What is it REALLY like living in the Boulder bubble?

Mark E Dixonwrote:

Housing- expensive

Child care- don't know. Preschool options were excellent 18 years ago when we were looking.

Public schools generally excellent, expensive private schools available.

Hard sport climbing- good local crags, the Flatirons in particular, have potential to be world class, but that probably won't happen due to bolting restrictions. Rifle is an easy weekend trip. 

But if your ticks are up to date, you would be looking at more of the 5.10 range, which can be relatively busy but is also pretty well represented locally.

Baby friendly crags- there are some, but honestly, you'd be better off joining with like minded parents and taking turns climbing outside.

Alpine routes/scrambles- plenty around for day trips. Not Sierra quality, but pretty good.

Skiing- good skiing. Not Utah quality, but fun. Eldora is the local area, ok tree skiing, not much steep. I70 resorts offer more, but dealing with I70 on the weekends is nearly unbearable, 2 hour trips becoming 6-7 due to traffic. I don't know about backcountry- but seems like lots of participants.

MTB- can't really say. My impression is that Boulder isn't especially mtb friendly.

Fires/smoke- we have had mild smoke a few times in the last couple of years- not a big deal so far.

Fire risk exists (see Marshall fire!) but unless you live in the country I don't think most people pay it much mind, even if they should.

"Boulder attitude"- if you care deeply that strangers may judge you or snub you on the trail, I just don't know what to say. HTFU?

There is plenty of privilege, much of which is unrecognized by those who have it, but I think outright malice is rare.

The proportion of outdoor enthusiasts is unrivaled. This is bad if you must work weekdays and only get out on weekends. 

This is good since it means you can find partners and friends for any adventure you care to hazard.

This is super helpful, cheers Mark! I especially appreciate the responses about child care, schools, and family cragging.

My ticks on MP are not up to date. No one in Australasia uses the site, we use thecrag, 8a, or nothing at all. Looking for sport routes from the .12+ to 13+ range these days, but also still very keen on adventure routes of any grade, especially long ones. Not much multipitch in NZ outside of the Darrans.

My work schedule would likely allow me to get out some weekdays, so it’s good to know that many areas are uncrowned then. 

LL2wrote:

David, I would ask you to consider: do you really want to come back to the States at all? New Zealand sound pretty ideal from everything I hear.

Fair question! Life in NZ is good for many reasons. Our daughter is a Kiwi citizen and we are dual US/Australian citizens, so we will always have a connection to this part of the world. But we also have a lot of family in the States, with some getting quite advanced in years. It would be nice to see them more often. But yeah, it does seem like a challenging time to return to America….

Beta Slave, I suppose it depends on what you think is a good restaurant. Unfortunately, my all-time faves are gone. John's was the standout, but there were a few others. 

David, on the subject of children, Boulder is a good place to raise budding Olympic climbers.

John Clarkwrote:

The Boulder Bubble is all hype. People are super nice there and the crowding isn’t that bad. 

Hmmm ... odd. All the good people I've ever met in Boulder got fed up with the mean snobbiness and moved out to Reno. A much better place with no crowds and solid rock they told me.

Patrikwrote:

Hmmm ... odd. All the good people I've ever met in Boulder got fed up with the mean snobbiness and moved out to Reno. A much better place with no crowds and solid rock they told me.

Hey, stop revealing my ruse and recruiting that crowd to Reno

I love Boulder.  I live in Marshall so I’m 5 minutes from Eldo and 5 minutes from South Boulder.

Trails are great, great road rides and easy mountain bike trails out my door.  Views are awesome.  Certainly can be crowded on weekends but we didn’t see a single other party climbing yesterday (we were on Lost Angel In dream canyon, so not a secret crag).  I’ve spent 5 days in RMNP so far this summer and have not seen too many climbers on the incredible alpine walls.  We can generally climb wherever we want without too much hassle.  Especially during the week.

People are fine.  Some are entitled idiots but most are nice.  Just like anywhere.

Home prices are expensive, I can’t argue with that statement.

Skiing access is sucky due to I-70 unless you can go mid week.  Backcountry access is ok above Boulder but the terrain isn’t amazing and the wind doesn’t ever stop in the Winter. 

