Discussion Topic |
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 29, 2012 - 09:20pm PT
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Let´s make that metropolitan area. No, it´s not LA with its graffiti encrusted Stony Point and Austin doesn´t qualify with it´s moldy 30ft high limestone. My vote goes to Rio De Janeiro. I´ve been here for a week and I´m blown away with the amount of climbing and the physical beauty of the area. Any other ideas?
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:28pm PT
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Rio. That'd be nice. Jim you're certainly livin the dream and showing us the way to do it.
For real. Keep it up!
Arne
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired in Appalachia
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:28pm PT
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Seoul, South Korea
북한산국립공원, 北漢山國立公園
Feels and smells like Yosemite in a lot of ways
Captured my heart!
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:29pm PT
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Dresden
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superstu
Trad climber
Sydney, Australia
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:47pm PT
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Sydney Australia
Sandstone climbing in the suburbs. Pretty harbour. Year round climbing weather.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:58pm PT
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Boulder. . .
Flagstaff, the Flatirons. . .
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Apr 29, 2012 - 09:59pm PT
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Squamish. Ok it may be more of a town but it has tonnes of granite minutes from town and is only 35 mins from vancouver which, if you think about it is equal to alot of suburbs in bigger cities. Our granite is sticky, not polished.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:00pm PT
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If you consider Squamish to be part of the lower mainland of British Columbia, that is part of Greater Vancouver, then Vancouver wins hands down. It's less than an hour from much of the city, and there are other climbing and mountain attractions in the area.
But you'd better check with an urban geographer first.
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dustonian
climber
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:05pm PT
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Chattanooga
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MH2
climber
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:06pm PT
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Squamish is the best urban crag I know of.
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:15pm PT
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The Municipality of Anchorage is larger than the state of Deleware and contains a large portion of the Chugach mountains, so I'm voting for it.
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Roughster
Sport climber
Vacaville, CA
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:24pm PT
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Damn what a beautiful picture of Anchorage! Makes me want to go visit my relatives up there!
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Andy Fielding
Trad climber
UK
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Apr 29, 2012 - 10:35pm PT
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How about Calpe in Spain. Sun, sand, surf and limestone.
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Prezwoodz
climber
Anchorage
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Apr 29, 2012 - 11:12pm PT
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Bryce,
i was going to say Anchorage too. There is a ton of climbing within the city limits.
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JimT
climber
Munich
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Apr 30, 2012 - 02:58am PT
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If you´d stuck with a city then Palermo in Sicily.
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Apr 30, 2012 - 06:14am PT
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I never found Sydney to be that great; pretty obscure climbing. Extremely spicey too!
Best to head to the Blueys from there.
Heard Dresden has lots to offer. Oslo has some. Hobart has Mt Wellington out the back door If you say Rio is the best you've found, I believe it's very good.
Arne
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ged
climber
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Apr 30, 2012 - 06:31am PT
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Hi Jim, as you'll find out this summer, it's an easy win for Bristol, UK!
Ged
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 30, 2012 - 08:57am PT
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Someone down here mentioned Oslo. Remember, I said within the city limits and I´m not sure you can count Squamish as a city. Anchorage....pretty big stretch, I´ve climbed along the Seward Highay- kind of chossy, don´t you think.
The climbing here in Rio is very extensive- 40 multi pitch routes just on Sugarloaf. Off to the beach, climbing tomorrow.
Gunkie...you have to climb when on business and I´ve sampled some of the fare that you mention. I have to say those venues totally (I mean totally) suck when compared to Rio.
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Apr 30, 2012 - 09:15am PT
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I'm sure that Jim is correct with Rio, but Capetown, South Africa and Palermo, Sicily are up there, as is Cuenca, Spain. Of course, Boulder,CO, Salt Lake, and Chattanooga are contenders as well. Dresden has been mentioned several times, but the actual climbing is a good way out of town.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Apr 30, 2012 - 09:23am PT
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Everyone really missed the clues: CITY OF ROCKS!
