Move to Greenville, SC?

My wife and I are thinking about moving to Greenville and I have a few questions. Where are some of the best spots to climb? What great spots are close enough for a day trip and what are some of the good weekend+ destinations. I looked on the map, but I'm sure everyone here can be much more helpful than a map. We love to be outdoors and the nice weather is our main motivation in wanting to move from upstate NY (we don't enjoy the winter that much). Do you have any general comments about Greenville or the surrounding area? Thank in advance!

Hey, I live in Anderson, SC, which is about half an hour west of Greenville. Greenville is a really nice town, it much more modern than probably any other city in South Carolina. As far as climbing goes, you have the two best crags in NC (Looking Glass and Rumbling Bald) both about an hour away, plus many others in North Carolina. You can also head up past NC to Tennessee or over to Georgia. There is also a brand new climbing gym in Greenville, as well as another one in Greer, about 20 minutes away.

Lots of stuff within 2 hours driving time. Pisgah crags like Looking Glass and Cedar Rock. Steep sport routes at Crowders Mountain. But I imagine you'll be spending most of your time at Rumbling Bald. It's mostly a winter climbing destination. It's probably a little bit longer drive to the high country grags like Ship Rock and Linville Gorge. Weekend destinations would probably include Tennessee and West Virginia crags like T-Wall and Foster Falls and the New River Gorge. I'd say the only downside of living in Greenville is the longish drive to Moore's.

Are there snakes, spiders, black flies (or any other animals/bugs that are more common in SC than other parts of the US) that limit your ability to enjoy the outdoors?

Of course there are snakes, spiders and flies that will keep some folks from enjoying the great outdoors, but generally nothing you should be too scared of. We have rattlesnakes and copperheads, but tend to see them rarely...also black widows and brown recluse spiders, but once again, rarely encountered. The Carolina Climbers Coalition is a good place for info...we've been making a push for SC access over the past couple of years and hopefully there will be even more places to climb nearby soon. Table Rock state park is the only legal roped climbing around, but routes tend to start around 5.10 and are pretty heady leads. The Jocassee Gorges have some great boulderfields with some great routes, as well as fun mountain biking, hiking and whitewater and flatwater kayaking too. I've been running a website about local access and nearby bouldering (and other outdoor fun nearby) for a few years and I've just finished a guidebook with good info on the Jocassee Gorges too... UpstateBouldering.blogspot.com. Greenville is becoming a little more progressive than its super conservative traditions...it ain't no Asheville, but it offers enough for most outdoor enthusiasts and the like. Swamp Rabbit Trail is a great rails to trail connecting Greenville to a small town called Travelers Rest, which offers the best outfitter in the area, Sunrift Adventures, and some nice small eateries. The downtown Greenville area has been redone from its dingy industrial past and is now the main attraction of the town...nice shops, restaurants street festivals several times a year and great parks to enjoy make Greenville much more manageable than it used to be. I've lived in the area all of my life and can give you more specifics on whatever you're interested in, if you have any other questions. The one bad thing, IMO, is the over the top fundamentalists that tend to dominate everything in the area...we are truly the buckle on the bible belt, and some of theses folks make the place difficult for free thoughts to be exchanged, and if you don't agree with their opinion, expect to be discriminated against (they like to call it the "good ole boy system"). If you can avoid these whackos, Greenville can be a pretty fun place!!!

J Miles wrote:My wife and I are thinking about moving to Greenville and I have a few questions. Where are some of the best spots to climb? What great spots are close enough for a day trip and what are some of the good weekend+ destinations. I looked on the map, but I'm sure everyone here can be much more helpful than a map. We love to be outdoors and the nice weather is our main motivation in wanting to move from upstate NY (we don't enjoy the winter that much). Do you have any general comments about Greenville or the surrounding area? Thank in advance!

Greenville is a great city to live in. Lively downtown, good culture and food, a very active community overall. Though the climbing community isnt particularly big there are regulars in the area like myself (though i will not be here next year) and others in the surrounding area. 2 gyms, ones a small bouldering oriented gym the other is more top roping about 20 minutes outside of town. Everybody else pretty much summed it up. Close to alot of crags and multipitch endeavours. Depending what you do work can be easy or difficult to find just like everywhere else. We have a good mix of people from locals to foreigners (BMW, GE, Bosch, Flour, Michellin, Mitsubishi all have major offices/plants here).

I've lived in Boston, NJ, Illinois, and abroad and once you get over the strangely conservative tendencies of the deep south its one heck of a place to live.

You must work for GE. Global research?