James Wwrote:

The great divide for me is whether you are here renting or if you’ve bought in.  Roughly 60% of residents are renters.  Most of the homes they live in are the least cared for, often over-occupied and often with distant landlords who are basically parasites making money off their better kept owner occupied neighbors.  Their tenants - less than parasites - they don’t even exist - they’ll be gone soon and more will come in their place - like background noise.  

David Jeffersonwrote:

MP forums and the interwebs suggest that the Boulder bubble is becoming untenable due to overcrowding, exorbitant housing prices, wildfires, etc. How much of this is hyperbole, and how much should be believed? We lived near Sacramento for several years before moving overseas, so we are not strangers to crowds, high prices, or smoke. Are things as bad as people say they are? If you had the chance to move to Boulder now, would you do it? 

I've lived in Boulder for 14 years. Housing prices are certainly an issue. Median price for a single family home is about $1 million, and that $1 million home will not be new construction unless it is a townhouse or large condo. A $1 million detached single family home in Boulder is older and possibly a fixer upper. I'd recommend renting at first while you get a feel for neighborhoods and keep an eye on what comes on the market. North Boulder, East Boulder, South Boulder, and downtown all have very different feels, types of housing, and circulation patterns.

I also lived in Sacramento from 2001-2006, and in the Bay Area from 2006-2008. Traffic on I-70 on weekends is comparable to the Bay Area, and traffic in Boulder has gotten heavier over the years, but, in comparison, Boulder traffic in nothing. Avoid driving in or out of Boulder at rush hour and you'll be fine.

Fires have gotten worse in recent years, both in terms of smoke impacts and evacuations, but so far the city itself has been spared. I'm in South Boulder. Last year was the first time we were evacuated because of fire threat. It's definitely something to think about. It's good to have a plan for how to reunite your family if you and your spouse both work outside the home, your child is in daycare, you have a pet in daycare, etc. Also good to have a go-bag packed in fire season.

I'd still move here. There is no place else in the US that I've found that has such close access to a variety of trails and crags year-round, and also such great climbing gyms. Any month of the year, you can almost always find somewhere to climb within a day trip, and if you can't, there are 3 stellar climbing gyms in the city, and 4 or 5 more within 20-60 min drive if you crave variety. I also love that this is a medium-sized city, with easy access to a large city and international airport less than an hour away, and I can scramble 600 feet of low 5th class slab in the morning in 2.5 hours door-to-door from my house. 

Whether you find the people to be snooty probably depends on what you're used to. I don't expect everyone on the trail to smile and acknowledge me. I often say hi as I pass, but not always, and I'm fine if folks just want to focus on their own experience. If your politics are vocally conservative, you'll probably get a chilly reception and may feel alienated by the number of pride flags and "in this house we believe love makes a family, black lives matter, no human being is illegal" etc. signs around town, just as I feel less comfortable in other parts of the country where people's yard signs speak of guns and Christianity. As for finding climbing partners, many people who have been in town a long time already have long-term relationships with as many partners as they can handle and don't have much availability to take on new ones, but this is balanced by the number of newcomers who are making friends and trying to find their climbing family.

I love this town. Many do. Some don't, and they often move on. 

Greg Miller wrote:

I’ve lived in boulder for 16 years… it’s great if you like a town that does nothing about the homeless and drug problem, gun laws that require you to register an AR (#donttreadonme lol), every outdoor venue being crowded on a weekend, rock that people say is “world class” but it’s nothing special, boulder police are dick heads, over priced everything, Biden supporters, etc

And you're still living here because?

wendy weisswrote:

And you're still living here because?

For the same reasons I'm still in California!  Friends, home, beautiful area, familiarity, etc. But there are some downsides, too, just like in Boulder.

(Sorry Greg, didn't mean to answer for you)

Smells like entitlement to me.

FrankPSwrote:

For the same reasons I'm still in California!  Friends, home, beautiful area, familiarity, etc. But there are some downsides, too, just like in Boulder.

(Sorry Greg, didn't mean to answer for you)

Yeah, but you're in Atascadero so...... 

EDIT: mostly shiting on Atascadero because it's fun to and because getting there from my hometown means driving up the grade which I never enjoyed. 

