where to retire

I am looking for thoughts on where to live that gives me most of the benefits of living in Boulder, which is where I am) but without the increasing congestion and crowds. 

Canon City. 

You know the billboards that say “If you lived here you would be home right now”.   Decide where that billboard would be for you, then move there.  In other words, where would that billboard be if it were centrally located to places you go every day.  First you have to decide where you will be driving during retirement.  

Henry Lester wrote:

 most of the benefits of living in Boulder, which is where I am) but without the increasing congestion and crowds. 

The first and most important step is to determine which benefits of Boulder you care most about, and which you could skip. And which Boulder downsides you wish to get away from.

Henry Lester wrote:

I am looking for thoughts on where to live that gives me most of the benefits of living in Boulder, which is where I am) but without the increasing congestion and crowds. 

aren't we all henry, aren't we all... :)

curious to see peoples' opinions on this.

Congestion at the crags, general congestion of roads and the city, or both? As you probably know there are some nice mountain towns near here that are smaller and less crowded than Boulder - Lyons, Jamestown, anything up a canyon - but the crags are still the same crags.

slim wrote:

aren't we all henry, aren't we all... :)

curious to see peoples' opinions on this.

The answer is most definitely not Seattle. 

But slim already knows this.

Grand Junction, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Tucson (no summer climbing), St. George, Lander, Pagosa Springs, Idaho Falls (or any cities in ID/MT), Chattanooga

EDIT: Also consider Rapid City, Burlington (VT, cold), Huntington (WV)

Thanks for the ideas. I want to avoid both forms of congestion. I drove through Grand Junction yesterday - ugly and no charm; ditto for Canon City.  Pagosa/Durango may be worth a second look, although Durango (and maybe Bend, OR) feel like they may have passed their peak. Lander may be interesting, although it has been awhile since I have been there. 

Any thoughts on Logan, UT?

IIRC henry is a pilot (can't remember if it was henry or alan). Ironically he was a pilot one night when i was flying from drizzly seattle to denver.

It will be tough to find one location that is comparable to boulder. You will have to give something up. Probably multiple somethings. What are your priorities? Quality of climbing? Quantity of climbing? Weather? Dating scene? Food? Cost of living? Quality of people? Other things to do? Big city? Small town? Lack of trumpkins? Teeth to tattoos ratio?

slim wrote:

IIRC henry is a pilot (can't remember if it was henry or alan). Ironically he was a pilot one night when i was flying from drizzly seattle to denver.

It will be tough to find one location that is comparable to boulder. You will have to give something up. Probably multiple somethings. What are your priorities? Teeth to tattoos ratio?

Slim, do you have a map that illustrates this?

Henry Lester wrote:

Any thoughts on Logan, UT?

Born and raised there. The culture sucks, no central planning, out-of-control growth on par with the rest of the west, and you still can't find a decent place for a drink.

Logan Canyon is amazing during the summer time, and one of the most depressing places I have ever lived during the winter time.  

I have been driving my Wife crazy by getting real estate information for deserted western mining towns. Some excellent values to be had!

I’ve been doing similar research. Places that were somewhat out of the way and affordable 5-10 years ago are now expensive like Big Sky, MT. Places like Truckee have been expensive for a long time and have gotten even more so. I don’t want to spend more than $500K on a property. Prices are st all time highs in many places so I’ll probably wait until the next market correction to buy.

I would like to find A. Good climbing B. A ski resort with lots of powder and steep terrain, a good half pipe for my son would be a bonus C. Somewhat close to an international airport / city, 1-2 hours. D. Close to or in a nice mountain town with 5-10,000 people with super markets, restaurants, but that drives up the price compared to really rural areas.

MT

Bozeman is somewhat affordable and somewhat accessible. But extra cold. And remote. 

Whiteshish doesn’t look to be much good close climbing.

UT

Brian Head is cheap, but the mountain is small, it’s remote. Close to Zion areas.

Ogden is somewhat similar to Boulder, mid size city near a bigger one on the edge of the mountains. Affordable. Accessible. Skiing is good. Haven’t climbed there but looks good and uncrowded. Huntsville up in the hills is nice but also had a big increase in price in the last 5 years. A buddy bought a cabin there about 8 years ago, smart move.

