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Las Vegas, Reno, or Bozeman for grad school?

Original Post
Claire Rasmussen · · Bozeman, MT · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 5

I'm trying to decide where to go to grad school next year. If you've lived in one or more of these cities I would love your opinion on the general quality of life, how cohesive and friendly the climbing community is, the ease with which someone new to town can find climbing partners, that sort of thing.

Also, in regard to Las Vegas, I'm wondering how safe the neighborhoods around UNLV are. Safe enough to walk home alone from campus at 9pm? Or is that a bad idea anywhere in Vegas?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Joe Manlove · · Sonora, CA · Joined Jan 2009 · Points: 108

What're you planning on studying? The climbing community is bozo is pretty cohesive, but the climbing is mostly ice for 9 months. If you want to get lots of skiing or work in bozo is great. If winter's not your thing and you want to climb alot and work minimally go someplace else.

Cheers

alpinglow · · city, state · Joined Mar 2001 · Points: 25

Wouldn't the quality of the school be a larger factor?

Lurk Er · · Truckee, CA · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 5,289

Reno is a pretty good bet. I can't speak to the Reno climbing community, but the Tahoe climbing community is pretty big, and generally friendly.

Not much climbing to speak of in Reno proper. 45 to 90 minute drives will put you within a lifetime of amazing granite in the Tahoe Basin tho. Bishop is 3 hours south, and there's some good winter bouldering in Doyle, about 45 minutes north of Reno.

How many days a week will you be in school? A lot of people commute to UNR from Truckee.

Skiing in Tahoe is pretty phenomenal too. Some of the most accessible backcountry you'll find anywhere.

W L · · NEVADASTAN · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 851

#1 - Go to the program that will get you to where you want to go beyond your 2+ years of battling through grad school. It is way more important to get into a good program and make it happen in that respect; if there is awesome climbing nearby that is a nice bonus.

#2 - I did both undergrad and grad school in Reno. Give you an idea on my background, I went to high school in Las Vegas as well and am living back down here again now after getting a job down here. Living in Summerlin is THE way to go if you are living in Vegas. I would strongly recommend against living near UNLV. A friend of mine was robbed at gunpoint in broad daylight there a couple of years ago. That being said, her experience may not necessarily be the norm there.

LVMPD Crime Mapping

That should help you, make sure to set the date parameters to as far back as you can so as to get the fullest understanding from the data.

It also depends on what kind of town you are looking for...Vegas and Reno are very different. Both are great towns, but for different reasons. Can't speak to Bozeman, as I have never been there.

The Reno and Tahoe climbing communities are pretty easy to find partners in, and I have had no difficulties finding partners here in Vegas (or having old friends come visit now during high season). As is mentioned up-thread, the Reno area doesn't suck for climbing. Lifetimes worth of rock 45 mins + away. Awesome access to other areas. Same with Vegas except you have Red Rock in your backyard. That doesn't suck, either.

Sorry for the lack of a cogent response, been up for a lot of hours today after returning from an Eastern time zone business trip. Best of luck in your decision, make school the #1 priority and the remainder should sort itself out best. Let the real internal debate be a point of contention once you have competing job offers from companies in those cities....

SteveP · · front royal VA · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 10

Vegas. hands down.

oh, yeah, and whichever program gives you an assistantship.

Claire Rasmussen · · Bozeman, MT · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 5

John - Thanks so much for your response. I'm kind of leaning toward Vegas, but had some reservations due to its reputation. It's really encouraging to hear a good review.

Joe - I'll be studying math. Only ice climbing for 9 months!?! I had no idea the winters where that bad. I do like to ski, but I don't know if I want it to be my only option for 9 months...

alpinglow - The quality of the school is indeed an important factor, but as John pointed out, this is research I can do (and have done) on my own.

Weston - Thanks so much for the crime mapping link and the advice on neighborhood choice. All of these programs are pretty comparable and UNLV and MSU have offered me assistantships (still waiting on UNR, but I'm optimistic), so at this point I'm just trying to gather as much additional information as possible.

Dow Williams · · St. George, Utah; Canmore, AB · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 240

Some good responses to ponder here Clair...I have seen few posts regarding this subject cover three such diverse options....completely different. I have lived in Incline Village (Lake Tahoe), Canmore, Alberta (similar seasons and temps as Bozeman)and St.George, UT, the desert 1.5hrs from Vegas. The amount of potential rock climbing hours available to you in the desert vs your other two choices is quite substantial. If you enjoy winter sports, particularly ice climbing, Bozeman would offer you a much better close-knit climbing community than anywhere in California or Nevada. But your trad climbing skills would progress so much more if you lived in the desert near a climbing area like Red Rock, Jtree, Moab, Sedona or Zion.

Unlike Portland, where you appear to be from, which is a very progressive city and allows 3 hens per household in city limits....Vegas mandates 3 guns per household....just kidding (sort of)...downtown Vegas is not unlike most any other of its size with the exception of its transient population being larger (tourists=more opportunity for theft; warmer climate). I know several young ladies who live and go to school at UNLV who manage it just fine...having to be no more prudent than any other coed at a major downtown University (GA State in Atlanta for example).

Good luck on such a unique decision...my last three decisions on where I have lived have been solely based on my desires...treat each day like it is your last, with limited amount of fear...we are all dying day by day anyway. Every night you can lay your head down in your pillow with a smile is a huge win. Cheers.