I'll just chime in again to echo what several posters have said: Any place is what you make of it. There are snobs and posers here in Santa Fe to be sure. I choose not to focus on them. I focus on the "brothers". That's a real term here with real meaning. Meaning that even the people here who are from multi-generational families who are barely able to live here anymore (median house price now approaching $800,000, up from $500,000 a year ago) that you actually engage with are pretty easygoing and truly believe that we are all brothers and sisters here. It all depends on whether you engage or not. A little friendliness goes a long ways. I could easily be pegged as yet another white transplant moving to Santa Fe and contributing to the displacement of multi-generational families (and I am). But the fact that I engage with the man or woman at the register of my local Allsops (which is regularly shut down for lack of staffing or police incidents), or simply slip in a little "thanks, brother",  gives us a sense of connectivity. It's a thing of value to hear someone say "brother" here. I have taken that to heart.

On our way to El Rito today, desperately in search of a breakfast burrito, we got shut down twice due to local convenience stores not being able to staff their grills. At the second, a little girl honed in on my Pikachu t-shirt and told me that she loves Pikachu and has a full costume, and thought it was funny that I (presumably as an adult) had a Pikachu t-shirt. Her father obviously didn't speak English so we had this little moment where her daughter was conversing with me, the father wasn't following the conversation, the workers at the convenience store were watching and entertained, and all of us left with a smile on our face.

My point is that you get what you give. There's a lot of grumbling and deserved angst in Santa Fe and Northern NM. When you recognize that this is the situation you live in, and make an effort to acknowledge it and honor it, you get good returns. And everybody is happier for it.

Greg Miller wrote:

Because i have to many crags In the area to develope that will never be shared with the masses, poached trails to ride on my dirt bike, road cyclist to honk at

…and celibacy to vigorously maintain.

Marc801 Cwrote: Given our current situation, with another trump candidacy waiting in the wings, can you really say that?

Canadian PM used emergency powers to remove peaceful non-violent protesters.
Neither Trump nor Biden had chutzpah to behave this way.
Anyway you have much better checks and balances and US population has much bigger role in elections.

My favorite part of having lived here for almost 15 years is hearing all of the negative things regarding Boulder.  I just have to keep reminding myself that the person spraying all of the hate is the nice person, but I am the entitled, rude, pretentious, (insert negative adjective here) person just because of where I live.  It’s a weird Jedi mind trick, for sure!

Matt D wrote:

Developing? In my experience that's the status quo. 

Visiting Boulder is like going to the zoo. 

When a high percentage of NYC/Boston/jersey folks all move to the same place you start getting that east coast vibe, its inevitable.

M Mwrote:

When a high percentage of NYC/Boston/jersey folks all move to the same place you start getting that east coast vibe, its inevitable.

if by vibe you mean good food....

the biggest downside to boulder is the food. i think it's cute when people call moe's a good bagel. GTFO...

I lived in Boulder for a few years....but my husband and I left for Denver don't regret it. Reason? It was just too Boulder in Boulder nawatimean? We still get out every weekend, sometimes weekday evenings, we're close to the i70 and 285 corridors for ski-ventures and weekend climbing. I don't feel like I climb/run/ski/play outside any less. The access in Boulder is rad, but there's more to life than running up the second on a weekday. I looooove the crag that we frequent now way more than any of the polished shitty BoCan or ClearCreek crags (not going to name it lest I blow it up) :) 

We were hanging out in Boulder this weekend and we talked about if we'd ever move back. Trails are stupidly crowded, way more than when we left 5 years ago. The quality of house you get for 1mil is terrible - shitty low ceiling single family homes built in the 70s. Everyone is buying ...then spending all their weekends renovating. If you don't have a white Tesla and run 17 miles before work every morning you might as well give up and move to one of the 'L's. Agree with previous comments that the food sucks ALTHOUGH we did see that there's now a Rosenbergs so maybe you can get a decentish bagel! 

We still have a crew of great friends in Boulder, but we're definitely not moving back. 

Boulder stands out to me as the one town where you can be in a checkout line in the grocery store and hear folks spraying other folks down with what they did yesterday. It was so incredible!