Where in the USA? Best small to medium-size climbing town
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Chris Schmidt wrote: I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if this area is all hickvilleCrested Butte used to be hickville until a bunch of spoiled, entitled trush fund hippies took it over, same can be said for a lot of mountain towns in Colorado. Too bad more people weren't turned away by Colorado's backwardness, it would be a nicer place to live. |
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Rick Blair wrote: Crested Butte used to be hickville until a bunch of spoiled, entitled trush fund hippies took it over, same can be said for a lot of mountain towns in Colorado. Too bad more people weren't turned away by Colorado's backwardness, it would be a nicer place to live.I'm glad someone said something. I'm afraid a lot of the formerly great, little mountain, hick towns are loosing there hickness. Once a whole foods opens up you know your doomed. Frisco was once my favorite but now it's gone all gluten free. There are still a few gems left. |
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Gluten free...Yuck. |
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Jim Turner wrote:Gluten free...Yuck. What I like about WF is that you can easily buy foods that aren't made of petrochemicals. Which is no small feat at most grocers. Of course it costs more, because making synthetic imitations is much cheaper than the old way. Did ya ever wonder what those hard-to-pronounce ingredients are made of?The identical things we are made of and eat our entire lives - chemicals. (Image credit: James Kennedy) [More at: jameskennedymonash.wordpres… ] |
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Rick Blair wrote: Crested Butte used to be hickville until a bunch of spoiled, entitled trush fund hippies took it over, same can be said for a lot of mountain towns in Colorado. Too bad more people weren't turned away by Colorado's backwardness, it would be a nicer place to live.haha millionaires in cowboy hats and carhartts driving a F350 that's never seen a piece of hay touch it. |
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My wife and I went through this process several years ago ... |
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John McNamee wrote:My wife and I went through this process several years ago ... What we were looking for: 1. Close to a hospital so she can work part time 2. Good skiing both lift and backcountry 3. Okay climbing close by so you can get out for an hour. Good climbing within a couple of hours. 4. Great road and mtb biking 5. A good community to live in with like minded people. In the end we decided that it is pretty hard to beat living in summit county, Co.I chose to not live in Colorado on the nursing angle. I'm much happier in California than I was in a similar right to work state as a RN. Six figure salary, mandatory nurse patient ratios. Mandated breaks. Much, much happier. I'm a union man, baby! But I'm not into skiing or snow sports, so that radically changes the outlook. |
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Won't be long before eggs have synthetic imitations, since they are nothing but chemicals. Once researchers figure out how to manipulate corn, soy, cotton and oil into an egg, people will be excited. It's probably too hard to make fake egg shell, so maybe they'll just scramble it and put in cartons |
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Jim Turner wrote:Won't be long before eggs have synthetic imitations, since they are nothing but chemicals. Once researchers figure out how to manipulate corn, soy, cotton and oil into an egg, people will be excited. It's probably too hard to make fake egg shell, so maybe they'll just scramble it and put in cartonshttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2561374/The-artificial-egg-set-China-San-Francisco-firm-reveals-backing-Asias-richest-man-radical-plant-based-egg.html motherboard.vice.com/blog/s… And on a related note.... geneticliteracyproject.org/… |
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Colonel Mustard wrote: I chose to not live in Colorado on the nursing angle. I'm much happier in California than I was in a similar right to work state as a RN. Six figure salary, mandatory nurse patient ratios. Mandated breaks. Much, much happier. I'm a union man, baby! But I'm not into skiing or snow sports, so that radically changes the outlook.and that is why California is bankrupt. lol but that aside California is a climbing paradise |
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MClay wrote:I'm leaning more towards some of the rural/hick towns.Real hicks don't live in towns |
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nate post wrote: and that is why California is bankrupt. lol but that aside California is a climbing paradiseYes, nurses bankrupted California. I look forward to your WSJ article ;). I dig my locale, it is certainly not in the OP's wheelhouse though. |
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Manitou Springs, Co. |
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Grand Junction is pretty sweet. Rifle is 75 minutes away, Moab and Ouray are less than two hours. There are several hundred trad routes within about 20 minutes of downtown, and more than 1000 boulder problems. If you are wiling to explore, there is a lifetime of rock around here. Oh, and Maple is 4 hours. |