W L · · NEVADASTAN · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 851

May the school that gives you the best assistantship offer relative to cost of living in the area win! None of those three locations suck, again, I can only speak on Vegas and Reno as those are the cities listed that I have lived in, but I am loving the fact that I can drive 5 mins from my house to Red Rock. Absolutely love it. However, I do miss driving 45 mins to Donner Summit and taking a swim in the lake with my friends on a hot day.

What my rambling response is trying to say is that regardless you will make a good decision and it will have its own strengths and opportunities. Enjoy the ride that is grad school (MS or PhD?) and make sure you check on employment placement rates for these schools.

Happy climbing!

Dan Bachen · · Helena, MT · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 1,083

Winters in Bozeman can be a bit long. I generally stop rope climbing in late October/ early November and start again in March (weather permitting). There is some decent winter bouldering about an hour away near Butte, that can be pretty nice if it's sunny and above freezing.

Having to switch to skiing for 4-5 months could be worse, Bridger bowl is >20 minutes from town and has some epic in-bounds skiing if you have a beacon, Bigsky is about an hour south. If backcounty is more your style Hyalite is great for an after work lap or something more epic.

Other than that the quality of life here is pretty good, low crime, medium sized college town with a great outdoor culture. I've been a grad student here for 2 years and have no regrets.

David A · · Gardnerville, NV · Joined Oct 2008 · Points: 405

Reno!

rockratrei · · Las Vegas, NV · Joined Jul 2002 · Points: 396

I went to grad school at UNLV and choose it because of the year round climbing ! Beyond grad school I lived in Vegas for 12 years and climbed every summer in Red Rock(go out early before the sun rises find a north facing wall climb until noon and race outta there!)
I also climbed all of the surrounding areas ! ! !
Lived off Tropicanna and Maryland Pkwy in the 1990's not sure how
that is now. If you want to go to UNLV talk to students to get
the dirt.

Happy studying and climbing!

plantmandan · · Brighton, CO · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 85

Reno is closest to Tahoe, the Eastern Sierra, and Burning Man.

Dow Williams · · St. George, Utah; Canmore, AB · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 240

off topic, but hasn't Burning Man kind of turned into a yuppie, but wanna be dirtbagger, festival at $400+ a pop or whatever they charge now days??? I also heard rumors it was heading south.

plantmandan · · Brighton, CO · Joined Sep 2010 · Points: 85
Dow Williams wrote:off topic, but hasn't Burning Man kind of turned into a yuppie, but wanna be dirtbagger, festival at $400+ a pop or whatever they charge now days??? I also heard rumors it was heading south.
Well, people have been speaking about the demise of Burning Man since they banned recreational shooting and imposed a speed limit there in 1996.

You might find some climbing there as well.
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Cale Hoopes · · Sammamish, WA · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 10

Bozeman. Better ice.

Aerili · · Los Alamos, NM · Joined Mar 2007 · Points: 1,875

Lived in Reno for a while and attended UNR for a short time. Small climbing community which is loosely associated (I was comparing it to the Phoenix climbing community I was used to). Finding good, consistent, long term partners in town was a so-so probability in my experience. You can always find lots of other good pards to meet out of the surrounding California areas.

Reno has mostly great, four season weather and great access to a variety of top notch climbing. I would imagine Vegas is more like a two season place (I base this on a lot of trips there during my Arizona years and the fact that Vegas has a similar climate to the Sonoran Desert).

I think driving around Reno is not nearly as bad as getting around the Vegas area due to size and population.

If you go to Vegas, keep in mind living on the Red Rocks side of town means a much longer commute to school. In my experience, living close to school is much more important than living a few minutes from climbing because you'll spend a lot more of your time at school.

I recently visited Bozeman but not enough time spent there to tell you anything other than you should probably like winter-ish activities more than summer-ish, although the town is not excessively snowier than Reno in winter.

sqwirll · · Las Vegas · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 1,360

Depends what you're more into. I've lived in Bozeman and Vegas for substantial periods of time.

If you're more into climbing, I'd say Vegas. Although skiing and ice climbing are close enough to satisfy your needs.

If you're more into skiing and ice climbing, I'd say Bozeman. There are no destination climbing near Bozeman (unless you count the Tetons), but there are a ton of cool climbing areas really close to town. You can climb granite, gneiss, & limestone all within 1 hour of town.

I'd move back to Bozeman in a heartbeat (even with the hipster explosion), but the pay up there is pretty crap.

That said, living in Vegas is way cooler than it would seem at first glance.

W L · · NEVADASTAN · Joined Mar 2010 · Points: 851

Might I also add that with prudent selection of canyon and aspect, Vegas offers a more hospitable habitat for summer climbing than most give it credit for...

JCM · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2008 · Points: 115
Weston L wrote:Might I also add that with prudent selection of canyon and aspect, Vegas offers a more hospitable habitat for summer climbing than most give it credit for...
Especially if you enjoy pocketed limestone; shady crags at Mt. Charleston can be absolutely prime (i.e. belaying with a sweatshirt or jacket on) even when it is triple digits temperature on the Strip.
Woodchuck ATC · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 3,280

Vegas for sure,,,with so many other great places to climb within a short days drive too. UNLV must have something decent to study...

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Nevada
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