but we have full-time employees working remote from Canada and Vermont (the latter has been working remote for over a decade) and I only go to the office once a month even though it’s a 20min drive. Might be possible to find a relatively laissez-faire employer and invest in a good 4G hotspot.