Moving to Tucson, Az.. where to live?

hello,

I am moving to Tucson, AZ this June and i am curious where to live. Are there any good climbing areas that would be ideal to live by? Maybe climbing gyms (although not my favorite places)? I will be commuting to the university hospital.

any info to the area would be greatly appreciated.

ps. anyone need a weekend warrior for a partner. (5.10 trad)

cheers,
nic

There are several nice neighborhoods near UMC, any one of which would be nice for a short commute to work. It is very easy to bike in that area as well. That's where I'd live if I worked at the hospital.

The climbing gym is downtown (or more correctly, just outside of downtown), not too far from the hospital. Mt. Lemmon and La Milagrossa are quite a ways away, but a relatively easy drive from the University area. Gates Pass is probably your best bet for nearby bouldering.

Alternatively, you could live on the northeast side of town, much closer to Mt. Lemmon and La Milagrossa, but your daily commute to work will suck a bit, especially if you need to commute during rush hour. In fact, the commute from anywhere else in the city toward the University sucks from the hours 7 am to 9 am, and is even worse in the evening on the way out from 4 pm to 6 pm.

I would have to agree with kbobby, live close to work and commute to the mountain. you, like most tucson climbers, will probably do most of your climbing on Mt. Lemmon. I live in mid town (10 min to UMC or about 20 to the base if the mt.) and it seems to work out just fine. if you are looking for easy access to a variety of climbs (weekday afternoons) you cant beat the east side. My mom lives at the eastend of town and works at UMC. the commute isnt that bad (maybe 35min in traffic) compared to PHX or LA. new gym at the base of the mt too (the bloc). good luck, hit me up when you get here we can climb. I dont lead trad as strong as you but I am learning, have a full rack, and a small woody in my front yard. hope this helps you out.
-Mackley
p.s. avoid the west, n. west, and sabino canyon areas. its a pain in the ass to get to the mt. from there.

I know a sweeeeeetttt place living on a ranch in southeast arizona, over by Irvington and Houghton Roads. If you are interested in the info, let me know.

thanks for the replies. ill check out the places you guys mentioned. ill keep you posted on the climbing as well mackley and catie ill check that area.

cheers. nic

I think it's a mistake to try to live close to the (outdoor) climbing. Most of the climbing is a bit of a drive anyway. In the summer, it's 105 degrees in town, so you pretty much have to drive up the mountain (or head up to Flagstaff or something). From the base of Mt Lemmon to the upper reaches is a solid 40 minutes, possibly longer depending on traffic (and bikes). In the winter there are some good lower crags on Mt Lemmon, but a lot of people like to go to Cochise or Homestead or the Dry (or Hueco or Joshua Tree...), which are all at least an hour drive outside of town. So you're going to be driving a bit anyway, possibly in different directions, so it's not easy to optimize living close to your favorite crag.

Rocks and Ropes climbing gym (the main one; I don't know much about the new bouldering gym on the east side) is only a couple miles from the university and UMC, and reasonably bike-able if you live in the university area. If I were you, I would live biking distance to work (in fact I did for 6 years, living in several neighborhoods around the University). Oh, and if you don't have a car, get one.

Full Disclosure: I no longer live in Tucson, but I miss it!

Weel, look at THIS.

Only 2 months to get back online after my first 4 posts. Decent, civil and HIGHLY INFORMATIVE posts. Posts that got thanks, yet garnered no points, not even the decency of a reply from the topic master as to WTH I was ever so suddenly unable to logon. Talk about PASSIVE-AGRESSIVE! They deleted the post, and it was so bland I don't even remember what I might of said to the whiny guy looking for why he couldn't find a regular partner...(you got to BE a regular partner to GET one. I never had any regular partners, just a lot of extradinary ones and some dopes that shouldn't never have gotten on rock...)

Don't be a jerk? Are there any similar rules for the Mods on this site?

OK, as to where to live.... IN Tucson.

