Burlington
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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. |
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Adirondacks to the left. White Mountains to the right. Gunks below. Good climbing above in Canada. |
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What kind is season is it? Any place to climb during the winter besides ice or is it strictly a three season area? |
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Lower West in Bolton is south facing and at low elevation, so there may be some climbable rock there during the winter. |
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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. |
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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] |
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Proximity is key for climbing AND family. |
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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. |
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Thanks for all the detailed info Max.. |
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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! |
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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. |
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Haha you probably know there's only two seasons in VT, winter and not winter!! |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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) |
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Well if you live down by the tracks things are cheap enough that you can make ends meet cutting lettuce. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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...?) |
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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? |