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Burlington

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Tina · · Grand Junction/Delta, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 40

Thinking of moving to Burlington to be closer to family. How much climbing is there within a day from Burlington? I prefer trad or sport, love crack, not really a boulderer or ice climber.

Blissab · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 5

Adirondacks to the left. White Mountains to the right. Gunks below. Good climbing above in Canada.

The Adirondacks is home to some really good crack climbing.

Get a copy of Tough Schist for the good climbing in Northern Vermont.

Good luck...you're good to go.

AB

Tina · · Grand Junction/Delta, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 40

What kind is season is it? Any place to climb during the winter besides ice or is it strictly a three season area?

grubbers · · West Shore · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 0

Lower West in Bolton is south facing and at low elevation, so there may be some climbable rock there during the winter.

Max Forbes · · Colorado · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 108

There is no rock climbing in the winter. Maybe 2-3 days tops, and there usually only on Cat's Ass, which has about 3-4 solid routes.

Burlington has an abundence of great climbing, an almost all of it is trad. Vermont also has a lot of unexplored potential. From downtown, you can be roped up on single pitch 3 star trad lines up to 11d in 45 minuets. There's also an abundance of amazing multi-pitch in smugglers notch which is about an hour to hour and a half from burlington. The dacks, Rumney, cathedral/whitehorse are all doable day trips.

Winter kicks in by the end of November and your usually up and climbing again in April. Really not to bad, plus ice season is where it's at anyhow. The climbing community here is amazing, we have two local gyms, many strong climbers and a great group of professional guides. Outside of climbing Burlington is a pheneomal city, with amazing people and a great culture. Highly recommend making the move.

Feel free to message me if you have more questions.

EDIT: seeing as your from CO here is a better idea of whats close by:

30-60 Minute drive and approach: mountainproject.com/v/bolto…

90 Minuets: mountainproject.com/v/smugg…
(Only bouldering on here for some reason but theres about 40 solid climbs most of which are 2+ pitches)

Day trip areas:
mountainproject.com/v/adiro…
mountainproject.com/v/cathe…
mountainproject.com/v/white…
mountainproject.com/v/rumne…

There's certainly much more so check out the map feature...

Kevin Heckeler · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2010 · Points: 1,616
Tina wrote:What kind is season is it? Any place to climb during the winter besides ice or is it strictly a three season area?
Can we swap? I can live in CO and you can live here. I'll even pay your air fare. lol

The Gunks are a bit of a drive (likely 4-5 hours from Burlington). Other than that, plenty of good suggestions already.

Winter in Vermont consists of skiing and ice climbing. Get a membership at the gym from Dec thru sometime in March.

Even when it's warm, it might be rainy. We get twice as much rain here as you do in CO. If you only end up being able to climb on weekends it could mean weeks between climbing if it happens to rain on the weekends. This is just meteorological fact, not East hate.

If you don't have to move back east, don't. Not as a climber at least. The options you have out your backyard right now exceed anything we have for you here. [there's good climbing, but it just isn't the same... people from the East who've climbed out West know of what I speak]
AThomas · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

Proximity is key for climbing AND family.

The whole spoiled-by-western-mountains factor aside, I think Burlington and the surrounding areas are great and you could carve out a happy climbing life there.

You may want to reconsider ice climbing.

Dan Raisbeck · · Burlington, VT · Joined Apr 2014 · Points: 5

I'm with AThomas on this. Love the fact that I can duck out of work a little early and get a solid 4 hours of afternoon climbing in during the summer. Can even get a few hours of TR ice climbing in after work during the winter.

Another thing to note is that the climbing community around Burlington is great. Can't remember the last time I had trouble finding people to do a day trip somewhere.

Tina · · Grand Junction/Delta, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 40

Thanks for all the detailed info Max..

I grew up in that area so trust me the wet summers and cold winters have been weighing heavily on my mind especially since I have not only climbed here every month of the year but gotten tanned climbing in January.

It is nice to hear that there is abundance of partners available. One of my biggest concerns is having to build up that circle of go to partners again.

It will definitely be a hard decision but I think I will regret not going back in ten years.

Thanks.
Tina

Nick Goldsmith · · Pomfret VT · Joined Aug 2009 · Points: 440

Tina. You really should give ice a try if you move back to VT. Willoughby is pretty close to Burlington and is world class ice!

J. Serpico · · Saratoga County, NY · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 140
Tina wrote:What kind is season is it? Any place to climb during the winter besides ice or is it strictly a three season area?
You can climb in the Gunks most of the winter provided it's warm and sunny and you are ok with climbing rock in the winter. The cliffs face south/east and get very warm and are generally protected from the wind.

Some years are colder than others so this isn't guaranteed. The camping is free (for now) so from Burlington it makes sense to go for a weekend.

I know you said you aren't into the ice, but moving to burlington and not at least dedicating a few weeks to ice seems wrong. Kinda like moving to Utah or Colorado and eschewing skiing. Smugs, Willoughby, the Adirondacks, and NH all have great ice.
Nick Votto · · CO, CT, IT · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 320

Haha you probably know there's only two seasons in VT, winter and not winter!!
Seriously there's tons of climbing to keep you busy, Smuggs, upper west Bolton and surrounding crags, Marshfield, 82, etc etc. Not a bad drive to a ton of other good areas and a short ferry ride to Poko etc.
BESIDES the climbing I think VT is arguably the best place in the country to live (if you have work).....lots of good local, quality food and good people...I was there 7 years and have missed it since.
Definitely get into ice climbing and get ready to get really good at skiing, no place makes you better than the VT backcountry!!
Good luck!

