Living in Ashland

Hey all! So I have a potential job opportunity in Ashland and wanted to get a little feel for what it's like living there as a climber, mountain biker, backcountry skier.

Honestly, as long as there's fun climbing and good access to backcountry skiing (~1hr to the skin track) I think I'd be a happy camper, can anyone speak to any of this??

Thanks in advance for the help!

I live in Medford, 15 miles up the road. Here are my go-to's:

Climbing: nothing spectacular but enough to keep you busy. Rattlesnake has about 100 sport routes (there's a page for it on MP). Pretty chossy but fun climbing and never crowded. Takes about an hour to get out there from Ashland. There are also some smaller crags closer to town for a quick fix. There's a good gym in Medford (10-15 min). 3.5 hours to Smith Rock. 5-6 hours to Tahoe.

Skiing: 30 min to Mt. Ashland which has a tiny nonprofit ski area and access to side/backcountry. 90 minutes to Mt. Shasta for good backcountry and ski mountaineering that goes well into summer some years. There's some other stuff in the southern Oregon cascades (Mt. McLaughlin, Crater Lake, etc)

Mtn biking: good trails right out of Ashland. I also like riding the trails out of Jacksonville.

Edit: If you have a problem with something I post, my real name and email are right there in my profile. Get ahold of me yourself, don't send your message through a third party so you can remain anonymous. Total garbage.

Scott Becker wrote:I live in Medford, 15 miles up the road. Here are my go-to's: Climbing: nothing spectacular but enough to keep you busy. Rattlesnake has about 100 sport routes (there's a page for it on MP). Pretty chossy but fun climbing and never crowded. There's also a newly opened crag out there with over 100 more routes. Takes about an hour to get out there from Ashland. There are also some smaller crags closer to town for a quick fix. There's a good gym in Medford (10-15 min). 3.5 hours to Smith Rock. 5-6 hours to Tahoe. Skiing: 30 min to Mt. Ashland which has a tiny nonprofit ski area and access to side/backcountry. 90 minutes to Mt. Shasta for good backcountry and ski mountaineering that goes well into summer some years. There's some other stuff in the southern Oregon cascades (Mt. McLaughlin, Crater Lake, etc) Mtn biking: good trails right out of Ashland. I also like riding the trails out of Jacksonville.

Thanks Scott! I guess I didn't realize Shasta was so close. I know Mount Ashland has had a hard time the last couple seasons with the resort opening but how has the Backcountry skiing been up there? Also, is there a good community of skiers/climbers or is it hard to find partners?

Yeah, Mt. A had a few rough winters in there. Last year was great though. The ski area is on the north-facing side of the highest peak in the Siskiyous. So I'm guessing that backcountry skiing is pretty non-existent when there's not enough snow to open the ski area. I never tried though. I just went rock climbing. :)

Finding partners can be a little rough. There's a Facebook page for local climbers that sees close to zero activity. Can't really say for ski partners, I go with people who are already climbing partners or just go solo.

Feel free to get in touch if you make it to the area. Can't promise I'll be able to get out with you (I'm a new dad with spotty availability), but might be able to get you in touch with some people or give more specific beta. Best of luck!

Don't forget about Castle Crags

mountainproject.com/v/castl…

Skiing in the spring on Shasta is world class.