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traddad
Aug 12, 2003, 1:50 AM
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Just got back from a foray to the North Shore. Loved it. Phantom crack was Boss-O-Nova and kicked my ass, and I climb 5.11 at home. Shovel Point is gorgeous, Ely's is fun, and Palisade Head is stellar. Duluth is a wonderful city, and there seems to be a lot of rock, if you look for it. I even embraced the no chalk ethic (eco balls work...and the rock is WAY gritty) even though there was plenty of chalk on some of the routes we did. There were also RELIGIOUS TRACTS stuck in the cracks of Elys. Go figure, no chalk, but bible thumping trash is Okee Dokee.
I'd move to Duluth in a heartbeat. Of course it's 111 here today......
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flyinghatchet
Aug 12, 2003, 1:53 AM
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Duluth is nice, but it lacks the hot-weather feature I'm looking for when I move. Not that I have to worry about that too soon...
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mewalrus
Aug 15, 2003, 8:32 PM
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You saw the light, I'll be up there climbing tomorrow. Supposed to be in the mid 70's. :P :P :P I can't wait!
Told you that chalk was unnecessary, it would just fill in that lovely Grit. Phantom Crack was pretty painful when I last flailed up it. Those damn thin hands really hurt when ya lay on em.
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just_me
Aug 15, 2003, 9:35 PM
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Duluth is beautiful, and climbing at the North Shore is great this time of year. Just remember that it is frigging cold and windy up there for most of the year. I speak from experience because I have lived in Minnesota the majority of my life.
I fondly remember days at Palisade Head where it was barely 40 degrees with horizontal rain, and that was in July!
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mewalrus
Aug 15, 2003, 10:20 PM
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In reply to: I fondly remember days at Palisade Head where it was barely 40 degrees with horizontal rain, and that was in July!
And I walk uphill both ways to work. 8)
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flyinghatchet
Aug 15, 2003, 10:34 PM
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mewalrus
I hardly expect he's exaggerating. It was just like that when I went to the BWCA this July, minus the horizontality of the rain.
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mewalrus
Aug 16, 2003, 12:00 AM
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Ok its not too big of an exaggeration i guess...
But it is somewhat an exaggeration :wink:
I wish it was getting down to 40 at night this weekend, great sleeping weather.
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jitterjepp
Aug 16, 2003, 1:17 AM
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Welcome to Minnesota. It's friggin cold everywhere in the winter. In the south you got the wind blowin up drifts for miles. Around the city you just got plain old cold and snow and up north you got cold and more snow. wad-a-ya gonna do?
Go iceclimbing. I say make that big move up to Duluth. You will only be a hop skip and a jump from Manitou, Devil Track and Cascade Falls. When you get set up there let all the ice climbers know so we can all come crash at your place. Really, an Ideal location would be Grand Maris.
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moabbeth
Aug 16, 2003, 4:29 AM
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Traddad -
My folks lived in Minneapolis for 30+ years. I lived a good chunk of my life there. After my sister and I grew up and left the state, they vacated a few years later for...Phoenix!! Where you live! They finally threw in the towel when they had one ice storm too many that caused you to need a lighter/heat source to melt open the keyhole so you can get in your car (or at least mom used that as the final excuse :lol: ).
It is a lovely state, wonderful people, a great place to grow up, but the winters are COLD. There's very little exaggerating when Minnesotans talk about how cold the winters get. I believe the horizontal 40 degree rain in July story. Hell, it snowed on my birthday in May one year.
Don't even get me started on being a hockey cheerleader in high school and those long frozen winter bus trips to play teams up in the iron range. :P :P
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traddad
Aug 17, 2003, 5:18 AM
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Hockey cheerleader....pictures?
I am completely aware of 40 degree below temps. For my dollar, they are easier to deal with than 122 degree days (which I've also experienced). While you can always put on more clothes, there is only so much you can take off :oops: . And the long days of the summer...you know...the days where you can climb after work...They SUCK in Kleenix. I had three absolutely beautiful climbing days in Duluth.
Not to mention, the number of L-I-B-E-R-A-L-S in Minnesota. Gawd, I'm tired of the toothless, monster truck drivin', third grade educated morons that seem to breed like rats in AZ. Remember, AZ was Timothy McVey's home....
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duskerhu
Aug 17, 2003, 8:27 AM
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Glad you had a good time climbing up on the" Shore" traddad... Sounds like you climbed a little more than you originally planned?.?.?. Didn't I tell you it would definately be worth the extra time to drive up to the Tettegouche (Palisade Head and Shovel Point) area? It's just a down-right beautiful part of the country besides!
