Colorado Springs- thoughts?

I'm looking at moving to the Colorado Springs and wanted to get people's opinions of the area. How is the traffic on the weekends? What's the housing market like? How would you describe the culture of the city?

I've never lived on the front range ( currently in Grand Junction) so any input would be helpful.

I'm into climbing ( duh) , backpacking, cc skiing, hunting, and architecture (my profession).

Thanks everyone!

the west side is the best side. Old Colorado City area.
loved the music scene there and GoG is your backyard.

What's the traffic like getting to the mountains?

I just moved back to Seattle for a number of reasons, but traffic and access to the mountains wasn't one of them.

in town obviously the Garden is minutes from anywhere. I was able to make it to Turkey rock for a few pitches in the summer after work. Maybe 45-an hour depending on traffic. Eleven mile is about an hour. I25 is terrible heading north towards clear creek, boulder and beyond.

If you aren't afraid to explore there are many undocumented or lightly documented crags within 20-30 min. Hint, head up old stage road behind the Broadmore.

I live on the west side, and we are currently being over run by the homeless. Hwy 24 between Woodland Park, and the Springs on weekends is usually a parking lot. Dogs out number people 4 to 1. Other than that pretty awesome. Good luck!

I lived in Colorado Springs from 2001-2014 and I wasn't a fan.

Pro's:
Cost of living is low
Because of how spread out the city it is, I didn't find it that crowded.
Great mountain biking and hiking. I didn't climb at the time but I've been back to rock climb in the city and wasn't impressed. 11 mile canyon and south platte area are just up the road though
Old Colorado City is pretty cool. There is some great food and ok beer on the west side.

Con's
Very spread out
Bad public and alternative transportation (few bike paths)
Housing shortage (so I'm told)
Military bases and churches everywhere, very conservative. I've also been told it's becoming the largest retirement city in the US. When I was there they were building TONS of assisted living facilities.
Rush hour traffic on I-25 is terrible

It's 2.5 hours (without traffic) to get to any of the summit county ski resorts like Vail, Breckenridge or Keystone. There are alternatives routes and smaller, less popular ski areas nearby. Most of the traffic comes on the mountain highways like I-70.

I wouldn't consider it a bad place to live but it's far from my first choice.

I grew up in the Springs. I love it (because it's home) but I have no desire to move back. Over the years I feel the city has gotten a lot bigger, dirtier, and more crowded.

We moved here 1 1/2 years ago from Fort Collins because the rents were going through the roof. The city was averaging over 20% increase per year. We checked all along the front range and Colorado Springs had the most reasonable rents.

For climbing, Colorado Springs is the best. We live in old Colorado City, so Red Rocks and Garden of the Gods is less than 10 min away. Shelf Road is 45 min away and you can climb year round. Elevenmile Canyon is also 45 min away, and Turkey Rocks a little over an hour. There are many less known crags just as close.

CityRock gym has the best route setters of any gym I've climbed in, and the vibe is very friendly.

Compared to enduring I70 out of Denver to get to skiing, it's not that bad.

We've found the workers in the restaurants and stores more courteous than other places in Colorado.

I've lived in several big cities and the traffic is not bad for this size city. The main problem with highway 24 west is the intersection of hwy24 and I-70 which is under construction. If you exit at Bijou and get on Colorado Ave until 14th you avoid much of the congestion.

Yes, there are many homeless on the west side, but generally don't hassle other than soliciting on the corners. (Those aweful dirtbag climbers! Lol) There are a bunch of homeless in Fort Collins, Boulder (recent fire started by homeless), and Denver.

Like all places, there are pros and cons. It comes down to what you make of it. The climbing is certainly great here!

Arlo F Niederer wrote:We live in old Colorado City, ... Shelf Road is 45 min away and you can climb year round.

It takes at least 15 minutes just to get to Shelf from Canyon City (probably more like 20 mins). Are you saying you can go from Colorado Springs to Canyon City in 30 minutes?

Housing here is in short supply. Hard to find reasonably priced homes for rent or for sale.

I really like the climbing in some of the areas around the city, but it tends to be kind of chossy style rock.

Traffic is not terrible, the ceaseless construction is not terrible, but it sucks.

Springs is ok, still traffic and the climbing in the area for the most part isn't that great. I'm not sure who even said anything about garden of the gods but its no good same with Red rocks open space some of the worst crowds and climbing. And shelf don't get me started, unless you really enjoy the crowds its seriously not worth it. As someone that works in the climbing industry I don't even bother with that shit show. South platte holds some of my favorite areas less crowds of new climbers on routes out of their pay grade. The wets though are just as close making springs worth the high military crowds, traffic and the endless supply of drug addicted homeless that infect most of the city. The mountain biking can be year round and most of it is excellent. Drive to Denver on a good day is about 40 mins, 2 hours on a really shitty day.

Thanks for all the opinions everyone!

I live walking distance to Downtown COS. We love it here. Tons of family friendly things to do in town and great festivals throughout the year. Getting to climbing, MTBing, hiking etc is super easy any day of the week. Due to the fact that no one in Colorado Springs recreates (over exaggerating), it leaves a lot of underrated trails and crags, free and clear for the shredding.

Unfortunately we have to sell/rent our house due to job relocation, PM me and can give you deets.

Oh yes, I forgot... Getting to the mountains from COS is the best part of it. #noi70

Drove to Monarch yesterday and Crested Butte 2 weekends before... no traffic at all. Driving to Breck? Stop in Alma for a drink and a good conversation. Truly the best part.

RevAtom wrote:...no one in Colorado Springs recreates (over exaggerating)...

if that aint hyperbole, then I don't know hyperbole!

I feel like some people are bashing colorado springs, I really enjoyed it. 

I grew up there and there are so many trails for mountain biking, hiking, running. The climbing isn't world class but it is still decent climbing. Garden of the gods, red rocks, cheyenne canyon are all very close. Garden and red rocks get busy on the easy routes but if you climb 5.10 and up you'll never wait for anyone. Shelf is 45 minutes to an hour which Clay Hansen apparently says is "crowded?" If commit to hiking more than 5 minutes from your car you can be the only one on an entire wall of completely bolted sport climbs in my experience. I've never waited to hop on climbs at shelf, maybe if you climb lower grade it might get busy but I've never had a problem. 

Driving to go skiing is a breeze going the backway as opposed to dealing with I70. Without traffic i made it to breck in 2hr15 consistently. When there was bad traffic (ie you got stuck behind a line of cars you couldn't pass easily) it took you 2:30. Compare that to the parking lot that is i70. Monarch and crested butte are also great options. If you are into backcountry skiing, pikes peak and the crags offer some pretty close.