Best place to be in the NW from Mid August to Mid November

Hola. Travel mursing vandwealer looking for ideas for next assignment. Was planing on Bend but contract may not go through.

Any immediate thoughts? I know this is an old debate but thought I'd ask anyway.

Thinking about Seattle for I love that city, but for day trips the options seem grim. I am in the process of getting my OR an WA license.

Thank you!

what time of climbing are you looking for?

Ah, that would be useful information.

Bend was appealing because of Smith and all the crack climbing. So, I guess we're looking for a high concentration of easy access, quality crags. Like Flagstaff, Chattanooga, Boulder. That sort of situation, but Northwestern. Perhaps Aug-Nov is the wrong season for the NW?

Jerimiah Gentry wrote:Ah, that would be useful information. Bend was appealing because of Smith and all the crack climbing. So, I guess we're looking for a high concentration of easy access, quality crags. Like Flagstaff, Chattanooga, Boulder. That sort of situation, but Northwestern. Perhaps Aug-Nov is the wrong season for the NW?

sept-nov is ideal leavenworth season, and plenty of places to dirtbag. If you can find something east of the pass such as wenatchee you'd be fine. Day trips or weekend trips from seattle aren't that bad, and index is only 1 hour away so it can be a day/half day destination with world class granite

came here to sing the praises of index. it's a day trip away from seattle and is world class granite. it's a bit hot right now, but there's plenty of shady crags at index to keep you busy.

Jeremiah, PM me, I'm a nurse in wenatchee and can hook you up on good info!

First of all, Thank you everyone for the quick and helpful cluster of responses. I have heard great things about Index! I forgot about the place. I didn't realize how close the cragging was. I was a nanno (male nanny) on Vashon 18 years ago and was just getting into climbing, and recall bumble fucking my way up something at .... exit 39? 37? So that's my only remote memory of climbering there.

This is a definite +3 for Seattle. I have family and friends there and enjoy the city so this is good. Nick I'll send you a message.

Jerimiah

exit 38 is a poor representation of the sort of climbing that we get here in the northwest. don't let it dissuade you.

haha funny that I said 37 & 39. Yeah, that was a long time ago, I was a gumby and I see from the MntProj, hearsay, harrowing stories from haggared mnt men and perty pictures in the mags that the place is wonderful.

How's the traffic situation? Getting out of town?

If one wants to go to Squamish for a three day 'weekend', that's manageable, right?

Late summer into fall would be a reasonably good time to be here. August-September should offer good weather on the west side, allowing for climbing at Index, Squamish, Little Si (Exit 32), etc. If/when it gets rainy on the west side in October, you shift your attentions over to the east side; October is a great month for Leavenworth. Based on the very strong El Nino building this year, it is expected that this could be a reasonably dry fall for Washington, so that helps too; we can potentially hope for good weather well into October and November.

Index is an accessible day trip; a little over an hour from Seattle. Great crag, difficult climbing, stiff grades. Little Si (Exit 32) offers very good quality difficult sport climbing (45 minutes from Seattle). Exit 38 is a bit farther and offers easier sport climbing, but at lower quality. On the east side, Vantage offer a lot of sport climbing, mostly at at moderately low grades and moderately low quality, in a desert setting that lets you escape the rain. Leavenworth offers adequate to good trad climbing, and excellent bouldering; it is 2.5 hours away and is also much drier than Seattle. Lots of bouldering in the Index/Gold Bar region also. WA Pass offers "roadside" access to long alpine rock routes; this will be good in late summer (3 hours away).

Squamish is 3.5 hours away and is awesome. This is very doable for an occasional weekend, but it would be very tiring to do it every weekend. With smart timing, the border isn't too big an issue in terms of slowing down the drive.

Seattle is definitely full-bore urban living, with pros including jobs, culture, and interesting intelligent people, and cons including traffic, high cost of living, traffic, a bit of a drive to get to climbing, and traffic. Did I mention traffic? It is a serious issue here. It may not quite be as bad as LA, SF, NY, or Boston, but it still will impact your daily life unless you plan carefully around it.

If you want to live and work in a city and also be able to do some climbing, Seattle is nice. If you want to live in a climbing town with super easy access to climbing, look elsewhere. It is not Flagstaff or Boulder or SLC.

If you want to spend time in WA but be closer to climbing, consider looking for jobs in some of the smaller towns. Leavenworth/Wenatchee would be an obvious choice. West side foothills (like Monroe) would allow for access to Index.

JCM nailed it.

Jerimiah wrote: Bend was appealing because of Smith and all the crack climbing.

Irony defined

Spectacular beta people! Thank you.

We'll be in heading to Squamish via Central OR soon so that will nail down the decision.

Oh I wasn't going for irony with the Smith crack climbing remark, I meant to say something like: "a lot of sport climbing with enough crack climbing for some occasional variety." Or something. Words. Blarg.