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supafly
Trad climber
vancouver, bc
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 2, 2013 - 09:10pm PT
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I'm casting the net wide here!
My wife and I currently live in Vancouver, BC but the arrival of two children has us running for hills to beat the rather expensive (read prohibitive) cost of housing around here.
I am in IT so presumably need to live near a city to find gainful employment; we have been thinking for a LONG time about moving to Squamish or possibly up the road in Whistler but I can't commit to the 1+hour commute to the city, and can't get by on the salaries offered in Whistler - I was offered a job and earned more than the IT manager!
We have been looking at Cochrane outside Calgary which is pretty close to Canmore etc. and near enough to the city to get me a job, but Calgary doesn't seem that popular amongst the outdoor crowd, I'm unsure why?
So here it is - where would you move your family if you were me. The big three are:
1) Reasonably affordable housing
2) Access to the outdoors (for skiing/climbing/biking/hiking etc.)
3) Reasonable weather (i.e. we don't want to live in -20C every day in the winter)
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Penticton......nice weather, nice access, pretty place, don't know about the cost of living.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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^+1 okanagan
Calgary cold
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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What's wrong with Squamish? The commute is probably the same as if you were living in abbotsford or Langley... Ya it's not that much cheaper, but you have so many options!
Interior is nice too, maybe kelowna or kamloops might have some IT positions. Whatever you do, know that east=cold and less rock.
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grover
climber
Northern Mexico
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The west Koots.
edited to add: I'm not sure the Koots are the best place, but they do have a lot to offer.
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this just in
climber
north fork
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Drives are always worth not living in the city. Move to Squamish, I think there's climbing somewhere around there and maybe some skiing too.
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stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
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I'm with Donini. Penticton has decent weather, climbing, biking and skiing all close. And even wineries.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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lots of outdoors in sakk.
spend a winter there, and you'll understand why.
there's a reason that the canadian funhogs all live in bc and crank the real estate prices up and wages down.
if yr outdoor sports involve chasing wolves on skis, or fishing for walleye or muskie, or hunting bear/elk/etc., yr provincial preferences may vary.
otherwise, suck it up or emigrate.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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but Calgary doesn't seem that popular amongst the outdoor crowd, I'm unsure why?
Huh? If you have to live in, or near, a city, and are keen on outdoor activities, Calgary is great. Unless something has changed in the last few years, I can't see why you wouldn't want to live near Calgary. Every kind of climbing you might want (except granite) is nearby. It's close to the best ice climbing on the planet. Skiing is great (especially if you're willing to drive over to the Golden area).
I don't know about the cost of living there now, so can't comment on that, but from a climbing/skiing perspective, it's a hard place to beat.
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sac
Trad climber
Sun Coast B.C.
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Beat the crowds!
Check out PR (Powell River)
Apparently it's "The Pearl of the Sunshine Coast".
1) Reasonably affordable housing
2) Access to the outdoors (for skiing/climbing/biking/hiking etc.)
3) Reasonable weather (i.e. we don't want to live in -20C every day in the winter)
1) Yup
2) Yup.
3) Could be the "mildest" place in the country?
Oh, and no idea what an "IT" is,but w/ the house $ you save... no worries.
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alik
Big Wall climber
edmonton
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I would say that the big draw for living near the rockies as opposed to the coast range is the vast amount of easily accessible alpine terrain available to you. So if you prefer long alpine routes over short rock climbs and big ski mountaineering missions over tree skiing, it is the place to be in canada. If you're primarily a rock climber though, alberta definitely falls short of what you can have in squamish or the okanagan. The summers are short, and the rock takes some getting used to before it really becomes fun to climb on. Long rock routes tend to be more of the "adventurous" type. However the sport scene in the bow valley has really taken off in the last few years, and some pretty amazing crags are being developed if you're into that sort of thing. Winter is the big season in the rockies, so it helps a lot to be a keen skier or ice climber to really appreciate all that these mountains have to offer. Best ice climbing in the world, and incredible skiing in the colombia mountains (though 3 hours from calgary). Also tons of skiing possibilities in the rockies though a bit drier than the columbias. There is a huge outdoor community in calgary, with tons of people getting after it. The politics in alberta are pretty backwards, but that seems to have pretty minimal effect on my quality of life here. Of course ymmv.
