Best Climbg **AND** MTB Locations to Live ... Why?

This has probably been looked at, but i only found this thread from 2022 looking to bike TO the climbing.

Criteria, great climbing (prefer long, multipitch trad; but open to anything, I'll adapt) and MTB (or gravel).  Starting to seriously consider retirement locations, so anywhere in 'Merica is fair game

Off the cuff my ideas:

- SOCAL, however too expensive (lived there for four yrs, may live there again, but won't retire there - or anywhere else in CA)

- PNW, currently 1st choice for retirement.  Lived there for four yrs, know what it is, certainly better climbing and/or riding elsewhere, but the skiing is an added twist that makes it win out (so far).

- North Conway (and VT, NH, ME in general), compelling option, excellent options (I have 3ish yrs of climbing in the area, but no riding experience). High on my list outside PNW

- North Carolina, another compelling option, I have limited climbing experience (about 1 yr), and just a couple rides.  

- Vegas, excellent, very close to #1, however the summers are just toooooo hot (I think ...)

- Moab/SLC, not a lot of experience in the area, so certainly may be an option I just don't really know about

- AZ/NM - maybe other options, just too hot in the summer?  Not enough info to be well informed

BL:  curious what other riders and climbers think might be the best combo.  Added bonus if skiing is available, but not required.  So far I'm in camp PNW ... change my mind!

You should probably consider various places in CO. I know Golden has great access for both climbing and MTB.

Totally forgot CO, apologies to all you Coloradoans.  I think CO is almost too overwhelming - where to start?  Golden, further south around Colorado Springs??  I think the congestion would be too much for me, personally, to live on the Front Range like that, but it's definitely a viable option i neglected.  

I mean, the weather is not great, and it’s not in the states, but Squamish fits the bill more or less to a T.

Western Colorado is also exactly what you’re looking for, with the added bonus that red rock desert Utah is *right there*. Arguably better weather than (certainly opposed seasons to) the PNW. And similar access to the skiing of both CO and UT.

If you can live in Hendersonville or Brevard, WNC is hard to beat (sorry, no skiing). if this truly is a look at somewhere for "retirement" then it should be taken to consideration that in the looooong run, Hendo and Brevard are both popular southern retirement areas when you pair it with another southern snowbird spot (if 38 on your profile is accurate, you got a long way to go before that consideration however)

lower COL than front range/out west, slower pace of life, easy access to largest cliffs in the east, and world class mtn biking. plus granite slabs (predominant rock in that area) are easier to crank on as you get older than styles prevalent elsewhere. also, ignoring helene, I would say WNC is many times more climate proof than anything west of the 100th meridian. YMMV however and I came to this from more of a true retirement perspective. you should probably head out west while you are younger and knees can handle the skiing tbh

Tahoe.  TAMBA going crazy building trails.  Lots of trad.  Boulders everywhere.  Escape down into NV for 4 season MTB and bouldering.

Hey, OP, you mentioned AZ/NM, where I've been living in the boondocks for the last decade. White Mountains, Cochise Stronghold, Sacramento Mountains, Silver City, and soon I'll be in T or C, between the two largest lakes in NM and not far from the Bat Cave (Enchanted Tower within striking distance). I'll just throw down a little advice: the key to comfortable living and heller adventure in the Southwest is ELEVATION, if you buy a home anywhere above 4000' you'll be comfortable, but you can narrow down that location by seeing what kind of outdoor recreational venues exist in the area. A word of warning: the real estate market is CRAZY right now, but if you look hard enough, you can still find better cash deals on homes in NM than you'd find elsewhere. I know, as I'm a CHEAP B@STARD and I can't see paying half a million dollars for a home, or even a quarter-million dollars... ain't gonna happen, not when I can find a decent fixer home for under $100K here in NM. One final observation: the climate here in NM is far superior to that coastal slop in the PNW, a factor to consider unless ya LIKE pedaling & climbing in the rain, lol.    