Chris Duca · · Dixfield, ME · Joined Dec 2006 · Points: 2,330

Just moved away from the Burlington Area last year after living there since '01. OK place to live, but the cost of living, in my opinion, is astronomically over-priced. The 'culture' in VT is fairly homogenous with more than the lion's share of people that like to say they're from Burlington (read: Trustifarians). However, if you can get past that, what makes the place so phenomenal is it's access to recreation. Most of the good rock climbing in VT is at Upper West, the 82, Marshfield, and Wheeler. Everyone is pretty spot on with their description of the ice/snow. Mountain biking, trail running, and hiking are hard to beat in VT, as well.

My suggestion would be to live outside of Chittenden County if you're looking for aforedable living, don't have kids, and thusly aren't concerned about the public school systems. Addison County is oustanding as is Lamoille (though, Lamoille county experiences more rain than Seattle!) for ease of recreating, as are some of the outlying towns in Chittenden County, but you'll still end up paying out the rear for housing.

J. Serpico · · Saratoga County, NY · Joined Dec 2009 · Points: 140

Most of the Northeast actually experiences more rain than most of the Pacific Northwest cities. I always laugh when people say it feels like Seattle during a rainy stretch. Outs just comes all year and in buckets. I think the only population center with more rain is the Gulf Coast.

In fact, November doesn't rain a lot, but in this part of the country, the sun only shines about 30% of the limited daylight hours. Depressing, eh?

Still love it here, but I'm definitely a little different.

Tina · · Grand Junction/Delta, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 40

Trust me weather is my biggest concern. Living in Colorado the last 15 years has spoiled me with sun and climbing. The costs of living is also a concern. I have been to Burlington before and have always compared it to a small Boulder, co. Difficult decision.

Nick Votto · · CO, CT, IT · Joined Jul 2008 · Points: 320

I enjoyed living in Waterbury but that was 7 years ago almost, certainly more popular now but still a great town. Richmond/Huntington if you want smaller.....Chris is right Burlington is overpriced (colleges) but these outlying towns are not, at least compared to CT or what I've been seeing for prices in CO....my buddies pay some damn cheap rent in Huntington (though a social scene is not prevalent haha)

DanSwift · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2014 · Points: 0

Well if you live down by the tracks things are cheap enough that you can make ends meet cutting lettuce.

How important is living in Burlington to you?
How far out are you willing to go?
Plattsburgh?

What about lake george/ saratoga area 2 hours to Burlington?

Eastern vt can be cheaper and puts you closer to the whites.

Rutland is a little cheaper has a small gym a local crag(deer leap) and puts you an hour or so from Burlington and an hour or so from souther adirondack climbing.

Max Forbes · · Colorado · Joined Jan 2014 · Points: 108

Lot of great small towns outside of Burlington.. Richmond, Jerico... Puts you even closer to climbing and significantly cuts cost of living. Would definetly be a great choice if you wanted the best of both worlds.

Chris Duca · · Dixfield, ME · Joined Dec 2006 · Points: 2,330

We owned a home in Hinesburg (southern Chittenden County), and though it wasn't anything special (not much of a community feel--Richmond has the best small town feel, BTW), it was not cheap, relatively speaking. Just 10 minutes down the road in Addison County, you could get twice and much home for roughly the same price. Our access to Bolton, however, was quick. We could also be on the Ferry and at Poke-O-Moonshine in under an hour, if timed right, and to Keene Valley in just over an hour.

My wife and I lived on the West Coast, as well, but we have always preferred the East for its concentration of high quality rock of varying terrain. In our opinion, The only place out West that came close was the Seattle area. Between Index Town Wall, Leavenworth, the Exits, and Squamish, we found ourselves regularly reminded of New England.

In essence, if you can deal with finding rainy day activities, or you can begin to see the value in climbing through adverse conditions, then New England is unbeatable.

Eric Chabot · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Jul 2011 · Points: 45
Chris Duca wrote:In essence, if you can deal with finding rainy day activities, or you can begin to see the value in climbing through adverse conditions, then New England is unbeatable.
Drink the Kool-Aid~!!!!

but seriously, chris is right on. Especially in early october with beautiful foliage, perfect temps and generally uncrowded crags (excepting the gunks and rumney) the northeast is freaking amazing.

Plus a new, modern sport climbing facility just opened in burlington, on par with any I've seen in the west.

(I wonder if this thread would get the same responses in March when we are all cranky and gym crazy...?)
Tina · · Grand Junction/Delta, CO · Joined Dec 2007 · Points: 40

It is encouraging to hear so many positive things. I am not adverse to living outside of Burlington, I went to college in Plattsburgh and my sister lives in Peru, but I like the feel of Vermont a little more so I thought that would be nicer. As a side, do any of you know how much there is for off leash hiking/snowshoeing?
Thanks for all the help.

Tina

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northeastern States
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