Obviously there are a multitude of smaller communities that would be a hell of a lot more fun to live in (squamish, revy, golden, canmore, nelson, penticton etc.), but if you must live in a city you could do a lot worse than calgary.
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Adrian MacNair
Boulder climber
Vancouver
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I know plenty of climber doods who live in Squamish and commute to Vancouver. I wouldn't do it.
Alternately, anywhere along the TRansCanada is still close to SQuamish/Whistler. So, you can live in Maple Ridge where it's cheap(er) and it's only an extra 10 minutes than if you lived in VanCity. Or even Mission. WIth the price of gas, you're paying either way.
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Oplopanax
Mountain climber
The Deep Woods
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St Johns
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Rolfr
Social climber
North Vancouver BC
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After living in both Vancouver and Penticton, the choices come down to your priorities.
Vancouver requires a dam good income to be able to play and pay for that lifestyle, not insurmountable but I don’t know your particulars.
Squamish has seen a downturn in the real estate market and if you don't mind the 40 minute commute to Van , that is a good option.
Penticton may not have the employment opportunities in IT, but I would also look at Kelowna as an option. The big plus in the interior , NO DAM RAIN, and a great climbing community.
If I was making that decision, I would shape my decision around my wife and families' preferences tempered by a reasonable proximity to climbable stone.
You knew the answer before you even asked, otherwise you wouldn't have mentioned family.
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Nohea
Trad climber
Living Outside the Statist Quo
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Blue River...a great small BC town and if Weigele needs an IT guy then your in!
My 2 cents... Wish you all the best, love Calgary too, plenty out doors.
Aloha, shorts every day here,
Will
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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You're in IT... here's your best friend so you can live further away (I'm currently purchasing the big brother, 12 port system right now for our lab). It's a "light's out" system allowing power cycling, baremetal OS installs, etc.
StarTech.com 1 Port USB PS/2 Server Remote Control IP KVM w/Virtual Media & Serial - Remote control device
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tooth
Trad climber
B.C.
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Revelstoke's new hill is very comparable to Golden's. Cold on top, Slushy at the bottom. Best stay away. ;)
Kelowna has great weather - you can go to Squamish the 5 weekends a year it isn't raining. 5 hr drive. 5 hrs to Canmore for the weekends that aren't frozen.5 hrs to Leavenworth. 5 hrs to Bugaboos. The Landmark buildings are full of IT stuff, 400 Disney employees on 5th floor of Landmark II, Basements are full of Google servers, there has got to be work to do.
Kootnays, Whitewater is probably coolest ski hill around, and some great climbing.
Basically, harsh cold winters east of Golden/Revelstoke, rain west of Hope. My cousin lives in Kelowna and was cragging last weekend.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sheesh, not one vote for Pangnirtung?
Or is it because they don't play hockey there?
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supafly
Trad climber
vancouver, bc
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2013 - 11:21am PT
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Thanks for all the answers - I really appreciate you taking the time to throw some suggestions into the hat. To provide a few more details:
We are a family of four, one two year old and one 4 month old. I work in IT which stands for Information Technology (think larger networks). My wife is a stay at home mom and will be for another 5 years minimum, I earn in the region of 80k right now - nowhere near enough to buy a house on the shore.
My proficiency in outdoors is I'm a pretty decent biker, moderate climber(trad) and beginner ski tourer.
Like Rolf mentioned the big thing here is finding a home for the family, the rest will need to fall around that commitment.
Squamish: We have thought long and hard about moving up there - 2 hours worth of driving every day is just too much to swallow though. The property prices, although cheaper then Van, are still not a giveaway either - add on gas prices for commuting and the price is driven even higher. And the clincher? As mentioned, all for 3 months (hopefully!) of sunny weather - although the ski touring and biking helps in the dreary winter months. If I could find a job in Squamish (say at the university) I would probably give it a shot, but I haven't had any luck finding the dream job yet.
Kelowna/Kamloops: I can't say I'm a huge fan of the climbing, it's certainly not Squamish, but at least it's something, better than living somewhere completely flat. Nice hot summer, I enjoy the heat so not a problem. The housing is fairly reasonably priced, ski touring I'm unsure of? Mountain biking is good enough for sure. The only thing about the area is it seems a little "meh", neither amazing nor terrible - but at this point I'm guessing I can't be too fussy.
