Am I crazy to be considering moving to Las Vegas?

My Fiancée and I currently live in Leavenworth, WA a small town with amazing outdoors access on the eastern slope of the cascades. However, we're now mulling over the idea of moving to a larger city for economic and weather reasons as well as more convenient access to an international airport. We love Washington, and our local climbing community but after doing some cursory research it seems like Vegas could be a great place to live with a sunny mild winter, awesome outdoor access, reasonable cost of living (We could maybe actually afford a home?), and a large airport. I would love if any current residents and recent transplants could weigh in on how they like the city and how their move worked out for them? Any pros and cons would be appreciated as well. 

We are also looking at Reno, but this is lower on our list due to the abysmal teacher pay there. 

If it helps provide context I work in education and my Fiancée is a GIS Profesional (Although she was laid off in the fall and is currently unemployed.). We both like all styles of climbing from bouldering to adventure routes (with a preference for vert tech and crack climbing). I also enjoy mountain biking. 

Not LV specific, but two things I’ve learned as a transplant to the desert from the PNW:

1. The summer does suck. It’s hard to understand “daily average high of 108 F” until you live it. It’s very much the outdoors off-season, like the winter in the PNW. Being a morning person helps avoid the worst heat though

2. Something that I rarely hear mentioned, but that I’ve found to be significant, is that the day length doesn’t align with the active months like it does up north. In the PNW you get those glorious summer days where sunset is at 9pm and you can be out for hours after work. In Phoenix today, peak climbing season, sunset is 5:45pm. Headlamp climbing is still fun, but it limits the scope of activities you can do a bit if you want to get out on weekdays

That’s not to discount all the positives you listed. The weather is very nice for 8 months of the year, and better yet, extremely consistent, there are very few times you’ll have to cancel plans for rain. The long term (lack of) availability of water is potentially concerning if you are looking for a forever home, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of this forum

Julian Rwrote:

Not LV specific, but two things I’ve learned as a transplant to the desert from the PNW:

1. The summer does suck. It’s hard to understand “daily average high of 108 F” until you live it. It’s very much the outdoors off-season, like the winter in the PNW. Being a morning person helps avoid the worst heat though

2. Something that I rarely hear mentioned, but that I’ve found to be significant, is that the day length doesn’t align with the active months like it does up north. In the PNW you get those glorious summer days where sunset is at 9pm and you can be out for hours after work. In Phoenix today, peak climbing season, sunset is 5:45pm. Headlamp climbing is still fun, but it limits the scope of activities you can do a bit if you want to get out on weekdays

That’s not to discount all the positives you listed. The weather is very nice for 8 months of the year, and better yet, extremely consistent, there are very few times you’ll have to cancel plans for rain. The long term (lack of) availability of water is potentially concerning if you are looking for a forever home, but that’s a bit beyond the scope of this forum

Thanks for chiming in Julian. Great point about the day length not aligning with the active months. I absolutely love my 9pm sunsets. 

This may be of interest.

Julian Rwrote:

Not LV specific, but two things I’ve learned as a transplant to the desert from the PNW:

1. The summer does suck. It’s hard to understand “daily average high of 108 F” until you live it. It’s very much the outdoors off-season, like the winter in the PNW. Being a morning person helps avoid the worst heat though

2. Something that I rarely hear mentioned, but that I’ve found to be significant, is that the day length doesn’t align with the active months like it does up north. In the PNW you get those glorious summer days where sunset is at 9pm and you can be out for hours after work. In Phoenix today, peak climbing season, sunset is 5:45pm. Headlamp climbing is still fun, but it limits the scope of activities you can do a bit if you want to get out on weekdays

Some mild pushback on these two points, specific to Las Vegas in summer: the close proximity to high elevation shady climbing at Mt. Charleston means that the summer is not really an off season for climbing. You actually still get to climb in generally decent conditions through the summer, despite the heat in town. The good stuff at Charleston leans more toward difficult climbing, but from OP's profile he looks strong enough enough to access the good climbing up there.