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Again, thanks for all the advice, offers, and general musings. It has led to a lot of discussions with my wife and tons of time on Google maps, wikipedia etc. Doesn't look like we will be relocating immediately - maybe in next year or two. |
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I think the priority should be relocating to a town in which you feel comfortable, safe, and is good for raising kids. Proximity to good climbing, has to, in my mind, be a notch below that. As for climbing styles, it is likely you will work something out, just be willing to drive more than you like. Here in the NE, good sport climbing is 1.5 to 2 hours away. Good trad, 2.5 to 3.5 hours away, etc. I like visiting new areas so we take road trips, out West, down South, whatever strikes our fancy and within our budget. In the winter, it does not hurt to have eight(!) gyms in Eastern MA alone. :) |
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You will definitely find one style and type of rock you prefer over others. Maybe you already have a pretty good idea of what that is. Or maybe you don't because you have not experienced it yet. Only way you are gonna realize figure this out is with mileage and trying out new areas. |
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Boulder... |
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MClay wrote:Again, thanks for all the advice, offers, and general musings. It has led to a lot of discussions with my wife and tons of time on Google maps, wikipedia etc. Doesn't look like we will be relocating immediately - maybe in next year or two. One of the key components of the parameters that no one really commented on was the range of styles - as climbers starting a bit later in life how much would it factor in to a long-term decision to relocate to a climbing town? Would you rather have a great diversity of climbing styles? Or one predominate style of your home crag that you master over the years?Either method can be fine, one issue with always climbing the same style is that it can end up getting kind of boring after a while. I know that it doesn't fit the small town portion of what you are looking for, but you might check out Salt lake City for at least a little while to figure out what you like. Within Salt Lake County you have granite, quartzite, limestone, conglomerate, and schist in all climbing styles. Moving out from the valley itself you have several destination areas a short drive away. Maple = 1.5 hours, City of Rocks/Castle Rock = 2.5 hours, Moab, = 4 hours, St. George/Zion = 4 hours, Indian Creek = 5 hours, Red Rock = 6 hours. In my opinion it would be a great place to gain more experience on a variety of different types of rock and styles of climbing. The culture in SLC would still take some getting used to, but would be much easier to adjust to than somewhere like St. George. As far as winters, yes you do get some snow from November to April, but it rarely stays on the ground for more than a week at a time except for maybe in January and February, and if you chase the sun you can climb outside every month of the year. Figure out what you like first, then you will be able to make a choice on what small town you want based on what is available in that area. Most smaller climbing towns tend to be less varied in my experience. |
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kennoyce wrote: Either method can be fine, one issue with always climbing the same style is that it can end up getting kind of boring after a while. I know that it doesn't fit the small town portion of what you are looking for, but you might check out Salt lake City for at least a little while to figure out what you like. Within Salt Lake County you have granite, quartzite, limestone, conglomerate, and schist in all climbing styles. Moving out from the valley itself you have several destination areas a short drive away. Maple = 1.5 hours, City of Rocks/Castle Rock = 2.5 hours, Moab, = 4 hours, St. George/Zion = 4 hours, Indian Creek = 5 hours, Red Rock = 6 hours. In my opinion it would be a great place to gain more experience on a variety of different types of rock and styles of climbing. The culture in SLC would still take some getting used to, but would be much easier to adjust to than somewhere like St. George. As far as winters, yes you do get some snow from November to April, but it rarely stays on the ground for more than a week at a time except for maybe in January and February, and if you chase the sun you can climb outside every month of the year. Figure out what you like first, then you will be able to make a choice on what small town you want based on what is available in that area. Most smaller climbing towns tend to be less varied in my experience.After spending close to 20 years in the SLC area I'll say all of that is true and the mid winter climbing can be awesome somewhere in the state BUT the air quality for about 100 days a year can be so bad that everyone you know is getting sick. When you live right next to huge mountains and you cant see them through the smog it gets a little depressing. |