[steve__b]

Where should I go and live? I wanna get to the crag after work with a minimum of fuss - say 30 mins drive and there be overhanging crags. The place would have to have a university probably also, so if a reasonable size. Top picks?


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[benpritch]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlangen

Frankenjura nearby.

[jwi]

The Luminy Campus in Marseille is on walking distance from the calanques. Gorges du Loup is around 20 min from Nice. Is Aix-en-Provence too small? There are a lot of crags around Grenoble.

Geneva perhaps?

[dave]

Sheffield

[fried]

Galway would be interesting.

[lagerstarfish]

There are a lot of crags around Grenoble.

 

I was gobsmacked by the amount of cragging when I first visited Grenoble in 1989 - I assume more stuff has been developed since then - not to mention the amount of stuff within travelling distance at the weekend (and ski resorts for winter)

[boxmonkey]

Bristol?

[steve__b]

I hadn't considered the frankenjura area.. very interesting, I had been scanning around the alps.

I'm thinking here about places outside the uk.

I wonder about the south of Germany, Austria and Switzerland etc also. Anyone have any experience of any cities?


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[mrjonathanr]

Madrid for granite bouldering. Acres of the stuff.

[Muenchener]

Forget Munich. Nothing much decent within comfortable evening/afternoon range.

Innsbruck.

Don't know what there is by way of sport climbing around the Salzburg area, but probably loads.

[tomtom]

Bangor?

[petejh]

St Davids. Ha bet you didn't see that one coming!

[Bonjoy]

Sydney is great for evening bouldering. Maybe a bit further south than you had in mind.

[Ru]

Bamberg.

[Oldmanmatt]

Barcelona.
Great weather, mostly. Granite, lime and sandstone all within an hours drive (some within 10minutes).
Fantastic selection of walls and training facilities (including the free tunnel at fixidura).
Just over an hour by car takes you to Andorra for excellent skiing in the winter.
Some of the best clubs in Europe for the nights.
Restaurants from heaven.
Almost entirely pedestrianised city centre, with some of the best architecture anywhere.
Short ferry ride to the Balearics, easy weekend trip.
Often used to Ski during the day Sat/Sun, return for a Barbecue on the beach on Sunday evening.
If the Mrs hadn't got sick, We'd be living there now for sure. I hated leaving. Great international schools too. Back in '98 when I first lived there, I also used to drive up the my parent's place in the Ardeche of a weekend in a couple of hours.

And her I am now in Torquay.
Bollocks.

[T_B]

Barcelona.
Great weather, mostly. Granite, lime and sandstone all within an hours drive (some within 10minutes).
Fantastic selection of walls and training facilities (including the free tunnel at fixidura).
Just over an hour by car takes you to Andorra for excellent skiing in the winter.
Some of the best clubs in Europe for the nights.
Restaurants from heaven.
Almost entirely pedestrianised city centre, with some of the best architecture anywhere.
Short ferry ride to the Balearics, easy weekend trip.
Often used to Ski during the day Sat/Sun, return for a Barbecue on the beach on Sunday evening.
If the Mrs hadn't got sick, We'd be living there now for sure. I hated leaving. Great international schools too. Back in '98 when I first lived there, I also used to drive up the my parent's place in the Ardeche of a weekend in a couple of hours.

Sounds sh*t.

[SA Chris]

Sydney is great for evening bouldering. Maybe a bit further south than you had in mind.

Kind of a tad outside of Europe.

[Muenchener]

Bamberg.

He didn't say "best city for smoked beer".

Also, the rock up that end of the Frankenjura is suspiciously un-pockety. 

[jwi]

Barcelona.

Barcelona is without doubt one of the best cities for climbers, if not the best. There is nothing within 30 min of the city though. And neither Montserrat nor Gelida is particularly steep.

[TobyD]

Sydney is great for evening bouldering. Maybe a bit further south than you had in mind.

Is that in Europe now? But Theresa May says the UK isn't in Europe.... I'm confused.

[TobyD]

Sydney is great for evening bouldering. Maybe a bit further south than you had in mind.

Kind of a tad outside of Europe.

Sorry I didn't read the full thread!

[SA Chris]

Any Scandinavian cities?

[andy_e]

Stockholm and Uppsala both fit that bill, and I'd imagine many of the Norwegian oil cities would too.

[dave]

I think there's decent cragging/bouldering around Stavanger.

[jwi]

As somone who's lived 35 years in Scandinavia... no. Just no. No year round climbing, except for students with a light course load and the (barely) self employed.

(Gothenburg is probably the best city in Sweden. Stavanger in Norway. Uppsala? That's just crazy.)

[Danny]

On Galway: no.

Outside Europe, Tuscon supposed to be great.

[jwi]

Bilbao? Have we had Bilbao? Honestly, I've no idea if there is any cragging within 30 min, but it is hilly as fuck so I wouldn't be too surprised. Plenty of climbing near the city though. Very strong community as well.

I've a friend who lives in Salzburg, and he's very happy with all the multipitch climbing just around the city. There seems to be quite a few single pitch crags as well.

[SA Chris]

I had thought N Spain, but not sure which city is best

[dave]

Bilbao? Have we had Bilbao? Honestly, I've no idea if there is any cragging within 30 min, but it is hilly as fuck so I wouldn't be too surprised. Plenty of climbing near the city though. Very strong community as well.

How easy is is to get out of the city to the crags at rush hour? You don't want all your basques in one exit.

[andy_e]

...

[Oldmanmatt]

Barcelona.

Barcelona is without doubt one of the best cities for climbers, if not the best. There is nothing within 30 min of the city though. And neither Montserrat nor Gelida is particularly steep.