I spent a summer working in Vegas years ago, right before I moved to Seattle. The days in town were, as you'd expect, very very hot. But it was also a pretty great climbing season for me, going up to Charleston regularly. Depending on where you live in Vegas, and your work schedule, after work sessions up there are doable. It is about an hour drive away with minimal approach. You could make a serious argument that Las Vegas has better summer sport climbing than Washington does.

There's summer MTB up on Charleston also.

Having been through a Vegas summer and numerous Washington winters, I'd say that Vegas summer is a way more tolerable "off-season", if rock climbing is your main interest. Even in the midst of this off-season, you still get to climb every week, in generally decent (or at least tolerable) conditions. Can't say that about Washington winter!  

Phoenix is a different situation, it seems?

I'll also note that, despite the positive things I said above regarding Las Vegas climbing (even in summer), living in Vegas was not worth it to me. Not because of the heat (I found that pretty manageable), but rather the suburban nature of the city itself. Endless sprawl of beige houses, strip malls, car dependency, etc. wasn't for me. I wasn't into the culture of the city either. It is a very different scene than Washington. 

Overall, I loved the climbing around here, but the 3 days a week I got to climb weren't worth it for the other 5 days a week in the city living in Vegas.

Your priorities and preferences may vary. I can certainly see the other point of view, for people that find Vegas worth it (and/or that like the city itself). Vegas does have a lot to offer, and a lot of climbers seem to thrive there.

We moved last April and loved so far. Locals are often cranky about climbing limestone because the sandstone is so good, but some of the more adventurous limestone crags are up there in quality. We climbed outdoors 2-3 times a week all summer, since not only you can go to Charleston or potosi on weekends but you can also go to calico basin or Kraft around sunset and climb though you won't climb at your limit. And there were maybe four or five weekends in which it was below 90 in the red rocks before 11 so we could climb there. The MTB exists but is meh (we were in Sedona before) and I'm enjoying trail running as the default cardio, plenty of good options if you live in summerlin or Henderson.

Job wise we work remotely so can't speak to that. One thing you didn't mention is that food is amazing, specially off strip asian food.

Alexandre Passoswrote:

One thing you didn't mention is that food is amazing, specially off strip asian food.

For sure!

Its one of the primary reasons to visit Vegas   

I guess it depends on where you are moving from but my main negative with Las Vegas is the overpriced houses vs Texas.  It was a reasonable cost of living ten years ago but house prices have basically tripled since then.

You know what sucks?  Working in education in NV. Haven't looked recently, but for a bunch of years, they were battling Mississippi for the #50 educational ranking.  If you are interested in getting students to count past 21, expect headwinds. 

Recessions also hit NV hard, everyone loses jobs because tourist dollars fund everything and those are optional. 

I left NV and moved to WA.  Miss the desert sun and remote places, overall happier. 

Thanks for all of the input guys, I really appreciate it. Can anyone one with experience chime in to how accessible the climbing actually is? Is it possible to get out to Calico afterwork for some weekday bouldering or sport climbing? How difficult is it to get a parking spot if cragging in the loop, do you need to be heading out at 6am on a spring weekend? 

My only real experience climbing in RR was for a month during covid, and I remember it was a PIA to get into and park along the scenic loop.

Calico after work on a workday depends on where your work is. If near 215 or on the west side you're looking at less than 30min driving. Great bouldering but sport is somewhat limited at the short approaches.

In the spring before 8am will usually get you a parking spot anywhere but the second pullout, but depending on the line you want to climb there will be people all day (specially safer low grade short approach climbs). I always enter the loop before eight to avoid reservations. 

I would climb after work several days a week when I was there, if you live in Summerlin/west Vegas, and it was very accessible. If you live on the other side of town, maybe not. I’d sport climb when the sunset was later, both in the loop and in calico. And then night boulder at kraft when the sunset is super early in the winter.
As for parking, sport climbers don’t wake up early lol…I never had issues with parking even getting there later, you can always just park at the first pullout and walk to the second (it adds only 10 minutes). There’s always parking at first, and sandstone quarry you can usually get a spot (maybe you’ll have to wait a few minutes for someone to leave if you show up at 10 on a weekend). 

