What's Boulder, CO really like?

Boulder is the belly of the poseur beast!
The worst part is most "locals" don't even realize that they are poseurs.

The natives are pretty chill though.

jmac wrote: It was also recently rated the top foodie town as well as the #2 city with the best looking people (what ever that means). Now I'm sounding like one of the pretentious dicks everyone hates.

Go hang out on pearl street on Friday or Saturday night and you'll see more good looking people than you thought imaginable. I've never seen so many beautiful girls in one area...

Mike McHugh wrote: Maybe a Henry Miller fan making a cool reference to a four-star Eldo climb?

Touche

jmac wrote: you must be looking at a different list than me. "The most-educated city in America: Boulder, Colo., home to the University of Colorado with high-tech employers like IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) and Sun Microsystems (nasdaq: JAVA - news - people ) to keep alumni in the area after they graduate." forbes.com/2008/11/24/econo… It was also recently rated the top foodie town as well as the #2 city with the best looking people (what ever that means). Now I'm sounding like one of the pretentious dicks everyone hates.

Haha, yea if Raleigh was cool I'd sound like one too.

I was looking at a different list... mine was from 2010 ;)

I know Boulder is well educated... just messin' around.

It's not that difficult to live in a bordering town for a lot less (Longmont, Arvada, etc.) and work in Boulder if you decide Boulder is a bit too "sceney" for you.
Also, any place is what you make of it. Except Texas.

Relocating to new and exciting places is one of the great things about our country. Take advantage of that while you can.
If I were you, I'd do it. It's certainly an excellent location for being a rock climber.

Boulder may not have the best rock climbing around, but it has alot of ok stuff. It always seemed to me that the number of days with climbable weather and the droves of partners to learn from are what make it an excellent place to be.

If the locals annoy you, just ignore them.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!! Definitely gave me a lot to think about. Now just have to see how the interview on Monday goes! Any chance any of you work for CP+B?

If anyone checking out this thread has access to a 1979 Boulder High yearbook I would love to hear from you.

Good luck, Lauren.

I'm from BOOOOUUUUULDER COLORADOOOOOO. The center of the universe. I only eat organic ham that is glutten free. Before I eat the ham I want to know what farm he was raised on, and what his fathers name was. I don't eat glutten because it is the hip thing to do, not because I have a food allergy. If you eat glutten then I won't talk to you. PM me if you want beta for the purple route at the SPOT, I got it dialed and posted on youtube.

As much as people like me rip on Boulder, it really is a nice place. There's just a small, particularly vocal and painfully visible minority that gives it its bad name. I remember all too well driving into Boulder after school (I went to Broomfield High School) to go climb in the Flatirons or Boulder Canyon, and seeing some college kid, dressed in the newest fashion, with his Audi poorly hidden behind a nearby tree, holding a sign saying "Need 67 cents for food! Please help!". Said "poor" college kid was just too proud to get a job so he didn't have to try to stretch his parents' allowance to cover food, rent, school, AND weed. Boulder is the birthplace of the buy-your-way-to-faux-poverty movement in climbing, and I hate that, but again, its a small minority (even though their poor behavior and the mistaken impression that they represent "climber culture" is steadily ruining climber/land-owner relations, but that's a whole other story) rather than a reflection of the whole.

It is definitely the sort of place where people develop egos to deal with the egos of others. If you come in expecting to be absolutely schooled on any physical activity you might imagine, you probably won't fall prey to that. But lets face it folks, if you lived in the US city with the highest Olympian population, don't you think you'd spray a bit about all the things YOU are good at just to draw attention away from that?

bradyk wrote:I'm from BOOOOUUUUULDER COLORADOOOOOO. The center of the universe. I only eat organic ham that is glutten free. Before I eat the ham I want to know what farm he was raised on, and what his fathers name was. I don't eat glutten because it is the hip thing to do, not because I have a food allergy. If you eat glutten then I won't talk to you. PM me if you want beta for the purple route at the SPOT, I got it dialed and posted on youtube.

You were from Boulder, you'd be spraying about being a raw food vegan. Poser!

Bob Dobalina wrote:Boulder is the belly of the poseur beast! The worst part is most "locals" don't even realize that they are poseurs. The natives are pretty chill though.

Who put the Bob in the Bob Dobalina?

(Sounds made up)

Pinklebear wrote:Boulder is a sugar-coated Satan sandwich that has canyons full of rox nearby.

Dude, aren't you an actual native?

bradyk wrote:I'm from BOOOOUUUUULDER COLORADOOOOOO. The center of the universe. I only eat organic ham that is glutten free. Before I eat the ham I want to know what farm he was raised on, and what his fathers name was. I don't eat glutten because it is the hip thing to do, not because I have a food allergy. If you eat glutten then I won't talk to you. PM me if you want beta for the purple route at the SPOT, I got it dialed and posted on youtube.