Bouldering at Can Boquet. 15 minutes at most (well it was from Port Forum where I lived).


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[r-man]

I've a friend who lives in Salzburg, and he's very happy with all the multipitch climbing just around the city. There seems to be quite a few single pitch crags as well.

I lived in Salzburg for a few months. I wasn't aware of any steep rock (or very much at all, apart from a couple of esoteric spots) within 30min. If you drive for 1h15, there's Saalachtal bouldering. Maybe there is some decent steep single pitch somewhere, but I never learned of anything near the city.

[JohnM]

Basel is less than 20 mins from the Basler Jura which has lots of cragging and has a good climate for a lot of the year. I am living in Freiburg in SW Germany at the moment which is about an hour away so I am considering after work cragging soon but i'd have to drive through Basel at rush hour so may take too long.

[petejh]

Gijion, Bilbao, San Sebastian seems to me to be an ace area to be based. Maybe not super-close for evening cragging or bouldering (some on the French border near San Sebastian) but pretty close to a lot of good stuff plus mountains, wintersports and amazing coastline. Pyrenees within 2-3 hrs.

[nash1]

Stavanger, Bergen, Oslo all fit that bill in Norway, for Stavanger you can add surf, mountain bike, road bike all on the doorstep - bit further to skiing (1hr). Bergen and Oslo have skiing within 30 mins, but no surf.
Plus you have the Norwegian day schedule where everyone is finished by 3-4pm, so plenty of time for play once the clocks change...

[T_B]

Isn't Bilbao subtropical? As many rainy days per year as Manchester. No thanks!

Zurich?

[Doylo]

Bangor.

[Oldmanmatt]

Bangor.

Between showers...



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[36chambers]

Palma?

~20 minutes to Sa Gubia and more. Can get to anywhere on the island in an hour.

[cheque]

British people emigrating to Spain have it all the wrong way round- just get a job in Llandudno KFC and live the Orme dream like that Spanish lad.

You don't want all your basques in one exit.

  How long have you been saving that one for?!

Stavanger, Bergen, Oslo all fit that bill in Norway

I know a guy who moved to Bergen and has basically quit climbing as "it never stops raining for more than a day at a time, seriously, sometimes it's drizzle for an entire month". Very short nights in summer though so, to quote John Arran in Hard XS "There's the potential to get very very tired indeed".

There are a lot of crags around Grenoble.

This is interesting as since my most regular sport partner moved there he's reportedly mainly been to the bouldering wall as the climbing is apparently too far away. I'm starting to think his interest in routes was largely down to my influence...

[Stewart]

Glasgow clearly - could be outside the UK in the next few years

[mde]

In Switzerland, the best options are Basel and Lucerne. The Interlaken area would also be very good, but it is not really a city. Nothing though within 30 minutes from Zurich and Bern.

[i.munro]

Glasgow clearly - could be outside the UK in the next few years

In that there won't be a U.K. ...

Bilbao - driving inland for an hour or so changes the climate drastically from what I've seen.
The coastal seems to be warm & wet but inland is drier and colder - not lived there mind.

[SA Chris]

Outside Europe, Tuscon supposed to be great.

If you like climbing inside an oven. Too hot for 9 months of the year. Many better US options; Denver, SLC, etc.

[Fultonius]

I've not personally climbed at the crag around Geneva, but there are some.

Turin has a uni, but I think the climbing is maybe a touch too far out for after work.

Innsbruck.

The only negative about Grenoble is the pollution and traffic. Crag might be close, but I heard it's a ballache to get out the city.

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[jwi]

I've become convinced that there are no great cities to live in US for climbing. At least not if you ask for great climbing within 30 min driving and year round climbing (max one month off season) within 2-3 hours driving.

[SA Chris]

Is Boulder a city?

Guess in the months that it's too cold / snowy to climb the brilliant snowsports can make up for it.

[andy popp]

I've become convinced that there are no great cities to live in US for climbing. At least not if you ask for great climbing within 30 min driving and year round climbing (max one month off season) within 2-3 hours driving.

Flagstaff?

[jwi]

Is Boulder a city?

Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. Also. You've to deal with a climbing community with the worst asshole/human ratio I've experienced.

Flagstaff... hmm... could be?

[SA Chris]

You've to deal with a climbing community with the worst asshole/human ratio I've experienced.

Can't dispute that.

Flagstaff might get a bit hot midsummer, but there's always the DWS at Clear Creek near Winslow.

[andy popp]

I was in Flagstaff for about a week in the middle of summer last year and it never got that hot, plus some of the climbing is at higher altitudes than the city.

[SA Chris]

True enough, guess you can get up higher, I just remember sweating my way up cracks at Oak Creek Overlook in September

[cheque]

Is Boulder a city?

By the US definition anywhere over 2500 inhabitants is a city. I reckon Boulder would pass out definition too though.

I once read an interesting article in a copy of Climbing magazine that ranked US cities using SCIENCE- in fact a bewildering variety of statistical categories. It was somewhere unexpected (to me at least) that came out on top, i.e. not Boulder or Salt Lake. It think it was in New Mexico, Arizona or possibly even Texas.

I get the impression that Las Vegas has year-round climbing possibilities. There are loads of US states with lots  of climbing that non-Americans never think of too, but you have to take what they say with a pinch of salt as they think nothing of driving absurd distances of course.

[SA Chris]

I get the impression that Las Vegas has year-round climbing possibilities.

say 30 mins drive and there be overhanging crags.

From Downtown LV I think this would be a bit of a push to Red Rocks, but depends where you are located. In midsummer you won't have much that won't be absolutely frying, and quite a drive up to the higher altitude stuff.

But we digress.