Moving to middle of nowhere (Rifle/Silt), but worth it for good climbing, or somewhere else?

I'm considering moving to Silt. I'm not able to sport climb the grades at Rifle, but I'm thinking I could improve quickly if I were living there. A couple years ago I could send V6 after projecting outdoors, but then after a couple years of weighlifting with some climbing specific finger training, I found myself projecting a V10- and felt like I wasn't too far from getting it. My endurance has always been lower since I've focused more on bouldering. I think I've only redpointed 11a.

I'm looking at getting a small warehouse, so I'd also build a small training area, including moonboard. I'm not sure how quickly I could become a good enough sport climber to really enjoy Rifle.

I'm a young guy (27) so not having much of a town/city and people to hang out with is a downside.

I've been mostly a climber + mountain biker, but want to ski more. I'm a decently capable skier, able to get down pretty much anything on regular runs/chutes (excluding things like cliffs / rocky areas) at Squaw or Mammoth, and imagine I could continue to improve. So being close enough to a major ski resort is a requirement for me. Silt is 1.25 hrs from Aspen, which is ok, but on the longer side for lots of day trips.

I spent a bit of time in Grand Junction, but too far from good skiing imo. I was also in Bellingham for a bit, but too rainy, plus snow is too wet given that it is a 1.3 hr drive to Mt Baker.

I've been looking at three other places as well: Reno, SLC, and Durango.

Some other considerations: I want a place with a garage, or to be living out of a warehouse that has amenities that make doing so easy such as kitchen, laundry, and/or shower (uncommon, especially when small&inexpensive, but some exist). I work remotely, but am also trying to tinker on some hardware projects. This makes it a bit trickier to find places that aren't too expensive.

Biggest issue I have with Reno is a friend tells me he thinks Squaw sucks for skiing. Air pollution in SLC seems tolerable since best for skiing. I also like that it is the closest to Joe's Valley, which I really like. Durango seems like far and away the best in terms of livability, and has closer skiing than Silt, but not as close to great climbing. Perk of Reno and Durango would be that they seem like good places to learn to whitewater kayak. I've done one whitewater kayaking trip a decade ago and really liked it, but never lived somewhere I could really get into it.

I also have a camper van (need a homebase though), which I might sell if someone offers me enough for it, but seems my ask is too high so that will give me some flexibility to explore nearby areas. For mountain biking, Durango has decent stuff in town, but Moab is what I really care about. From traveling in van, I've been spoiled by BC mountain biking and now prefer gnarly downhill stuff, even when I have to ride uphill to get there. I might look at doing summers in BC (SLC has direct flights to Vancouver, and I might do that over driving).

Front range Co didn't appeal to me due to combination of distance from ski resorts and no climbing area I'm particular attracted to the way I like Bishop and Joe's Valley, though I haven't climbed on front range. Plus, far from Moab. Can't do Squamish since it's in Canada or that would probably be the ideal place. Jackson WY too expensive and hard to find place with garage/warehouse.

Don't want to do California due to high taxes, and Reno is best on taxes, but wouldn't rule out UT or CO because of that.

I also like peakbagging and Reno is close to Eastern Sierras... not sure how much I'd like Colorado mountains after scrambling in Sierras.

What’s your budget? That might rule out SLC.

I want to stay below $2k/month. Budget also depends on how functional of a workspace I have. Without a garage/warehouse space to work out of I would rather stay below $1500, but I might be willing to do a bit above $2k if particularly good workspace + living space.

Place I'm looking at in Reno could be ideal on cost since I found a small subdivision of a warehouse in a place with a shower + kitchenettes that I could combine with sleeping in van, but I don't want to be purely cost driven. It's hard for me to know how much more I'd like CO/UT skiing than Squaw since the last time I ski'd Alta was over a decade ago when I was mostly cruising blues.

As someone who has spent the last year in a van, driving around to different climbing areas and trying to figure out where to live... Nobody can answer this question for you. It's so personal. I know you're looking for a push in the right direction, but there is no way to quantify "best place to live". 

I thought I was definitely going to move to bishop, and spent over a month there, but in the end it just wasn't home for me. 

You have a camper van, try spending a couple weeks there, go to the local spots, see what it does for you.

Notes of moving to be near Rifle:

--Bouldering V9-V10 and only redpointing 11a is a huge disparity. That should be quick to fix if you live near good sport climbing and climb with good sport climbers. I bet you are solid on 5.12 (or better) after one full season in Rifle.

--If moving to Western Slope CO, I'd choose New Castle or Glenwood over Silt or Rifle. If you can afford the higher cost of living, that is. More of a climber scene and less of a redneck scene as go up-valley. Glenwood would provide similar or better recreation access compared to Silt (a bit farther from Rifle, but closer to skiing and various lesser know crags), while also mitigating the podunk-middle-of-nowhere-town experience you'd get is Silt. Glenwood is a pretty cool town (Silt less so). But, again, cost of living considerations.

-- Even if you can't afford up-valley and end up in Silt, you are still close enough to the Glenwood/Carbondale scene that you can access the social and cultural resources there. Its now like you'd be moving to Elko.

Notes on other areas:

- Reno area is weaker on nearby sport climbing than the other places you are considering. If sport climbing is an important factor for you. There is still some, but it isn't Rifle. Great bouldering and trad though.

- SLC has everything you want. All the climbing, all the skiing. Lots of MTB, but it isn't BC gnar.

- If you really want to live in/near Bishop - do the full math on how much extra taxes you'd pay (including all deductions, etc). by moving to CA. It might be worth it. I recently moved to CA from a lower tax state and the extra taxes weren't actually that big a deal and were worth it for me. It all depends on your situation and income level of course.

If Canada were an option, is Squamish the best place to go? Seems to be the only place with everything close by.

Golden, BC also seems cool and snow would be more dry + closer resort, but very desolate area, no major airport nearby, and climbing seems to be mostly alpine. Might not even be feasible to find housing there given how tiny it is.