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martygarrison
Trad climber
Washington DC
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Apr 30, 2012 - 09:25am PT
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Modesto, California. Hands down.
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andy@climbingmoab
Big Wall climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Apr 30, 2012 - 09:39am PT
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Cape Town in South Africa gets my vote.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
Placerville, California
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Apr 30, 2012 - 09:49am PT
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hell is my spiritual destination
i don't know if it's been granted
city privelages but
i figure there is only one
way out since it reestablishes
the lowest domain
so i plan to climb into bed
i'll climb my meals,
i'll climb other hell-dwellers
ill climb up the walls of my grave
i'll climb the snake like spine
of sin
and i plan to eat some olives
once i summit the devil's horn.
the handle of my skythe
shall be my proper and effective mountain stick.
hell, eternity.
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Scole
Trad climber
San Diego
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Apr 30, 2012 - 10:29am PT
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I agree with Donini, it has to be Rio.
Scole
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 30, 2012 - 11:45am PT
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Seoul has Yosemite-like granite within the city limits? When I was there, visibility was about 50 meters, as a giant dust storm dropped what seemed like half of China on Seoul. You could have dropped the entire Cerro Torre massif into the city and no one would have known.
However, that doesn't mean I saw no climbing possibilities while I was there. Seriously, if you want "urban climbing," it doesn't get any better than this...
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 30, 2012 - 11:46am PT
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Yes Randisi...IT IS obvious that I made a boo boo. Even I noticed, but, alas, you can´t edit titles.
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neversummer
Trad climber
30 mins. from suicide USA
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Apr 30, 2012 - 12:11pm PT
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IDYLLWILD...
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Apr 30, 2012 - 12:24pm PT
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Seoul granite is pretty good, when I was there in the mid 70's there were some pretty nice routes that Yvonne had put up. I think there're a lot more now, but those Koreans have some pretty insane belaying techniques and like to swarm together on the rock.
Pretty good climbing within the city limits of Korea's 2nd large city Pusan, to the south. In fact the picture on my icon is from Pusan in 1975.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Apr 30, 2012 - 01:07pm PT
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Grenoble, France might work?
Ouray! Ice and rock.
What's the criteria? Do you have to be able to walk to climbing, easily?
Or, a short drive?
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Apr 30, 2012 - 01:17pm PT
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Isn't Yosemite a metropolitan area?
It's crowded, has hotels and restaurants, shopping areas, highways, mass transit, a police force, a jail and a slum...
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Apr 30, 2012 - 02:19pm PT
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Vegas
Is Moab a city?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 30, 2012 - 02:23pm PT
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OK, some definitions. Most be at least 100,000 in population and climbing must be WITHIN the city limits.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Apr 30, 2012 - 02:33pm PT
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Isn't Yosemite a metropolitan area?
It's crowded, has hotels and restaurants, shopping areas, highways, mass transit, a police force, a jail and a slum...
Before Jim tightened the definition, I was thinking the same thing, Kris.
Oh well, back to the drawing board.
John
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cowpoke
climber
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Apr 30, 2012 - 02:44pm PT
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^^^ I was thinking Vegas, too, if we can extend a bit beyond city limits, but even closer to the city limit than Red Rock is to Vegas is the granite around Abuja, Nigeria (the capital city).
Some pics off the web of Aso Rock (1st two pics) and a bit further outside the city limits, Zuma Rock.
edit: Wiki says it meets the population requirement of the thread at 778,567, but I think Aso rock is just outside city limits, but not certain.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Apr 30, 2012 - 02:51pm PT
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Colorado Springs has that Garden of the Gods area? I've never climbed there so not sure about it. If Vegas could be extended only slightly westward it would be a winner...
Then there is the social climbing inside of New York City..."Falling!"
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 30, 2012 - 03:22pm PT
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The whole question seems the same as asking which hospital serves the best food.
You can be urbane or you can be a climber. Choose damn it! You wanna live forever?