Dude...
It's either "glutton"-being an excessive eater; or "gluten"-a protein composite found in wheat and some related species.

EDIT: okay, that's like 3 in a row...sorry, had to catch up.

Hey Guys, I just started talking to a company in Boulder about a job, and I'm curious what Boulder is really like? I've grown up in NC and never moved outside the state, so it would be a really big move for me. Basic feedback I've gotten so far - expensive, exclusive, everyone climbs 5.14, unfriendly staff at the gym

Go for it and take the job Lauren. Boulder is a wonderful community full of people just like everyone whom has posted on your thread(DIVERSE and OPINIONATED). You will more than likely have the time of your life, becoming unhappy when you choose to, just like everyone else, everywhere on Earth.

I hope your move is a dream come true, it is your dream, right?

Check it out before you commit, and you will see what you need to know. Ciao.

Ryan Williams wrote:If you really need to eat, sleep and breath climbing then Boulder might be the spot for you. You will get to climb outdoors more than most other climbers, and you will be living w/in a 10 hour drive of pretty much all the major climbing areas in the west, not counting CA, OR and WA.

Ryan Williams wrote:Access to climbing is nice, but it's far from the most important thing in the average persons life. I'd hate to think of how boring (and depressing) of a person I'd be if I searched for a job and a place to live based on how close it was to (insert name here) Canyon. There is more to life...

If I chose where to live based on climbing alone, I probably wouldn't live in Boulder. I live here because Boulder probably has more exciting jobs in my field (engineering) than any other city in the country. I also live here because I love climbing and skiing, which makes CO a great place to live. Boulder is also small enough that you can ride your bike anywhere in town (or drive there in 10 minutes or less), which is great, but it also has many big-city perks (like great restaurants and jobs). The main reason I love living here is that it is incredibly close to the mountains. I can run out my door and be on trails in 1/2 mile.

I also think you should consider the fact that visiting a city is very different than living there. Typical New Yorkers don't spend all of their days shopping on 5th Avenue and their nights going to Broadway shows. Similarly, most people in Boulder don't spend all of their time hanging out on Pearl Street. I'd take what tourists say with a grain of salt. Most of the people they see on Pearl Street are fellow tourists.

I've always said that I think Boulder has a slightly higher than average number of annoying people (for the reasons posters have outlined above), but it also has a higher than average number of interesting people. Say what you want about Boulder, but it's definitely not boring. If you can ignore the gluten-free, vegan hippies, who are saving the planet by smoking pot next to the farmers' market, you'll probably find it a great place to live.

I've lived in northern FL (which is culturally the same as southern GA), and also in several cities in CO. I've met great and not so great people in all of those places.

bergbryce wrote:Any place is what you make of it. Except Texas.

Awesome.

PS- If you decide to come visit Boulder, I'd be happy to show you around. Just send me a message.

yo lauren,

the money people have indeed changed the scene here, but they're avoidable and ignorable...

so....

indeed one of the most educated cities in the US.
indeed one of the best food scenes in the US.
great climbing 10 mins from your door.
indeed, expensive, though the market's not what it used to be: great time to buy and move here, if you can.
less than an hour to direct flights to europe and asia...

and i too would be happy to do a route with you if you come to town, give you a spot to crash for the night (don't worry, i'm not trying to "teach you tantra" or any shyte; i'm married!), show you around a bit, hook you up with a great! realtor, etc.

yeah, there are self-absorbed douche nozzles here....and maybe even more than your average college town.......but there are a bunch of great folks, too.

come visit.

RC

coppolillo wrote:yo lauren, the money people have indeed changed the scene here, but they're avoidable and ignorable... so.... but there are a bunch of great folks, too. come visit. RC

Couldn't have said it better; good luck with your interview. And count me among those you can enlist as tourguides.

bradyk wrote:I'm from BOOOOUUUUULDER COLORADOOOOOO. The center of the universe. I only eat organic ham that is glutten free. Before I eat the ham I want to know what farm he was raised on, and what his fathers name was. I don't eat glutten because it is the hip thing to do, not because I have a food allergy. If you eat glutten then I won't talk to you. PM me if you want beta for the purple route at the SPOT, I got it dialed and posted on youtube.

+7/2 for free range glutten ham > fham

urbandictionary.com/define.…

also, it's gettin real in the whole foods parking lot---

youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr…

Boulder may not have the best rock climbing around, but it has alot of ok stuff. It always seemed to me that the number of days with climbable weather and the droves of partners---I concur; the traffic is likely a bit more "congestible" than Cary fwiw...lots of climbing "pretty close" to town tho