So i am looking at places to live when i come back to the states form Japan. One area I have been offered with my Job is Albuquerque, i was just wondering what people thought of the area and how good the climbing is. I prefer climbing trad multi-pitch but also boulder and can be persuaded to climb sport if need be. So let me know, is the climbing good enough to warrant moving there, or should i look else where. Thanks in advance for opinions or info
Quite a bit of multi pitch trad in the Sandias - however approaches are long. Good trad and sport up north about an hour (White Rock and El Rito comes to mind.) Good sport down south about an hour in Socorro.
Going farther north (2-4 hours) you have Taos, Questa, Tres Piedras.
Farther south you have the Organs and the Dona Ana mountains.
East - not much out there, basically like Texas. Some good caving I suppose.
West - Not a ton of climbing, but there is some sandstone out near Gallup. Also Enchanted tower sport climbing.
Plus there's virtually unlimited other outdoor adventure near ABQ with tons of wilderness areas, mountain biking, skiing, whitewater, lakes, fishing, dirtbiking, etc... whatever suits your fancy. About the only thing we don't have is saltwater and its related activities.
Now, it's not Yosemite or Washington state by any means, but still pretty good. And with much more sunshine and virtually non-existent natural disasters compared to just about any other place in this country.
the lack of rain and natural disasters was the major reason i was looking at this area. I've been living in Korea & Japan for the past several years and I'm sick of the rain. From your discription and other info i have looked at, I believe i will be putting ABQ as my first pick of places.
I haven't been in Abq too long but it's definitely a great place all around. i've heard there's some good climbing around and depending if you're more into trad/sport/or bouldering, etc there's several amazing places within a few hours drive.
I actually just moved over from Flagstaff, AZ.... which as far as being close to climbing, I would put that on the top of the list. There's no crazy weather and can usually climb around most times of the year. there's all types of climbing that is good quality from 5 mins away to hours away. Personally, I boulder mostly and it's bout the same drive time to Bishop as it is Hueco Tanks and Joe's Valley and Red Rocks or JTree are even closer. Though it's an amazing mountain town... it's also really expensive and hard to find a job, etc etc. Thus....Albuquerque is definitely the next choice i'd say.
Good luck! Hope you find a place that works for you!!!
Thanks for the input all. I've added Abq to my list and will be waiting till Feb to find out where I will be heading. If I end up heading to ABQ I hope to get out and do some climbing with you all.
If you end up in Albuquerque make sure to stop by Stone Age Climbing gym. Good gym and lots of friendly knowledgeable people who you can find to climb with outside.
On a side note New Mexican food is the bomb. PM me if you want to know some good restaurants.
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