I lived for a couple decades in Tucson, went to schools there, lost my virginity with a coed, and became a pretty good desert climber, went to the parties, Grew to know the landscape. Yes, I left long ago, but I think after a couple visits, I can still see the contrours of the land under the new building.

You have not told us the wealth level you intend to emulate. If you are WORKING you can afford the old far east side, because all the wealthy people moved out to the eastern border of Tucson. The houses will be nicer but BLAND. Money is IMPORTANT in Arizona, and ever so many students are New Yorkers who couldn't get in a school at home, so they pick the UA, a WELL known party school. ((Look it up, its true, like everything I write.))

I was learning to be a climber and a stud mule for bored coeds, so I knew the only place to live was within walking distance to the Univ. At least biking. Makes it much easier to talk the bioches into your Casa overnight if they can get to their class without having to skip the pre-breakfast entertainment and driving an hour back to the campus.

If you got a wife, all that is unimportant, you ain't getting liad regular anyway, you'll be used to it.

Life in the university area is cool, but vile. Don't consider any place else unless its NOICE -- REALLY NOICE. All the local houses rent to students, but are FILTHY and the cockroaches, without exception, will be older than you and hold clear title to the walls and floors. You MUST buy a new bed if you want to survive a older Tucson University apartment. Don't laugh, you can sleep on the floot anywhere but Tucson, you WILL get Valley Fever and it can kill. If you are sleeping in a bed held up off the floor by chains from the ceiling you are better protected. I knew MANY who did this, not just me, and they all survived their education.

Gods Truth to your ears.

If you ain't got built-in Honey, move as close to the UA as you can, preferable North of Speedway, or West of the Main gate, although those are the dirtiest places in the county, that will aid you in the pursuit of your future memories.

HIRE A CLEANING CREW WHERE EVER YOU LIVE, your immune system isn't up to Arizona standards yet, and you can DIE from some of the things left in those Apartments, I am NOT kidding. 100 plus years of filthy students? The old buildings will be the easiest to heat and cool, That sounds funny until you think about what a $250 a month cooling bill means. The Sweamp box better be in your bedroom. DON'T rely on an electric Air Conditioner, you WILL pay an electric bill that makes that $250 I JUST MENTIONED LOOK SMALL. The gas and electricity deposits are HUGE in Tucson, they have had a MILLION students move out without paying, and they WILL get you money eventually.

(BTW? Swamp Box is what they call an evaporative cooler. It wastes a hundred gallons of water a day, but water is subsidized and electricity is not. Swamp boxes only work above 90 degrees, but thats pretty unimportant, you wont see many days under 90 that you NEED a cooler...

It doesn't MATTER how nice the place looks if the western exteriour door of the building is not a solid (not hollow core) door. Students always break down doors when they get drunk and fight of lose their keys, so landlords always replace the solid doors that insulate with hollow doors with cardboard interiors. I have actually had such doors begin to smolder inside from the heat. You can actually have your place burn down because of that. And the crappy doors won't keep a burglar our for 10 seconds, much less the police.

LOOK FOR SECURITY FIRST, COOLING SECOND AND LOCATION THIRD. Tuscon has some of the very highest crime rates in America, both property and personal crime. They also have a very high death rate reguarding otherwise healthy people who die at home, from heat, dehydration or preventable disease from rats or them cockroaches.

I got a lot more I could say, but if you don't know Tucson, you wouldn't believe me and other people who are idiots would all say I was wrong. My answer to them is two fold. One, you go look up the stats yourself and decide. Second if that ain't good enough, lets have some fun. I will allow my detractorsfly me first class to Tuscon and put me up in a MODERN hotel somewhere above the 5th floor and I will give you a frigging TOUR of kind of places the City Fathers wont admit exist and we can play Fear Factor with your ass as the bait for preditors.

The climbing in Tucson is some of the best in America, and beats almost anything Kali has over all. (I consider Yosemite to not be a part of Kali, the Fed took it away from them over a hundred years ago, and the Kalis have never yet admitted to that!)