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Scole
Trad climber
San Diego
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Apr 30, 2012 - 04:42pm PT
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Donini
Have you done Pasos de Fogos on Sugarloaf yet?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Apr 30, 2012 - 04:48pm PT
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Kolsås is a fine cliff in a suburb of Oslo, and is accessible by rapid transit. It features about 300 one to three pitch routes. Plus Claude Monet made a painting of it, and there's a NATO base underneath it.
There's other good climbing in the Oslo area, including things like Hauktjern. Plus Oslomarkka, the green belt surrounding the city, has excellent cross country skiing, walking, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kols%C3%A5s
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supafly
Trad climber
vancouver, bc
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Apr 30, 2012 - 04:50pm PT
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cape town - similar crime rate to rio as well!
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bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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Apr 30, 2012 - 06:04pm PT
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I thought I'd seen some cool pics from Hong Kong before??
Innsbruck, Austria is an incredible mountain city. Down in a valley surrounded by big mountains, great food and the kindest people.
Switzerland has to have some good climbing cities, the whole country is mountainous.
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ddriver
Trad climber
SLC, UT
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Apr 30, 2012 - 07:25pm PT
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Arco is best in town climbing scene I've been to. You know, where you can walk to the crag and it rocks, then walk to dinner, and that also rocks. Forget I mentioned this.
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CTW
climber
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Apr 30, 2012 - 07:46pm PT
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Not Chattanooga. Not even close.
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Andy Fielding
Trad climber
UK
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Apr 30, 2012 - 07:58pm PT
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OK, some definitions. Most be at least 100,000 in population and climbing must be WITHIN the city limits. That rules out my suggestion. Calpe only has about 20,000 people but it still has a great mountain in its back yard.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Apr 30, 2012 - 08:24pm PT
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Bottom line.....
It's Los Angeles with Stoney Point, trash gets picked up, graffiti effectively covered. Plus, it hardly every rains. Routinely produces the best American climbers. There's several "scenes." It's not too hard. Not too easy. The bullet points go on and on.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Apr 30, 2012 - 08:29pm PT
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the parts of Palestine shelled by israel has some good buildering
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gonamok
climber
dont make me come over there
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Is whitney portal in lone pine? If it is youre only 95,000 people shy of another contender.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Keystone, SD is only about 99,000 shy of making the list.
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TomCochrane
Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
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just don't get too technical with the definitions, because it would be hard to upstage living in New Paltz, New York (pop. 14,000)...miles of side-by-side Gunks climbs at every level of difficulty, great ski areas, and great ice climbing...
in the winter you can often do all three sports each day; ski in the morning, rock climb in the afternoon sun, and ice climb frozen waterfalls after dinner
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steve shea
climber
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The Chamonix metroplex. Les Houches to La L'avanche or even Col d Montet. It's in the city, high rise condos, served by train or bus but you can walk everywhere. You can climb right out of the city to the summit of Mt Blanc, descend to the Italian side, Entreve/Courmayeur and take a bus back to Chamonix. Pretty citified
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andy@climbingmoab
Big Wall climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Cape Town disqualifies New Paltz - Table Mountain is like a more extensive version of the Gunks with routes over 10 pitches long and a sea view. After doing a long route take a cable car down to a winery. Really tough to beat.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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A lot of the stuff mentioned is way outside of the target city's footprint. This should be a discussion on stuff found within a specific city's tax footprint.
Rio sounds nice. Will be going back to Tokyo this summer and probably Melbourne AU and Buenos Aries AR in the near future. I'll certainly be in Amsterdam in September. I know that Tokyo holds little in terms of climbing aside from buildering. How about the other locations (not holding my breath on Amsterdam)? Anyone have any beta? Thx.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2012 - 09:59am PT
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BA is in the middle of the pampas and has absolutely no climbing aside from buildering.
A better option is to take tango lessons.
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steve shea
climber
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OK North Conway or Franconia or Cortina or Lienz or Kals
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2012 - 10:03am PT
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Steve, 100,000 minimum population criteria. Still raining in Rio but supposed to be better tomorrow, my last day.
