Best college/university in US or Canada near climbing

Latro wrote:

Time to get serious here.  Grenoble Institute of Technology.  Cliffs in town, next to town

Presles 1hr

La Grave la Meije 1 hr 20

Cham, Ceuse 2hr

calanques, Verdon, valle dell Orco <4hr

Grenoble would be an amazing location.

I used to work for a US subsidiary of a French company.  When colleagues, or well, anyone from France, would learn of my interest in Grenoble, they'd look at me like I was crazy.  To completely flip them out, I would then throw Marseilles into the conversation.

If I win the lottery, I'm going to Marseilles and buying a 1987 Renault hatchback, rust colored.  Those were good days.  I'd set fire to a mountain of money to chase those days.

Just one semester? That isn’t a lot of time to really explore the massive amount of climbing available at some of the above locations, so maybe don’t sweat the decision that much. Too bad you can’t make it a multi-year stint!

And if it were me… I’d choose somewhere in Europe for the multicultural experience as well as the awesome rock to be found. Maybe Italy or Spain for the weather… and food!

Depends on what you’re studying. I think many folks have handled some of the better schools if it’s just a semester but for those folks looking for longer - colorado school of mines is an absurdly good engineering school and is right at the foothills in golden. Single digit minutes from the golden climbing areas (north table, clear creek, lookout), 30-40 minutes from boulder, 40 from Staunton, an hour from the Platte. That’s like 10000 routes within an hour of your school on granite, basalt, sandstone, schist, and gneiss. If you drive 2 hours you’re at shelf for limestone. You won’t have sandstone splitters but there’s plenty of granite splitters for you 

Tal M wrote:

Depends on what you’re studying. I think many folks have handled some of the better schools if it’s just a semester but for those folks looking for longer - colorado school of mines is an absurdly good engineering school and is right at the foothills in golden. Single digit minutes from the golden climbing areas (north table, clear creek, lookout), 30-40 minutes from boulder, 40 from Staunton, an hour from the Platte. That’s like 10000 routes within an hour of your school on granite, basalt, sandstone, schist, and gneiss. If you drive 2 hours you’re at shelf for limestone. You won’t have sandstone splitters but there’s plenty of granite splitters for you 

CSM is fantastic if you are trying to do school at a high level and climb at a high level at the same time. The proximity of access makes the situation work. If you want a high value degree (in one of the specialized fields available there) without compromising climbing, it's a good choice. Plus, they have really good industry connections and reputation locally within Colorado, so if you want to continue to live and work in CO after graduation, it sets you up well for that.

All that said - it is also a super demanding school, and only offers a limited set of degrees (mostly engineering). Not for everyone. Also not ideal for a chill study abroad semester. 

Latro wrote:

Time to get serious here.  Grenoble Institute of Technology.  Cliffs in town, next to town

Presles 1hr

La Grave la Meije 1 hr 20

Cham, Ceuse 2hr

calanques, Verdon, valle dell Orco <4hr

A friend (and frequent climbing partner) of mine from college did a study abroad in Grenoble. He liked it so much that upon graduation he went right back to Grenoble. Twelve years later he's still in France, living in Chamonix. So, it seems that studying abroad in Grenoble was a good call and worked out well.

Presumably need to speak French though?

University of Michigan

If you also want strong academics, Dartmouth is ~1 hour from Rumney and 1.5-2 to various areas in the White Mountains. Sure the proximity to climbing alone might not be the same as somewhere like Boulder but the combination of prestige and access to climbing is basically unmatched.