Convince me Seattle is a good place to live...

Thanks for all the good replys everyone! This is very helpful. It's nice to have an online climbing community like this!

PS: didn't get the football references but I think I'm not missing much:)

When is the ice climbing season in Canada???

I live a little less than an hr south of Seattle and have lived in the city before as well as in Boulder. It is actually a really great city. There is a great music scene, great food, great beer, tons of different things to do, nice friendly people, good soccer and football team, etc etc...it has most of the redeeming qualities that any major city will have. Traffic can suck and does suck between 4pm and 6pm every day, but if you time your escapes right you can escape the traffic as well. There is great climbing within an easy day's drive to multiple locations but if your primary concern about where to move to next is access to rock then move to Boulder. Boulder has the canyon, eldo, flatirons, lumpy ridge/rmnp, and more all within an hr's drive (most of it being within 15min). You have Shelf, Rifle, SPlatte, gunnison, and more all within a days drive. Boulder has good beer, not so much great food, absolutely no good smoked salmon, great mountain biking trails, fly fishing, relatively little traffic, trust fund hippies, overpriced housing, and a great climbing community (so like any place it has it's drawbacks and its draw-in's). If all you want to do is rock climb then go to Boulder if you want more variety both in outdoor activities and city life then go to Seattle--sea kayaking, sailing, fly-fishing for salt and fresh water species, surfing, better skiing, better alpine and mountaineering and Canada.

What is the opinion of the PNWers of Leavenworth?

That is where my wife and I are targeting in the next 2/3 years. Employment isn't a concern, only the outdoor activities. From what I've seen, Leavenworth seems to be the spot to live up there for a concentration of mountain sports.

Raul P wrote:What is the opinion of the PNWers of Leavenworth? That is where my wife and I are targeting in the next 2/3 years. Employment isn't a concern, only the outdoor activities. From what I've seen, Leavenworth seems to be the spot to live up there for a concentration of mountain sports.

Leavenworth kicks ass, they have the least rain of any Cascades location

It may be worth asking the folks over at cascade climbers this question. I'm curious about Seattle myself.

Cascade Climbers is a good info source. Leavenworth is pretty top notch as far as outdoor recreation. Great climbing of all disciplines from boulder to trad to spectacular alpine and even ice all on good rock. Good whitewater kayaking and rafting, hiking, trout, steelhead and salmon fishing, skiing at Mission Ridge, Stevens Pass or the myriad backcountry locations and your surrounded by gorgeous scenery and really down to earth folks. Leavenworth is a small town though and it definitely feels like it. It also is pretty touristy year round with [people coming from the west-side to pretend they are in "Germany". Great little climbing community there though that grows like crazy during prime climbing season. If needing a job in Leavy is not a concern then by all means it would be a pretty fn place to live. Just dont expect much of a nightlife or anything in the way of culture or variety or anything else you'd find in a decent sized city because it doesnt exist there and Seattle is about 2.5hrs away.

What about Bellingham? They call them Hamsters. Any reason for that?

eyesonice2014 wrote:What about Bellingham? They call them Hamsters. Any reason for that?

Mostly because it's catchy. I heard a Moab local call the Durango climbers that flock to the Creek "Durangutans" I wanted a cool, funny story. Didn't get one it's just catchy. "Hamsters" is way cooler than his name for us Boulderites. Which was. Actually "Boulderites".

Slightly higher chance to find work than Leavenworth. But has a lot more rain. In the summer you'll have better access to the climbing of the blended whiskey folks up north than just about anyone.

Don't open your mouth about the best. When you try me Squamish weather...

Its not, move to Portland

Ashort wrote:Index is the best thing we have, and that's not saying much. It's always wet, meth heads everywhere, mosseneering not rock climbing, and you will definitely never be able to climb there in february. Squamish is the only world class destination, and it is far, always wet too. As another poster said there is a wide variety of other outdoor pursuits in the area, but be prepared to do them in freezing fog and rain. Boulder is a town, seattle is a city, that might affect your choice. They are both overpriced and full of yuppies who think their own farts smell delicious.

Squamish is not always wet. Some of it dries out the day after a rain, not all, but some. And you can find something to climb here (squamish) all through the winter.

I think that washington state is the mst diverse state in the lower 48.

