Best climbing in Pennsylvania? East or West?

Pennsylvanians where is the best sport in the state? Eastern or Western half? 

I am relocating to Pennsylvania for work. I can either move to the western half or eastern half of the state. So of course I want to move where the climbing is. So I want to hear the good, the bad, and the chossy for local crags. Where would you rather move?  

Elle Battista wrote:

Pennsylvanians where is the best sport in the state? Eastern or Western half? 

I am relocating to Pennsylvania for work. I can either move to the western half or eastern half of the state. So of course I want to move where the climbing is. So I want to hear the good, the bad, and the chossy for local crags. Where would you rather move?  

I'm not sure there is *great* rock climbing anywhere in PA, but on the eastern side, you're closer to the Gunks, Daks, and Whites. This is a strongly biased opinion because I live in Philly and tend to look to the northeast.

PA has great bouldering throughout the entire state:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izj0VdE0rGM

Sport climbing in PA is serviceable (probably more options in Eastern PA (Moc crags, Birdsboro, Safe Harbor) than Western PA); trad is a little more sparse but still a bit here and there. I don't know if I would target a specific area of PA solely for local climbing. Pretty much wherever you end up, they'll be decent local route climbing and great bouldering for day trips. 

If you're choosing between eastern and western PA solely for climbing, the deciding factor for me would be whether I wanted to make regular weekend trips to the New / Seneca or the Gunks.

Regardless, it'd probably be best to find somewhere that would make the most sense for work/family/social life/etc. 

Eastern PA sport climbing is actually quite fun, despite what people may say (I’m sure flatlander folks will have their opinions!).  I grew up, lived, climbed in PA for many years, and although I was a regular at the Gunks starting 25 years ago, I did enjoy climbing along the Susquehanna River (Sex Wall, Safe Harbor), as well as PA’s best kept secret, Stoney Ridge. I’m not going to mention Birdsboro, because it’s quite chossy and dangerous. The bouldering in PA, is arguably, where it’s at.  Between Haycock, Gretna, you’ll have a life-times worth of bouldering at your fingertips on Triassic diabase (gods own stone!!!).  

The Gunks are 2.5 hours from Philly, as well, which is well worth day/weekend trips. If you want more info, don’t hesitate to call me at 802-324-0146. 

If your only consideration is climbing and you where choose the western side of the state then you would want to move to Ohiopyle as the majority of the climbing surrounding the Pittsburgh area is right outside of this little town.  If you are considering purchasing a house and you are considering the western side, due to proximity to the New and Red, and your company would allow it then you should probably go to Morgantown, WV.  The property tax drops fairly significantly right over the boarder (this will not be the case on the eastern side).  As mentioned above in the thread best to position yourself as closely as you can to the places you want to travel i.e gunk vs new etc.

If you enjoy skiing or like the NE then you will want to be as close to the NE boarder that you can as from the Pitt zone to get up to New England is a pretty serious haul (11ish hours).  For PA moving, climbing should not be the primary consideration however, as it appears to rain over 50% of the year, plus humidity to consider in the summer, etc. 

Good luck with the move

There's climbing scattered all over and enough to keep you busy for a long time. Besides bouldering I wouldn't consider anything super high quality, but there are a handful of sport and trad crags around to keep your rope game sharp for trips elsewhere. I've found that most areas have at least some sparse local boulders, and every region has its fair share of "secret" crags. Troll through rockclimbing.com to get ideas and then make friends with the locals to find them. As others have said, Western PA benefits from reduced commute to the New, Red, and Seneca as well as Cooper's rock and surrounding areas. I've lived in the greater Philly area most of my life so I can really only speak to the eastern half of the state. Birdsboro can be great if you climb 5.10 and stick to the classic well travelled routes. Safe harbor can be great if you like slab and the occasional choss, with the bonus that you can climb in a t-shirt in january if you get a sunny windless day. Nanticoke/Tilbury has choss sandwiched between great rock underneath a cap of hardened mud, and may actually have the most sport climbs in the state at this point. 

PA is kind of shoddy for conditions in my experience. Wet in the spring and summer, and winters (used to be) cold and snowy. September-Early November is prime unless Summer stretches out or winter comes early. Hope the move goes well wherever you land.

I lived in PA. for many years, and the advice that's been given here is very good and accurate.

Agree that the advice upthread is good.  Have lived all over PA for most of my 59 years: Philly, Pgh, Harrisburg, and northeastern PA.  The eastern side probably has more overall variety -- especially if you count the central PA and NEPA crags.  Ohiopyle was not developed yet when I lived in Pgh, so I can't comment on that and some of the SW PA gritstone crags that used to be open BITD are now closed -- and vice versa.  In the end, I agree that it depends on whether you would rather be closer to the Gunks or closer to Seneca (and the New), and that's another real toss-up for many.

Frazer wrote:

If your only consideration is climbing and you where choose the western side of the state then you would want to move to Ohiopyle as the majority of the climbing surrounding the Pittsburgh area is right outside of this little town.  If you are considering purchasing a house and you are considering the western side, due to proximity to the New and Red, and your company would allow it then you should probably go to Morgantown, WV.  The property tax drops fairly significantly right over the boarder (this will not be the case on the eastern side).  As mentioned above in the thread best to position yourself as closely as you can to the places you want to travel i.e gunk vs new etc.

If you enjoy skiing or like the NE then you will want to be as close to the NE boarder that you can as from the Pitt zone to get up to New England is a pretty serious haul (11ish hours).  For PA moving, climbing should not be the primary consideration however, as it appears to rain over 50% of the year, plus humidity to consider in the summer, etc. 

Good luck with the move

That's not totally true. If you are looking to locate in the Southeastern PA/Philly area, Delaware property taxes are about 1/2 of PA and waaaay less than NJ.  Plus, there is no sales tax in DE.  For climbing locally Safe Harbor is 65 minutes, Birdsboro (aaarrrgghhh !) is 1:15.  Great bouldering at Gretna and Governor Stable (currently closed, I believe) is about 1:45 minutes.  Gunks is 3:15, if you time it right.  Seneca is 5 hours and the New is about 6.

Tim Schafstall wrote:

That's not totally true. If you are looking to locate in the Southeastern PA/Philly area, Delaware property taxes are about 1/2 of PA and waaaay less than NJ.  Plus, there is no sales tax in DE.  For climbing locally Safe Harbor is 65 minutes, Birdsboro (aaarrrgghhh !) is 1:15.  Great bouldering at Gretna and Governor Stable (currently closed, I believe) is about 1:45 minutes.  Gunks is 3:15, if you time it right.  Seneca is 5 hours and the New is about 6.

Yes but then you would have to live in Delaware. And also pay to park in any DE state parks. And also have to decide if you want to have kids/send them to the not so great DE public schools for which the alternative is paying significant tuition to send them to a private/charter/religious school. Additionally the areas right over the PA border are incredibly expensive (greenville, centerville) or not a fantastic place to live (claymont, etc.). You can live in Wilmington but good luck finding a house in a good neighborhood under 400K, and then you can also tack on a city wage tax. The whole DE tax haven thing has so many tradeoffs it isn't worth it unless you're very wealthy or setting up a company. IMO of course.