Moving to Arizona...

Ahhhh! I need out of Albuquerque.
Lookin to move somewhere in Arizona sometime soon.
I'm lookin' for:

1) Nice roads for bicycling (as i have no car and i have no plans to own a car anytime soon)

2) A bunch of restaurant options - for potential work

3) Climbing/Bouldering within bicycling distance

4) Lots of enthusiastic climbers with lots of free time

5) Fairly low rent or houseshare opportunities

6) Libraries

7) Some public transport

8) Independent coffee shops

9) Progressive minded peeps

Where should I go?
Thanks for any input.

You might like Tempe AZ: lots of climbers since it is a college town; light rail right in town; coffee shops cuz its a college town; progressive folks; relatively cheap housing; plenty of eating establishments; centrally located in the metro area, too. Tempe also has plenty of bike lanes. There is good roadie riding here, too. Look me up for biking, too.

I've lived here 21 years and love it! Trad or sport climbing within an hour of town; long or short approaches; climbs from sport to 1000' backcountry fun stuff; great hiking; canyoneering if you like; kayaking at the right time of year; lots of primo mountain biking; most people are friendly; close to CA, NM, CO, NV, UT, Mexico!

If you know where to go it is easy to get away from folks if you wish.

Send me a PM if you want some more info. You will find we AZ climbers welcoming, and fun. Welcome to Arizona...its a dry heat (a local's joke...it is way hot, but a dry heat.)

If you typed all your requests into google it would come back and read Flagstaff. Hands down. Cheers

Probably better check out Flagstaff and Tuscon before you make a final decision. Phoenix (Tempe) does have plenty of local climbing though, and the light rail!

Tucsonans are progressive with a capital P and they also drive really well.

Amanda Marie wrote:Ahhhh! I need out of Albuquerque. Lookin to move somewhere in Arizona sometime soon. I'm lookin' for: 1) Nice roads for bicycling (as i have no car and i have no plans to own a car anytime soon) 2) A bunch of restaurant options - for potential work 3) Climbing/Bouldering within bicycling distance 4) Lots of enthusiastic climbers with lots of free time 5) Fairly low rent or houseshare opportunities 6) Libraries 7) Some public transport 8) Independent coffee shops 9) Progressive minded peeps Where should I go? Thanks for any input.

Can't speak to the coffee shops, but barring this I'd suggest Tucson.

From a climbing standpoint, Tucson has a huge amount to offer: comfortable climbing year 'round, sport, trad, cragging, multipitch, etc.

She needs a job...good luck with that in Flagstaff. Not easy to make a living up there. Tucson could work, however. Being from Phoenix, I'm biased, of course. Phoenix is more centrally located for climbing both north and south in the state, however.

Mt Lemmon is awesome and I haven't even been to Cochise yet but isn't Tuscon kind of far away from everything else? It seems like an 8 hour drive to Red Rocks is a lot different than a 5 or 3 hour drive.

Or am I the only one who evaluates a location solely on its proximity to red rocks?

28 years in Tucson and we are 3-7 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Tons of independent restaurants, coffee shops and book stores and bike shops. Bike lanes and routes galore, U of Arizona and all the stuff that brings to a town. Bouldering isn't great but there is more and more every year and the stuff that is here is will keep you busy for a while. Mt. Lemmon, at the top of the Catalina Mountains, 9100 feet at the top. Nice and cool relatively speaking in the summer. Close to 2000 routes on the mountain alone. Starting at the bottom and working your way up you will find tons of trad and sport climbing year around. Then there is the Stronghold 1-2 hours depending on where you go. Mendoza Canyon. La Milagrosa which is at the bottom of Mt. Lemmon. The back side of the Catalinas, The Homestead, limestone 1.5 hours, The Mustang is a little over and hour away. The Dry has steep limestone and is about an hour and a half away. Tons of climbers that meet at a coffee shop on almost any weekend day. Man I should get a job with the chamber of commerce!

Eric is correct about the Tucson scene. You should consider Tucson also. Wonderful climbing down there. And you could ride that road bike up the Catalina Highway for a great leg and lung pump. Tucson-Phoenix, Phoenix-Tucson? I'm being bi-polar. Check them both out. In my opinion, Mt Lemmon is probably the premier mountain for rock climbing in AZ. As Eric stated, Lemmon has it all and you can crag there year round depending on how low or high you go in elevation.

Tradster wrote:She needs a job...good luck with that in Flagstaff. Not easy to make a living up there. Tucson could work, however. Being from Phoenix, I'm biased, of course. Phoenix is more centrally located for climbing both north and south in the state, however.

All the college kids are gone, so that leaves a lot of affordable rooms to rent. Plenty of restaurant options to find employment at right now.

Christian wrote:Tucsonans are progressive with a capital P and they also drive really well.

Good one. Another vote for Flag.

Tucson: Main advantage is year-round climbing (it's not so much the 3-7 degrees but the fact that near the summit of Mt Lemmon, it can easily be 30 degrees cooler than in the city). Job market not as good as Phoenix but definitely better than Flagstaff. A bike and climbing don't mix here (or in any of these cities) but finding rides wouldn't be a problem, there's strong camaraderie in the Tucson climbing community and everybody knows everybody. No awesome splitters like near Flag. Maybe the cheapest cost of living?

