Best year round climbing in the US

I have a job where I can live anywhere in US. I’d like to live near lots of good climbing (doesn’t need to be world class, I do mostly sport and bouldering) with good weather for most of the year. I’d take a bit extreme heat over a ton of snow. A few places I’ve looked at so far are Chattanooga TN, Sedona AZ, Asheville NC, and Fayetteville AR. But I’d love to hear why I’m crazy and what your top pick is. 

Bishop California 

No one climbs in Bishop anymore. The east is way better. 

I feel like California can’t count anymore due to wildfires. I think Oahu is the only correct answer. 

Las Vegas

Eastern Sierra is an obvious answer (IE, Bishop). I would say Western Sierra if you're a bit more adventurous and don't mind a bit longer drives. Between Tahoe and Yosemite has great access to climbing with surprisingly low housing costs. Columbia has world class bouldering, Table Mountain has surprisingly good sport climbing. Most info isn't on the internet, but Brad Young's guide to highway 108 will do you wonders and talking to locals about climbing on highway 4 (I can neither confirm nor deny that I can tell you about some pretty dope spots) will get you access to a lifetime of climbing with no crowds. Also where I live I'm about 2 hours from both Tahoe and Yosemite. If you want to live 15 minutes from excellent climbing then this isn't the place. If you want to live 30 minutes to two hours from a lifetime of spectacular climbing and only see other climbers every one out of four or so days spent climbing then this is the place. 

The Western Central Sierra isn't a major climbing hub and I have absolutely no idea why. I guess being between Tahoe and Yosemite means that most climbers will go to either of those two destinations and leave us alone to enjoy the Sierra to ourselves. Suits me just fine.

Yes, Oahu or the Red, or the New, oh yes Vegas that's perfect, move to a place that is totally not able to support anyone living there. YES everybody move to Vegas, please. California suck we are all pinko commis except the right wing nuts.

Flagstaff, AZ is a better option than Sedona, AZ.  Sedona has a bit of sport and bouldering but is mostly adventurous trad and it's too hot to climb there a lot of the year.  Flagstaff has lots of great sport and bouldering and you can climb there 9 months of the year.  When it gets too cold the locals just drive down the hill (45 minutes) to Sedona. 

California fits the bill.

The Colorado Front Range belongs in this discussion. A lifetime of climbing within a two hour radius, and much more outside of that. A lot of places are climbable during winter when the sun is shining, and you can go as high as you need during summer. One issue is the unpredictability of the weather. You can get get shut down by snow half the year or by rain the other half of the year. Overall though, it's rarely unclimbable for a prolonged period of time.   

plantmandan wrote:

The Colorado Front Range belongs in this discussion. A lifetime of climbing within a two hour radius, and much more outside of that. A lot of places are climbable during winter when the sun is shining, and you can go as high as you need during summer. One issue is the unpredictability of the weather. You can get get shut down by snow half the year or by rain the other half of the year. Overall though, it's rarely unclimbable for a prolonged period of time.   

Ditto that.  Front Range for sure.

Tell all your friends...(ha ha).

Tucson az 

Mount Lemmon and Cochise stronghold 

Now that anyone can live anywhere, and still make a living, ALL the good places are already crowded, whatever you're interested in. So, endless snark in "where do I live" questions. There are no great places for year-round climbing without substantial trade-offs. 

Given that, Denver, with a ton of sun, has year round climbing. It's rare to be shut down by winter weather for more than a couple of days. There are 10,000 routes within two hours. OTOH, the median house price is over $700,000. Traffic on I-70 west to the mountains is atrocious (like L.A., complete slow-downs for no apparent reason, any time of the day or night). If you want to do something urban, you'd better plan. Eldorado Canyon is starting a timed entry reservation system this year. So fun! And best of all, all the other intermountain states hate Coloradans, mostly because we refuse to stay home.

Part of your answer should be do you want more quality or more quantity/variety?

Do you want a smaller amount of very quickly accessed routes/boulders that you can hit up in a few hours round trip, or do you think most of your climbing will be when you devote an entire day to it and don't mind at least a 40min drive and 15min approach?

GBek wrote:

I have a job where I can live anywhere in US. I’d like to live near lots of good climbing (doesn’t need to be world class, I do mostly sport and bouldering) with good weather for most of the year. I’d take a bit extreme heat over a ton of snow. A few places I’ve looked at so far are Chattanooga TN, Sedona AZ, Asheville NC, and Fayetteville AR. But I’d love to hear why I’m crazy and what your top pick is. 

Permanent, as in a house, or nomadic, as in a Sprinter or RV?

What things *other* than climbing are important to you in the place where you live?

One of the things you said is good weather, yet in the list you included, 75% of the places are notorious for rain, humidity, and flesh-chewing bugs in the spring/summer/fall. And pardon my ignorance, but what climbing is near Fayetteville AR?

Marc801 C wrote:

And pardon my ignorance, but what climbing is near Fayetteville AR?

Fayetteville climbing...

Brian in SLC wrote:

Fayetteville climbing...

Thanks. I was too stressed from taxes to look it up.

blakeherrington wrote:

Part of your answer should be do you want more quality or more quantity/variety?

Do you want a smaller amount of very quickly accessed routes/boulders that you can hit up in a few hours round trip, or do you think most of your climbing will be when you devote an entire day to it and don't mind at least a 40min drive and 15min approach?

Wow, I appreciate all the responses, snark and all!  As others have said already there are other factors I need to take into consideration, but I intentionally didn't mention them because I wanted to see what people would throw out.  With that said I do have a family and that's the biggest factor in where we would move.  Schools are... needed.  I do like your question though because one of the things I think would be the most fun would be going out climbing with my son after school instead of the long day/weekend trips we have to do now.  So access to close climbing is probably more important than quality.  We have talked about Vegas and St. George also..  Thanks for the discussion everyone!

If I have to drive 40 mins & have a 15 min. approach it had damn well be spectacular. In less than 20 min. I can park at the rocks bouldering or multi pitch pert-near year round. I might have to go 30 min. and walk in 5 min. if it's snowing hard up high. If it's 100° down here I can be climbing at 9000' in 20 min. But you don't want to live here taxes are too high. 

There are so many good places to live if you can live anywhere. I'm surprised more people have not figured out the really great places to live. 

Mark Frumkin wrote:

Yes, Oahu or the Red, or the New, oh yes Vegas that's perfect, move to a place that is totally not able to support anyone living there. YES everybody move to Vegas, please. California suck we are all pinko commis except the right wing nuts.

The new is surprisingly great in the winter…don’t tell anyone. My vote would be Vegas, SLC, or Santa Fe, NM for consistent year round climbing. 

ETA: After much thought, the new sucks. Disregard the first part of my post.