Calgary/Cochrane: I know NOTHING about AB and Calgary, aside from it can get cold and apparently windy as well. Ski touring looks like it is probably doable, sport climbing is available, mtn biking a possibility? And yes the house prices look reasonable and obviously finding a job would be fairly easy.
Nelson/small town BC: I would love this option but it completely relies on me finding one of maybe 10 jobs going in the area. It would probably be IT management for a mining operation, ski resort or local municipality. Possible but not probable.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Kelowna, Okanagan Valley, Penticton
Metropolitan area of Kelowna, hitting close to 200,000, so there must be some work in IT. Regular flights to Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Seattle. Roads west to Vancouver much improved over the years
Semi-arid climate.
Skaha Cliffs (watch it, there are rattlers there) and being in the interior, loads of mountains within several hours drive (Purcells , Bugaboos, though they are not "fast" roads)
Some very good wineries, skiing not that far away.
Between Okanagan College (offers a 4-year degree in Computer Information Systems, do you or can you teach?) and University BC Okanagan, well over 15,000 students, and there must be some opportunity for work in academics.
Then there is Ogopogo in Lake Okanagan, similar to the Loch Ness Monster.
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alik
Big Wall climber
edmonton
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Not sure about okanagan/kamloops option. Seems like the only real benefit is year round rock climbing. Sounds great except there's almost nothing longer than 2 pitches without driving 3-5 hours... I've heard there is a lot of great mt biking around kamloops, but don't know much about it.
You can climb rock year round in canmore/calgary as well. Same deal as in squamish though, with fairly limited options on where to climb, and only maybe 5 days a month of "good" rock climbing weather. You can climb on yam mid winter on the warm/sunny days, which has 100 or so trad routes up to 12 pitches! Good news is the ice is always in, and you'll only get a handful of days mid winter when it's too cold to go out. Tons of sunshine too which will be a pleasant change from living on the coast.
There is plenty of good mountain biking near calgary as well. With a lot of it close enough to town to hit after work in the spring/summer.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Calgary is a great place to live and work. The only drawback is the ice season is longer than the rock season. Weather is more moderate than you think as we only have a few weeks of truly cold weather.
The rock climbing is suprisingly good with lots of choice and lots of good rock if you go to the right spot.
Lots of work in town for IT guys due to the oil/gas and financial industries here.
You can email me if you want more info
Penticton is a nice area but very few decent jobs.
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Hoser
climber
vancouver
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To afford a house in Vancouver you just need to be creative. Buy a fixer upper, bite the bullet and move into the basement, rent out the top floor and build a laneway house.
Dont have much equity in your current place... find someone in a similar spot and buy a house together, sell them the basement for 300 and take the top for 5, build a laneway house and start down the path of being a homeowner. There are many detached duplex's that go for half the cost of a normal home. There are many in Richmond, right next to the Canada line.
There are ways to afford this place, just takes a bit of work and elbow grease....the chinese and east indians figured it out, move everyone in save up and buy another one...keep doing that.
Good luck
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supafly
Trad climber
vancouver, bc
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2013 - 10:10pm PT
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I thought of another benefit to squamish .... a totally kick ass gondola is going in this spring!
let's not get distracted now :)
thanks for the advice.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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What's Wrong With Winnipeg?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Isn't Bountiful where all the fundamentalist "Mormons" and gondola-huggers live?
Apparently the western suburbs of Calgary are quite nice, if you don't mind long, windy and sometimes quite cold winters.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Can you hook up a remote sever access dealie and work from home? If so, Squamish would be an even better location, and you don't need to drive so much, just when stuff gets really screwed up.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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If you're thinking of buying in Squamish, or indeed anywhere that's normally 30 minutes or more from where you'll work, and then commuting - rent first. Try the commute through several months, see if it works. For example, Squamish to downtown Vancouver is normally about 50 minutes during commute times, assuming decent conditions and not speeding unduly. It can be quite another story during the winter, not to mention if there's an accident, rockfall, or the like. Many who do commute, carpool.
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