Phoenix: Best job market and closer to splitters of Flag, but in the (6-month) summer you might get a couple of hours in the early morning before it gets really hot. You'd have to road-trip somewhere, you're not gonna get a casual last-minute afternoon climbing session at Prison Camp like you could in Tucson. More big city issues like traffic.

Flag: Probably the best climbing overall but may be too cold in winter. Less jobs and apparently not as cheap as it used to be with the influx of deep-pocketed new residents "discovering" it. Probably the most "progressive" youth scene, if I even understand what you mean by that.

Move to Boulder, CO.

I have fallen in love with this town and it meets all of your needs.

Flagstaff has a lot of what you are looking for, other things are debatable. The job market here is pretty skeery; there are restaurants but lots of bodies wanting to work there. The climbing scene is wonderful...so many people climb and are willing to meet new people/partners. You can absolutely climb in the winter here but there are time when you'll be shut down. Our library system is a joke (IMHO) but I still find things to read there.
I"m not sure about rent...it's cheap to me but I moved here from San Diego so take that for what it's worth.
There's a few local coffee houses plus the requisite Starbucks (but it was 4 months before I even knew where they were!).
Again, the climbing scene is phenom. If you're a 5.12-5.13 climber you may get bored soon but if not, you've got a lot of rock to play on!

There is a large trail system here as well that can keep you off main roads for quite aways. The bus system (I've heard) is good or at least decent. Better than what I remember Albuquerque's being for sure.
Overall, Flagstaff is a great place to live for a climber.

Plus, Flag gets snow.

I cant see why Phoenix is even being considered. People dont move here on puropose.

Luke Wakefield wrote:I cant see why Phoenix is even being considered. People dont move here on puropose.

ummmmm. So you say. Different strokes for different folks. I love Tempe. I moved here to work at ASU (on purpose).

Tempe has good food (Trick's, others), great beer (and nice bars- Boulders on Broadway, Four Peaks, Casey Moore's), nice folks (I have many good friends here now), the light rail (I use it daily), some biking lanes, free bus service (Orbit), independent coffee shops (I stay away from Starbucks), progressive individuals, good libraries, and a range in grocery alternatives (Trader Joe's, Sunflower, Whole Foods- also Fresh Market). And, it is centrally located:

From here one can go:
1) North to Isolation canyon (1 hr 50 min), Jacks (2 hrs 45 min), Clear Creek, Sedona (~ 2 hrs), the Overlook and Waterfall (2.5 hrs), The Forks (~ 3 hrs), King Dome (~ 2 hrs)

2) West to Cali for J-tree (~4 to 4 hrs 30 min) and Tahquitz (~5.5 hrs),

3) South and East to Cochise (3 hrs), and Mt Lemmon (also about 3 hrs)

4) Northwest to Red Rock (5.5 hrs),

5) East to Queen Creek (1 hr- 1.5 hrs to Lower Devils), Tamo, and the Homestead.

One could, technically, ride a bike to South Mountain to boulder (in winter).

Rock opportunities include: 1) Limestone, 2) Sandstone, 3) Rhyolite, 4) Quartzite, 5) Granite, 6) Basalt (have I missed any?).

Thus, the Valley in general offers a variety of rock in relatively close proximity for year-round climbing.

Tucson is nice, of course, but there is no freeway system (takes forever to get anywhere). As Christian mentioned, the folks do drive nice (nice like my Grandma used to drive!). Lemmon and Cochise are close, and they offer great year-round climbing, but everywhere else becomes 2 hrs more of driving.

Flag is nice, but cold (and far from Cochise and Mt. Lemmon).

my vote: Tempe.

Your debate should really be between Tucson and Flagstaff in my opinion. Here are the winners of your requirements:

1) probably tied - Tucson has been nationally recognized as bike friendly, but Flag is smaller as a city
2) Tucson wins
3) Probably neither but Flag has a crag closer to town. Though you can't beat Tucson for the variety of climbing around - tons of sport, trad, adventure, short stuff, multipitch; though not much bouldering. We have a lifetimes worth of climbing here.
4) Don't know about Flag, but Tucson has a GREAT climbing scene. Groups are going up Mt. Lemmon every weekend day; we socialize together; this weekend we'll have a group of about 15 up at Paradise Forks climbing/hanging out
5) definitely Tucson
6) can't tell you who wins that one
7) Tucson's is okay
8) can't tell you
9) both places have pretty liberal scenes though Flag is usually considered the hippie capital of AZ

I moved to Tucson last summer, and so far completely love the city and the climbing. And yeah, you COULD ride to a few of the closer crags, but it would be a lot easier to make some friends who could meet you somewhere along the way. The desert is amazing, great local coffee shops, tons of live music, riding around town is a breeze, and there are lifetimes worth of year-round climbing here.

Flag is pretty sweet, too, though...

I think you shoud move to Flag in the summer, head to Phx in the winter, go to Tucson in the spring. Everybody happy?