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steve shea
climber
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Jim,100,000 pop? I guess Rio, how's the food? Cham may even have a 100K by now.
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ducha
Trad climber
rio de janeiro
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hi folks,
Rio de Janeiro is a city of 16 million people. you arrive in the crags and walls in 15 minutes, by urban bus or bike. we have everything here: Sport, multi-pitch (from two to 12 pitches), boulder, aid, chims and a little bit of trad.
INTO the city. 350 routes only in the Urca neighborhood, plus Tijuca National Park. In the summer, when too hot, we sport climb into the forest.
One hour from Rio there is Serra dos Órgãos National park, where Dedo de Deus is located (google image for Dedo de Deus and have a look yourself).s
3 hours from Rio there is Tres Picos Provincial Park with routes 'til 17 pitches of the best granite.
I agree with Jim.
Valeu,
Ducha
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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How are the beaches in Anchorage or Squamish?
Good waves? Lots of eye candy?
I'm guessing some of you shut-ins need to get out more.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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t*r, Anchortown sucks*, Juneau is the town, but it isn't big enough to qualify
as a city. Who the hell was so ignorant as to nominate Buenos Aires? They
had to be joking. I never even saw any bouldering except at the zoo!
*Although surfing the tidal bore is unique!
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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I arrived in Rio on in the early '80s. I had my EBs and a chalk bag and wanted to climb on those old granite walls. I'd seen some folks climbing here and there, and hung around one of the areas with the hopes of meeting up with some of the locals.
I met André, one of the Carioca Climbing Club members. He was totally psyched on the climbing in Rio. He'd been reading Mountain and Climbing magazines, and had no idea of how the Brazilian grades compared with those in other parts of the world.
I climbed with André for about a week, and gave him an idea of what grade the routes were. We did a route on Sugarloaf, Pao de Gavia, and CEB--an outlying crag that we took a bus to, then dashed through the forest, leery of thieves. (These are all from a crusty old memory, so please help me out if you know the proper names.)
On Pao de Gavia, André and I tried to free a line that had a few points of aid. It was beautifully classic, and I got all but one move free. Grabbing shrubs growing out of the vertical wall was novel, as was the descent. Straight through a favela. I sent a trip report into Climbing, but they later printed only the grade-conversion chart I'd drawn up.
We strung up a TR on a famous crack problem, and they were disappointed when I was the first to send it, calling it .10a. They didn't have much experience with cracks, and I introduced Andre to the idea of bouldering, telling him it is a great way to hone skills.
For shoes, the locals used a specific soccer cleat. They'd grind the "cleats" off of, giving them a very soft-soled tennis shoe type of rig. Gear for them was very expensive and they didn't have much. Wolfgang visited a year or two later, and really opened up the possibilities, and I guess the rest is what it is.
Rio is one of the best cities ever. Love the people, love the electricity in the air. Would love to climb some of the new routes...
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Who the hell was so ignorant as to nominate Buenos Aires?
No one.
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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Um.... Rain?!... Yeah,...
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Fletcher
Trad climber
Fumbling towards stone
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Bergbryce beat me to it, but I was going to mention Hong Kong. There have been a thread or two with images and I think a trip report too. It's long had it's own guide book. Probably not the "best" but definitely amongst the most interesting.
Eric
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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You can be urbane or you can be a climber.
OK, if we're nitpicking grammar, we can nitpick spelling.
It may not be possible to be an urban climber, but it is surely possible to be an urbane climber!
:)
Does Tucson qualify and if so how does it rank?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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A couple of candidates....depends on what you like to climb I suppose:
1. Ha Long City, Vietnam. 185k pop with the sweet limestone towers of Ha Long Bay.
2. Yangshuou Town, China. 300k in the county, with this town the seat of govt, so likely meets the 150k arbitrary number we're using.