If you are strictly looking for rock all of the time, Seattle is probably not your best bet.

If you like exploring the temperat rain forest, coastal mountains, coast, islands, montaineering and skiing steeeep snow. If you are into whitewater of all varieties, the desert and some other fascinating places, then Washington can keep you entertained for a lifetime or two.

Been living in the Seatlle area for many years now. All that has been said about wet,gray weather and mossy rock is true for cragging. Climbing in N.Cascades is the most spectacular alpine climbing in lower 48-IMO. Also better be a flaming liberal and love high taxes and high cost of living to fit into the Blue bubble of Seattle. Go to Boulder, you won't regret it.

johnthethird wrote: Squamish is not always wet. Some of it dries out the day after a rain, not all, but some. And you can find something to climb here (squamish) all through the winter.

Quiet you!

How about other redeeming things. Such as the general attitude in boulder is different there's an air of entitlement by some locals, it's a small upidy town)... Seattle is a big city with better food, nightlife, it's less of a college town. Seattle is on the ocean... Kayaking, fishing etc etc. Don't get me wrong my brother lived in Ned and boulder for 8 years. It's incredibly beautiful there. I just think it's a toss up.

In my humble opinion a lot of people in the NW make way too big a deal out of the rain. This my fifth winter living in the NW, and the winters here are waaay nicer than than those in the midwest, where I grew up. Sure it rains. But if you get a good raincoat you can still be outside without feeling miserable. And when people say it rains for 8 months, they mean it might rain on a given day during this 8 month period. Because there are some great days in there, and the other 4 months are perfect! I will say I've talked to natives who claim that it used to be grey all winter, and the last several years have been different.

Boulder is hard to beat in terms of cragging and decent weather, although you should get used to the idea of afternoon thunderstorms that can come out of nowhere. I lived in Seattle a couple years and loved it as a city, although Boulder has more for climbing and skiing.

Ryan Dirks wrote:In my humble opinion a lot of people in the NW make way too big a deal out of the rain. This my fifth winter living in the NW, and the winters here are waaay nicer than than those in the midwest, where I grew up. Sure it rains. But if you get a good raincoat you can still be outside without feeling miserable. And when people say it rains for 8 months, they mean it might rain on a given day during this 8 month period. Because there are some great days in there, and the other 4 months are perfect! I will say I've talked to natives who claim that it used to be grey all winter, and the last several years have been different. Boulder is hard to beat in terms of cragging and decent weather, although you should get used to the idea of afternoon thunderstorms that can come out of nowhere. I lived in Seattle a couple years and loved it as a city, although Boulder has more for climbing and skiing.

To a point your right about the rain thing. Sure it doesnt rain every day for 6 months out of the year but honestly it isnt even the rain that gets to people or the cold wet temps (which are hardly ever bone chillingly cold) its more to due with lack of sunshine. Our latitude brings us much shorter days then other parts of the country and it is overcast 80-90% of the time from Oct thru March. Also, even though similar, Seattle experiences a much wetter, cloudier winter than Portland.

Regarding the weather, isn't it always possible to drive east of Seattle to find dry weather? Seems like the mountains squeeze out all that moisture before the pass.
For a weekend trip, seems like a two hour drive is no big deal if you are guaranteed to get out of the rain. Can't do that in the Northeast.

I refuse to talk about Eastern Washington! Leave you Seattle-ites at Vantage... ha!

coldatom wrote:Regarding the weather, isn't it always possible to drive east of Seattle to find dry weather? Seems like the mountains squeeze out all that moisture before the pass. For a weekend trip, seems like a two hour drive is no big deal if you are guaranteed to get out of the rain. Can't do that in the Northeast.

I lived in the northeast for 22 years, and now am in Seattle, and I would say that your impression is true. While Seattle is hardly the best climate for climbing, I do think it can be a bit better than the northeast, for two reasons. First, as you recognize, you can drive a few hours east and be in the desert. In the Northeast, if it is raining where you are, there is a good chance that it is wet for 500 miles in every direction. Second, is that the PNW does get a few months of nearly guaranteed good weather in the summer, whereas in New England the summers can often be quite wet. In NH, it is not uncommon to suffer through a long cold winter, only to then have it rain all of July.

Of course, as all others have noted, the climate and proximity of rock in Boulder are vastly superior to Seattle.