Raleigh NC vs Asheville NC vs South Nashville TN

Hello my fellow Southern State climbers. I'm just doing preliminary research here. I'm a RN from southern California and have thought about finally moving out of state and experience living in the south/east side of the US. I picked these three cities because they all have a VA hospital in them (I currently work for the VA Hospital in Loma Linda, Ca). I'd love to keep working for the VA since I've put about 11 years here already. I picked south nashville because its closer to Chattanooga, which I know has tons of climbing. I was just wondering, as an avid climber, where would one choose to leave if they had a choice between those three cities. They are not final decision cities, just three i thought of. I've visited Raleigh before and I loved the city. My buddy that lived there now currently lives in Asheville and raves about it. Throw me suggestions! Thanks!

Asheville would be your best bet. Hard to beat for the SE. The VA there is old, I think, (speaking as a medic that went there ocasionally), but I cant speak for what it's like to work there.

If you're a climber then Raleigh would not be ideal, it's hours away from the nearest crags.

While I prefer the scene in Boone to Asheville, if you need to stick to VA, Asheville can be great. 45 min to an hour for Looking Glass, Rumbling Bald, Cedar. 1-1.75 hours to Linville Gorge areas, Ship Rock, Whiteside, Laurel Knob, and Hidden Valley, VA.

Definitely Asheville. Really cool town in the mountains, good access to high country NC climbing.

If you are open to suggestions, there is a VA hospital in Kernersville, NC. It would put you in close proximity to the Northern Piedmont of North Carolina climbing areas and is only 3 hours from the new and 6 hours from the Red River Gorge. Nearby cities are Greensboro and Winston-Salem, nearby climbing would include Pilot Mountain, Moore's wall, Cooks wall and Stone Mountain. Also, plenty of bouldering at some of those areas, especially Moore's wall. I could put you in touch with a tenant of mine that works at the VA hospital in Kernersville if you want a recommendation, PM me if you want. Asheville , by the way, would be my choice of the options that you mentioned. I don't think there's much climbing near Nashville but if there is a VA near Chattanooga or Knoxville they would be worth looking into.

Just to throw out another opinion/option.  Could look At Salisbury NC.  Big VA hospital there, I’ve herd it’s a bit of a mess from Vets that have gone there but my understanding is most VA hospitals can be a mess.  

Anyways salisbury is near Kenersville, aka Kville or Kvegas, so the suggested crags Andrew Jaxkson listed still apply.  Its aboit 1-2 hours to every climbing area in the state.  And 3-4 to the New.  

My wife is from out west, so to us one plus to being in this area is the Charlotte airport is less then 1 hour away. There you can get direct flights to west coast cities like SLC, seattle, Denver etc. very easy.

Cost of livings in Kville or Salisbury and surrounding areas is likely to be much cheaper then asheville or Raleigh-Durham area

Raleigh is a great city, and has very good climbing gyms, but it's a heck of a drive to get to rock.

I can't speak to South Nashville, but Asheville would be your best choice in NC probably. Raleigh isn't bad though, it's got good gyms for rainy days and it's only two hours to good bouldering/trad at Moore's Wall and about the same to Pilot Mountain. Obviously AVL is closer to rock but Raleigh's a nice city relatively close to rock.

To be fair though, I live in Wilmington NC currently, and being four hours from the nearest decent climbing may have skewed my opinion a little. 

Coming from Southern California, you’ll find Asheville home prices pretty low. But relative to just about anywhere 20+ minutes from downtown, they are pretty high for this region. If you’re willing to drive 30 minutes to work and town, you can buy a decent house for cheap. Plus you might get to live closer to climbing, depending on where you choose to live

Thanks for all the replies. I’ll check out the different cities mentioned. It would be nice being closer to a international airport since I do like traveling out of the country pretty often. 

This is one of those threads where the OP wont end up moving to any of the cities anyway regardless of all that you type

two words... state income tax.

I lived south of Raleigh from 12+ yrs at Ft Bragg the area is great but can't really hold a candle to either of the other two you mention especially with regards to proximately to quality and quantity of climbing areas

Lived both in Raleigh and in Asheville area. Now live in Southern California. Assuming work opportunities at VA’s are equivalent, Asheville is by far your best option for climbing (assuming you like trad).  Looking Glass, Laurel Knob, Rumbling Bald, Cedar all within an hour or so. Linville Gorge, Moore’s, Stone all a couple of hours. Raleigh is nice & may have better job options but is 2-4 hours from good climbing. Some awesome multi pitch trad in western NC. Hope you like runout slab

Asheville has better overall quality of life.  Nashville is in the throes of a hyper-economy, which as driven up lots of cost of living elements......and traffic/commute conditions, but has a major airport, as you have mentioned.  Regarding Nashville and climbing.....draw a line from Nashville to Chattanooga and make that your radius of a circle that would include climbing resources in east TN, NE Alabama, north-central TN.......and outside of that radius but within reason are places like the Red River Gorge, the western NC areas and the areas near the nexus of NC, GA, and TN......so......lots of opportunities.  Asheville stands to be more easy......and Nashville will certainly be more hectic, crowded, and urbanized.  i would not consider Raleigh if climbing is something you like to do regularly.

Im gonna give a plus 1 for TN. I live in Nashville and love it here and its quite close to Chattanooga which is where its at! Climbing, kayaking, everything. Love it there