Personally, I'll take Rio because it's granite and the football and women are unbeatable. But if you enjoy limestone sport crankin, get your Asia on.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Never been to Rio. Of the places I have been, I'd vote Vegas if RR is in City Limits, but I doubt it is. So then I have to vote Boulder.
Prod.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - May 1, 2012 - 04:39pm PT
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I´m going to "prod" you to buy a plane ticket and get your butt down to Rio. Sunny tomorrow for some final cragging on my last day here. Was going to Tres Pico Riley, but weather wasn´t right.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Might have to be a destination next winter. Your last recomendation, The Frey, was tits up for sure.
Prod.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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tucson anybody? mt. lemmon alone....
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ducha
Trad climber
rio de janeiro
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City of Rio has changed quite a lot since the 80's.
You probably climbed with André Ilha, one of the most active climber with over 500 first ascents all over the country. still climbing in our days.
Local climbing also developed a lot since it, many new routes on Sugar Loaf as well as in Tijuca Forest and two main sport climbing crags: Barrinha and Campo Escola.
Another thing I forgot to mention earlier, our main activity in the rest days: birdwatching
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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I think we have a winner!
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Wanna bump this thread.
From post so far, Rio is the winner and unlikely to be dethroned. Ducha's photographic proof (two posts ante) seals the deal, no doubt.
So how about narrowing down now to best U.S. city with climbing within (or so close as to count as "in") its borders?
Nominees seem to be:
!. Chattanooga (no way is this the best);
2. Salt Lake City;
3. Boulder:
4. Tucson;
5. Las Vegas.
If so, I'd go with Las Vegas (in spite of personal and sentimental reasons to quixotically lobby for Tucson.
Donini may chime in with another candidate from his recent travels to Tajikestan and Sichuan. Would be funny if he nominates a superior candidate to his first offering: Rio de Janeiro.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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Well, I'm not sure how we're defining city/metro limits. But if we say less than 45 travel mins from downtown... Salt Lake has an awful lot.
Big and Little Cottonwood, Bells Canyon, Lone Pine Cirque, American Fork, Ogden, Provo Canyon ice. Probably more 1000 routes, sport, trad, single and multipitch. And hundreds of boulder problems.
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fgw
climber
portland, or
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other potential candidates:
Monterrey with La Huasteca NP (maybe outside city limits ala LV & RR?).
HK with its Lion Rock (other?)
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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font
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Gonna have to plug some local stone for this one--population over 100k (barely) and climbing WITHIN its city limits. One pitch routes with cracks dominating and decent unsung bouldering...
...Billings, Montana and its Rimrocks--good enough for Dick Cilley to spend time at :-)
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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donini restricted it to within the city limits and 100K population.
Unless they've pushed SLC's city limits up the hills, there's none within the city, even if you throw in Cottonwood heights, Sandy and Draper (well maybe some bouldering). Plenty of excellent climbing within Salt Lake County, winter and summer.
Oddly enough there's a decent short crag within San Francisco, if you like SlickAsSnotOnADoorknob serpentine. And of course Indian Rock in Berkeley.
Obviously neither in a league with Rio.
Holyrood in Edinburgh. But the "crag" isn't much bigger than the one in SF.
http://www.scotclimb.org.uk/holyrood_park.shtml
I believe the Tromso Norway crags are within the "city limits" which cover a lot of area. If they are, they would definitely top the list. Summer and winter. But Tromso only has 69K residents. Blew me away to see such a large and modern city that far North. I was expecting something more like Talkeetna.
700 rock climbing routes in Oslo?
http://www.coronn.com/TOPOS/norway/oslo_drammen/oslo_drammen.html
Quincy Quarries, Quincy (Boston), Ma. Now that the "Irish Mafia" is largely behind bars or pushing up daisies the car vandalism might diminish.
But ya know? I think donini is on to something!
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Font
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Magic Ed
Trad climber
Nuevo Leon, Mexico
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Mexico City has some fine climbing within its borders, as does Monterrey.
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Boston, Quincy Quarries
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