Sandy prices went up a lot in the last 5 years  Big suburb of a city. proximity to LCC is great  LCC is hard to beat for high quality skiing and climbing right next to each other. 

CO

Pagosa Springs looks like a good town but a long way to a big airport. Skiing looks great.

CA

Mammoth Lakes is another spot with world class skiing and climbing in close proximity. But expensive. Crowded  and far from a major airport.

Sacramento is a city and has gotten pricey. You are still an hour+ from good climbing and skiing. 

NV 

Reno is a city and has gotten pricey. You are 35 minutes + to good climbing and skiing. .

ID

Sandpoint looks like pretty good skiing, good climbing? Not too far from Spokane. But culture wise I don’t know if I could handle the deep red as I’m a moderate. 

Not Sacramento if the OP doesn't want traffic and crowding. Boulder is a bucolic cow town compared to Sacramento.

Mammoth Lakes is cooooooold and the highways get snowed over and shut down every so often. Same with Lander, only worse.

Edit: Err I mean, not Methow Valley, Washington

L Kap wrote:

Mammoth Lakes is cooooooold and the highways get snowed over and shut down every so often. Same with Lander, only worse.

Define cold. I wouldn't say any towns in CA are cold like WY, MT, and  even mountain areas in CO can be. There is a lot of snow in Mammoth and highways get shut down.

Mammoth Lakes average high is ~41F in Dec/Jan/Feb and average low is 17. Boulder is 61 / 49. Lander is 33/2.  I wouldn't want it any warmer than Mammoth or it wouldn't be cold enough for snow sports. If I didn't need the skiing and was okay with the desert I'd seriously look at Southern Arizona Mt. Lemmon area or Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree was super cheap 8 years ago, not so cheap anymore. 

Everything north from Logan UT to  Dubois ID is pretty similar, sage brush and farmland/graze land. It's predominantly conservative and most folk are LDS so it's hard to find partners on Sundays but just about everyone is nice and are always helpful even if you aren't part of the church like myself. If you didn't grow up here you'll find most people and customs in this area kinda quirky. 

If you like diverse food this ain't the place to be. And if you're into social life also not the place to be either. 

If money wasn't a factor I'd retire in either La Jolla CA(ocean and climbing), Newport OR(ocean ,skiing and climbing) or Squamish BC(ocean, skiing, climbing and poutine.)

Reality I'll be happy if I retire in Charleston WV(the skiing in WV is pretty good.) Hickory North Carolina (It's close to lots of good climbing.) or Bangor ME( coastal Maine is beautiful and it looks like you can climb by the ocean what?)

 Maybe idaho falls or Butte if we can get another meth scourge rolling through here.

Glowering wrote:

Define cold. I wouldn't say any towns in CA are cold like WY, MT, and  even mountain areas in CO can be. There is a lot of snow in Mammoth and highways get shut down.

Mammoth Lakes average high is ~41F in Dec/Jan/Feb and average low is 17. Boulder is 61 / 49. Lander is 33/2.  I wouldn't want it any warmer than Mammoth or it wouldn't be cold enough for snow sports. If I didn't need the skiing and was okay with the desert I'd seriously look at Southern Arizona Mt. Lemmon area or Joshua Tree. Joshua Tree was super cheap 8 years ago, not so cheap anymore. 

For sure there are colder towns, but compared to Boulder, Mammoth and Lander are coooooold.

OP didn't say anything about needing snow sports; that was other people.

Here in Boulder, climbing season is year-round when you catch a sunny, dry day, which is often even in winter. I never lived in Mammoth, but I dated a climber who did. In the winter, we'd mostly road trip to JTree or Red Rocks to climb. Maybe you get a few nice days in winter at Owens River Gorge, or you can drive to Bishop. Tioga Pass into Yosemite is closed I think 6 months out of the year.  

Carolina wrote:

Slim, do you have a map that illustrates this?

it looks pretty similar to the election heat map...