Seattle or snohomish?

I am moving to the seattle area and trying to decide between living
on capital hill or Snohomish. Snohomish looks like a nice town
I currently live in the Gunks (new paltz NY). I am curious as to what the climbing scene would be like in each place.
thoughts on either place is appreciated.

don Henline
dwhenline@hotmail.com

Seattle is closer to North Bend and Snoqualmie, both places have climbing, though I wouldn't call it stellar.
Snohomish is an hour from Index and Gold Bar with lots of awesome granite sport and trad climbing, and two hours from Leavenworth with even more awesome granite climbing. And Snohomish is a pretty nice town with a better cost of living and community IMO.

Interesting options. Capitol hill is an extremely busy, crowded neighborhood of seattle. Full of hipsters and young professionals. Very expensive. Snohomish is a small rural town, pretty much what you would expect. Cap hill is 40 minutes to North Bend (exit 32 and 38), Snohomish is 40 minutes to Index/Goldbar. They both have plenty of climbing but realistically there is much more climbing of much higher quality along highway 2 than I-90. So if all you're concerned with is outdoor climbing I think Snohomish would be better. There is no climbing gym there but there is one in Everett.

Since climbing sucks for over half the year, you may want to base your decision on other factors. Most people get strong over winter in the gym, and Seattle has the better gyms in the area. There's probably a better chance to meet and network with other climbers in Seattle as well.

So far
thank you
keep the responses coming.
How about other outdoor activities, such as biking etc
don

I agree with most of what's been said about climbing, Capital Hill will put you within easy driving distance of 2 great gyms and a couple mediocre ones, plus some ok sport climbing, Snohomish within easy driving distance of one decent gym and some of the best bouldering and trad climbing in the state. I'm not sure about weather sucking for more than half the year, it really depends, this year the weather has been awesome.

As for other activities, Snohomish puts you way closer to good hiking/scrambling and alpine climbing, but the best conditioning hikes are actually out on I-90 much closer to Capital Hill.
Seattle is pretty bike friendly as long as you don't mind hills and the Burke-Gilman/Sammamish River trail makes it so you can do 20+ mile days without ever riding next to a car. I've not biked around Snohomish so i can't really say, but I know that most of the smaller roads in the suburbs and rural areas north of Seattle are not designed for bike traffic, although In the summer I've seen people riding on Hwy 2.
Something else to consider is culture. Capital Hill is sort of the epicenter of all things Seattle, technically speaking I like those things but living there for three years still got kind of wearing. There will be bars and restaurants open until 3am every night, but a couple blocks south is one of the higher crime areas in the city.
As rural towns in Northwest Washington go, Snohomish is pretty nice (more personality than Monroe, less horror than Granite Falls). It might be the last place you can get actually decent food until you get to Leavenworth.

What I would say it comes down to climbing-wise is this: if you want to live and climb in Washington, go for Snohomish, if you want to train for bigger badder places, go for Capital Hill.

The climbing at Index was great in January this year.

I think if you're a little older, more settled, and have employment in Snohomish, it would probably be great. If you're commuting to work in the city, you are going to hate your life. It will be harder to meet climbing partners in Snohomish, and driving in to the climbing gyms regularly would also really really suck.

actually I will be working in Everett. We are older being in our early fifties. Both of us with no kids. Currently we live in a rural area.
currently I divide most weekend time between bike riding, skydiving, rock climbing and my plane. That is what drew me to Snohomish. Seems I can do all of that within a few moments.
Interestingly, I really enjoy bike riding and the burke Gilman trail seems pretty mediocre to me. It was way to crowded and bumpy to really get up to speed on my road bike. I am excited about the Centennial trail in Snohomish.
We are just looking for a bit of a sense of community.
I am going to be a trauma surgeon in Everett, so either place would have worked.

don

don henline wrote:actually I will be working in Everett. We are older being in our early fifties. Both of us with no kids. Currently we live in a rural area. currently I divide most weekend time between bike riding, skydiving, rock climbing and my plane. That is what drew me to Snohomish. Seems I can do all of that within a few moments. Interestingly, I really enjoy bike riding and the burke Gilman trail seems pretty mediocre to me. It was way to crowded and bumpy to really get up to speed on my road bike. I am excited about the Centennial trail in Snohomish. We are just looking for a bit of a sense of community. I am going to be a trauma surgeon in Everett, so either place would have worked. don

I live on Capitol Hill. I just read that you'll be working in Everett. You wouldn't want to drive from Capitol Hill to Everett.

Thank you everyone. I have decided to pursue the Snohomish area.
I look forward to being there. If we get a house with a barn we will
have a really good climbing gym.
Look forward to getting to know some of you
don