Arizona requires you to be brave, bold, resourceful and SMART if you expect to survive. If you are goping to be a climber, you might buy a shitload of good luck before you enter the state, the kind they give outsiders is weak. If you are a Kali yourself, you will be distrusted and disliked by the locals, find somewhere else to be from.

Its easy to find climbing in Arizona, you won't need much advice on that, what you need, no shit, is advice on survival, and most people can't help you with that, most people survive in Arizona on luck, buy a LOT of it. But not a shitload of luck is worth a damn if you breakdown and didn't put five gallons of WATER in your trunk.

ALWAYS CARRY LOTS OF WATER IF YOU LEAVE the city limits! IT TAKES GALLONS A DAY TO STAY ALIVE OUTDOORS, IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT YOU MIGHT NOT LAST A NIGHT VERY MUCH LAST THE DAY WALKING OUT!

arizona is one of the most dangeropus states in the nation, if not THE most dangerous and the only doubts I have is with Alaska for Number one...

Best Fishes, Wucker.

Rokjox Bitrakn Teleski

WTH was that?

This post violated Rule #1. It has been removed by Mountain Project.

Brigette wrote:WTH was that?

It was an ignorant, unfounded, and all around uninformative rant by a self proclamed EX "stud mule to bored coeds." The only truth to the post would be abouy the great climbing and maybe some truth to the talk of heat, however exagerated it may be. Or maybe I just don't recognize the 3rd world conditions under which I work, live, raise my family, and climb. Oh well, all hail RoxJox, for he USED TO climb AZ.

^^That was a banned Supertopo poster finding a new venue for his rantings...nothing to see here, move along...

LOL I think I am going to start suspending my bed in the air with chains . This guy has got a sense of humor

So did you forget which alias you originally posted on this forum under Mr. Jey Lame.

Tucson is not really that dangerous unless you go looking for it. In truly dangerous places I've lived in like Rio and Mexico City, trouble may come looking for you in any part of town and any time of the day.

Probably the most dangerous thing in Tucson is the way the old people drive.

That being said, when you're renting, I think it's a good investment to spend an extra hundred dollars a month to have a better quality of neighbors.

Definitely live close to UMC, will save you a ton of time overall.

Do not rent anything from HSL Properties, they treat their tenants like dirt. Look up the management company/owner on the Internet before you sign the lease. They are owned by Humberto Lopez, one of the more powerful men in Tucson and about as sleazy as they come.

Send me a PM when you get in town if you'd like to get out.

Christian wrote:the way the old people drive.

Hey now !! You youngsters better stay outta my way !

youtu.be/eEDhyYiSvD4

Thanks Rok Jox. That was funny as hell! And it is all true! Hahahaha

Seems like you are letting off pretty early at the end of the straight John. You have breaks, use them.

Damn that was fun John! A lot of those drivers have no idea how to take a line. The dude in the Maserati was really bad. I got excited every time the straight away came and you blasted by another car. Oh I wish I had the $ to race cars. It is so much fun. You probably used that same amount of fuel I use to go to the homestead. Haha.

Jbak drives like a climber. He punches it when other people are afraid to.

Lol, for a little entertainment you could add some things to that racetrack, like old people pulling out of parking lots at 5 mph and driving in the fast lane at 20 mph.

I'd pay to watch that...

1Eric Rhicard wrote:Seems like you are letting off pretty early at the end of the straight John. You have breaks, use them.

I shoulda had you ridin along coach Fazio. I was trying not to squish any Miatas at the end of the straight. At 200 ft/sec that braking zone doesn't feel as long as it looks ! And you may remember that totally destroyed brake pad we checked out in Cres' garage !

There are some similarities between climbing and driving. Chief among them is the value of watching an expert do the line. (And I'm no expert... I'm maybe a 5.8-5.9 driver)

Here's another if you're not bored:

youtu.be/K_2fCpOnNHw

Oh... and back on topic... the east side of town is best. Less time to: Lemmon, Milagrosa, Stronghold, Dry, Datil, Hueco. I'm 5 min from The Blok and Le Buzz.