Well, I reckon I'll go set up my home inspection, I just went under contract to buy a decent lake home in T or C for $75K cash, narrowly beating out other prospective buyers who were lining up to tour the home. Oh, hell, that's another thing ya gotta bear in mind if you buy a home in the Southwest: good deals go fast, so if ya lag on commitment, someone else will certainly snake ya by getting a bid in first. I checked real estate listings for several months, but now, after several failed attempts to buy other homes, I FINALLY managed to score a decent fixer home. I don't mind fixers, since I'm handy with tools, but ya also wanna avoid the complete train wrecks, lol... there are many out there on the market, the sellers trying to capitalize on the crazy real estate scene, and asking WAY TOO MUCH for those friggin' train wrecks. I'm just glad I found the lake home in T or C, and I'll be even happier when I get outta the real estate market for good! Ugh. I like Silver City, the climate here is perfect, but the value just wasn't there in the homes... good news is that I'll only be 2 hours away, and I can ride my Enduro over here for the festivals and rodeo.    

P.S. Another bee-yoo-ti-ful day here, so after I knock out the home-related task, I think I'll head north a short distance to check out the Gila Cliff Dwellings... maybe throw the 'yak atop the car and hit Lake Roberts on the return journey. You can see pics of Lake Roberts in the thread below, it's a cool little mountain lake with a hiking & riding trail around the entire lakeshore. Non-motorized riding trail, I should add, but awesome for hiking or cruising on your MTB. Here ya go...      Island Voyage, Lake Roberts, NM    

Problem with Silver is that it and surrounding areas burn down every spring/early summer. And, these are not small fires. 

As Petsfed said above, Colorado is so magical for both MTB and climbing (and skiing and hiking) and Moab is easily within a half days drive from there, esp if you are in western CO.  

Just a magical environment.

Probably western would be better as Colorado Springs/Boulder/Denver are expanding so fast and so are the prices!

When I lived in Colorado Springs for three years I found it too arid for my liking but if it wasn't so dry, I'd be living there forever when I retire.

Just my two cents!

Cody, WY has two great MTB trail systems, one from town, one a couple miles outside of town. 

Limitless climbing, sport/trad 5 min from town (10.5 months/yr), 20+ pitch climbing 30 min from town, ice climbing up the wazoo, skiing at Red Lodge is an hour and fifteen, Cooke backcountry about the same. 

Kind of expensive, but great access for just about every outdoor activity, minus surfing.

As a retiree I’ll add something to consider that is rarely if ever mentioned: proximity to good medical care. Stuff starts to fail and cancers show up. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

As a retiree I’ll add something to consider that is rarely if ever mentioned: proximity to good medical care. Stuff starts to fail and cancers show up. 

This is why I talked my parents out of retiring to Wyoming. It is a fantastic place to live when you don’t have a stack of pills to take daily, but the biweekly highway closures during the winter can be a real problem for the walkers-and-wheelchairs crowd.

Reno is pretty okay…i live on a mtn bike park and can do multipitch trad, perma’d sport, or bouldering inside 35 min from my door.

Frank Steinwrote:

Problem with Silver is that it and surrounding areas burn down every spring/early summer. And, these are not small fires. 

And yet there's STILL so much wilderness untouched by fire... I drove up to the Gila Cliff Dwellings today, had a blast, stopped at the Gila Hot Springs Campground on my return trip, soaked in a pool for awhile, and stopped at several scenic vista points before macking a Hatch Chile Burger & fries at a joint in Silver City. Now I'm back at the motel, cleaned up (again) and chillaxing with a hard cider... I was gonna post pics at another site, leaving a link here somewhere, but I'm kinda tired, lol. I may just get horizontal and stretch out for awhile, probably fall asleep in record time. I'll post pics of today's adventure at FV, then post a link here in one of my threads tomorrow. I'm heller tired, no way the pics get resized & posted tonight, lol. Good day though, absolutely perfect outdoor action with no traffic or badge bullies, plenty of freedom on the trail and on the road. Saw a few MTB riders slogging up hills or cruising down trails, lol... better them than me today, I was all about hiking and sussing out the cliff dwellings, which were cool... some of those dwellings were in better shape than the train wreck fixer homes I toured during the past two months, lol. Meh, ya just gotta keep looking, that's all... eventually, the cosmos will present a decent fixer home, unless you have enough cash to buy a home which doesn't need repairs.       

Durango Colorado. MTB soul center, ride a trolly to the boulders. Sport, trad, alpine. Indian Creek is a short drive...