Anahita Jwrote:

, if you live in Summerlin/west Vegas, and it was very accessible. If you live on the other side of town, maybe not. 

This is worth emphasizing. Vegas covers a big area. Proximity to climbing, especially for speedy after work access, will depend on which side of town you live on. 

tallguywrote:

You know what sucks?  Working in education in NV. Haven't looked recently, but for a bunch of years, they were battling Mississippi for the #50 educational ranking.  If you are interested in getting students to count past 21, expect headwinds. 

Recessions also hit NV hard, everyone loses jobs because tourist dollars fund everything and those are optional. 

I left NV and moved to WA.  Miss the desert sun and remote places, overall happier. 

This is worth emphasizing. I believe teacher pay in Reno is higher than in Vegas. Clark County does not, and has never, prioritized education. We left the state after 30 years when we became parents because there was just no way our child was going to get the education we want for them in Vegas. Teacher pay is abysmal and the overcrowding is significant- unless things have changed, Clark County is usually hundreds of teachers short of full pool- if not thousands. And the county government would rather subsidize sports teams than support the schools.

The climbing is hard to beat, for sure- access both in and near town is world class and I do miss it, but not enough that I’d ever consider returning with a school aged kiddo.

Adam Wwrote:

I guess it depends on where you are moving from but my main negative with Las Vegas is the overpriced houses vs Texas.  It was a reasonable cost of living ten years ago but house prices have basically tripled since then.

All across the country, Texas included, not just Vegas.

Marc801 Cwrote:

All across the country, Texas included, not just Vegas.

It;s up some in Texas maybe double what I paid for the house in 2016 but its still a couple hundred dollars per square foot more for a house in Vegas.  Currently i'm just moronically flying to Vegas every 2-3 weeks because it is cheaper than actually living there.

If you're thinking of Vegas, you might also consider St. George or Tucson. 

I'm from Tucson and know first hand the teacher pay sucks in AZ, but having summers off is great for travel during the off season.

We're currently living in western WA and my mind is absolutely blown by the cost of everything. Houses are literally 3x - 4x more expensive up here. Back in " the dirty T" avocados were commonly 4 for $1...

Kemper Brightmanwrote:

If you're thinking of Vegas, you might also consider St. George or Tucson. 

I'm from Tucson and know first hand the teacher pay sucks in AZ, but having summers off is great for travel during the off season.

We're currently living in western WA and my mind is absolutely blown by the cost of everything. Houses are literally 3x - 4x more expensive up here. Back in " the dirty T" avocados were commonly 4 for $1...

Hi Kemper, yeah, we are also looking at Tucson, we haven't spent much time around there, but we did do a week in Cochise and loved it. I will probably go ahead and post in the AZ forum as well. 

The climbing in Vegas is fun, but everything else about living in that city seems awful. I think that Sacramento is under-rated as a climbing city. Blue state, decent educational system, lots of sport and trad cragging about an hour away, 3.5 hours to Yosemite, easy to take a weekend trip to the eastside. Plus we have a decent airport and you can be in the bay area in an hour +/-.

Maybe give Reno some more consideration. Access to tons of climbing spring to fall, after work is doable (Donner Summit is your best bet), although not as accessible as Leavenworth. Long routes in the high Sierra are just down 395, closest major zone (Incredible Hulk and everything else in the vicinity) is only 2 hours away. Tuolumne is just a bit further. Winter (local) climbing is much more limited than summer but there are options, or head down 395 on the weekends to Owens River Gorge. The greater Tahoe area is a mountain biking mecca and obviously there is skiing/snowboarding in the winter. 

Sacramento might be cheaper than Reno (??) and is another option, as others have mentioned. The climbing within an hour of Sac is relatively limited but 1.5-2 hours will get you to much more. Foothills mountain biking is pretty good. I personally would take Reno over Sac, primarily for quicker access, but everyone I know that lives in Sac likes it and I think it's more of a typical city than Reno (better food, nice downtown, etc.).