Anyway, the weather up there and in MN in general is something you learn to deal with and, to some degree, get used to. I always bring clothing for all seasons when I go up there.
I was up there in the middle of July one year when I was in my early 20's and on Friday afternoon it was a gorgeous sunny 82 degree day. Sky full of stars and no wind when I crawled into the tent at about midnight. I awoke about 6am Saturday morning thinking my tent was about to blow into the lake. I barely got my gear packed up and into the car when it started raining and the temp dropped to about 38. That was near Two Harbours. Spent the day driving and stopping to do a little hiking when the rain slowed down. Set my tent in Grand Marais that night in a slow drizzle and the wind had slowed down to about 10 mph. Woke up baking in my tent Sunday morning to a bright sunny day. It got up to the high 70's that day.
Long and short of it, be prepared when treking to the North Shore!
duskerhu
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bluto
Aug 17, 2003, 2:26 PM
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Please by all means leave Arizona. You certainly don't appreciate the fact that we have mountains, deserts, and wonderful year round climbing.
Living in Duluth will be just fantastic, 12 weeks of climbing weather between snowfalls (they call this summer), half of that will be rain. Certainly no pick-up truck drivin, snowmobilin all winter, drinking like fish rednecks in Minnesota either.
You are most likely an intelligent individual Traddad, but I think the heat must be getting to you, splurge, turn that thermostat down a few degrees, and think about what you are saying.
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mewalrus
Aug 18, 2003, 6:26 AM
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Well this weekend was totally perfect climbing weather, absolutely beautiful!!!
I'm with Traddad, I'll take cooler over hotter any day. Guess its my N. European and Scandinavian genes showing themselves.
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traddad
Aug 18, 2003, 1:51 PM
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It's not just the heat. It's the State. AZ is fast becomming the Ferengi homeland.
AZ was a culture free zone for years, now it's a culture free zone run by the Gap and land developers. Hrrrumph... I love AZ. I live at the base of the Superstition Mountains and can be pulling down hard inside of 20 min. But not for 6 months out of the year. I've lived in AZ for 40+ years....I'm over being enamoured with the winters.
I guess the trouble might be that my job has taken me to places like Duluth, Burlington VT, Camden Maine...nice, small cities with diverse cultural offerings and great climbing in their back yards. Take a look at Outside Magazine's best outdoor city issue...Phoenix isn't mentioned. Phoenix is the anti-outdoor city.
Of course, if I moved, I couldn't enter the local category at the PBC...
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bluto
Aug 19, 2003, 3:31 PM
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Interesting that you brought up the Outside Magazine Article, I am not sure how that article relates to reality. It should have been titled "Exclusive, overpriced cities that you can't make a living in".
Phoenix is by no means a perfect city. But if you can show me another large city, with good employment opportunities, reasonably priced housing, and more access to abundant public land for recreation, I'd be curious to hear about it.
If you have grown tired of the valley, perhaps it's time for a change. You seem have gotten yourself into a mental rut about where you live.
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traddad
Aug 19, 2003, 5:58 PM
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Of course you'e right, Bluto. Phoenix is an ugly, culture free megalopolis run by the Mormon Taliban in the middle of a beautiful state.
As for house prices, a 1300 sq.ft home on a 1/2 acre lot in a beautiful part of town on a hill 1/4 mile from the lake in Duluth goes for $120,000.
A 1600 sq. ft. house on 4.5 wooded acres 200 yds. from the ocean, 12 miles south of Camden went for $86,000.
Good friends live in both those houses.
We just spent $136,000 for a 1200 sq. ft. house on a postage stamp in the Valley. You could stem between our house and the neighbor's.
Inertia, a good job and 83 year old parents keep me in the PHX area. Hopefully that will change, because PHX won't. Spouse had a job offer in Duluth but Jessie screwed it up.
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bluto
Aug 19, 2003, 6:40 PM
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Good Luck Traddad, I really do hope things work out for you.
Having government work experience you might be able to pull it off. But for the majority of us that work in the private sector, living in small towns is not an option. A $120,000 house in Duluth may as well be a $1,200,000 house if you can't find a decent paying job. It's all relative.
Talk to me after that first winter! :)
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col_sanderz
Aug 19, 2003, 7:16 PM
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Haha, you know why houses in duluth cost so much?? Its because theyre all built on the side of a bloody hill. Garsh, I wish I were still going to school in Duluth...good times.
The Iron range. What can I say. what a bunch of goofballs?!?
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