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sardotex
Nov 2, 2004, 1:20 PM
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I move to Seattle in December and have never lived there. I'm interested in finding a good rock climbing gym and partners who know the local crags and are willing to teach ice climbing and mountaineering as well.
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getout247
Nov 3, 2004, 4:54 PM
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It depends a little on how much money you want to spend. If you like the trendy, bent over the bouldering wall type of gym you should head to Vertical World. They have a couple of locations depending on where in the metro. area you will be moving too. This should hook you up with a few people, but you may have a hard time finding a partner that actually likes to climb outside. If you are a little more of a dirtbag, you should try Stone Gardens. One location, plywood, (at least last time I was there) and what I believe it has a little more positive vibe.
There is outdoor climbing during the winter and a really friendly vibe just over the mountains.
Where exactly are you landing? What do you climb?
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gfw123
Nov 3, 2004, 5:22 PM
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Registered: Jun 7, 2004
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I belong to Vertical World in Ballard and like it a lot. I have never been to the other Vertical World locations so I can't speak for them. I find the people really nice, the routes changed often and lots of variety.
Can't speak for how many people there like to climb outside, my climbing partners and I do, as well as a few friends we have. I often hear of people taking trips to Smith Rock and Squamish in Canada. I would guess most of the people there just hit some of the closer crags like Exit 32/38, etc.
Just so you can put my comments in context, I have only been climbing for about 7 months now. I can lead about 5.10a outside, 5.10c inside and toprope 5.10d. So, if you are much more experienced then I am you may be looking for something different in a gym, not sure. I have also never trad climbed, just sport.
Also, all routes at Vertical World are setup with at Gri-Gri, I am not sure about Stone Gardens. I know that some gyms will not use Gri-Gris but have all belayers use their own device, like an ATC or whatever. To some people that can make the difference there.
--greg.
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mtman
Nov 3, 2004, 5:44 PM
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i go the UW in seattle and i have climbed at both stone gardens and vertical world in ballard and in bremerton(kitsap county) and if you are the bouldering type stone gardens is the place to go they have a huge bouldering area, bigger than their rope area, but vertical world (ballard) has more rope climbs and less bouldering than stone gardens
the one set back of both of these gyms is that they are expensive,
if i go to the gym i go to the UW's IMA climbing wall, it is by far better than the other two but is alot smaller, and olny open to full time UW students and it is a lot cheeper, so i won't go broke
for going outside exit 32 & 38 (exits of of I-90) are great places from sport climbs form about 5.7 to projects that could be rated in th 5.13-14 range and all this is less than 1hr from seattle
other areas in driving distance are levanworth, vantage (aka frenchmans colie), smith rock OR and squamich BC
mtman
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sardotex
Nov 4, 2004, 7:38 AM
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Registered: Jul 28, 2004
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I've done sport and trad climbing out here and I've never done bouldering. As for difficulty, I can lead 6b sport routes and top rope 6c sport routes. I haven't led on trad yet but that'll be coming soon. What type of rock is up there? I've only climbed limestone once, a gym never. The rest of my experience is on granite. I'm looking to live in the downtown area, somewhere in Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, Int'l district and will be there at the start of December. I've heard great things about squamish and BC and don't mind driving up there at all. You guys mention cost...what does membership usually cost? how much are guest fees and rentals? I find it surprising some people prefer climbing indoors as opposed to outdoor.
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aireq
Nov 4, 2004, 7:55 AM
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Also check out the outdoor wall at Marymore park if you want to meet people. There's usualy a bunch of us down there on summer evenings with a slackline up working problems. Doubt there will be many people out their until the weather get's better.
Eric
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ryanb
Nov 4, 2004, 8:39 AM
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Registered: Nov 4, 2004
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The town of Index is surounded by awesome granite walls with mostly hardish multi pich trad climbs and a few sport routs and some bouldering. It is about an hour from seattle and is truelly the place to day trip to.
Also check out the outdoor climbing rock at the University of Washington on sunny weekday afternoons/evenings. It is great place to practice your crack skills and has a good comunity. It is just south of the stadium.
I prefer stone gardens to verticle world, its a younger crowd, good routsetting, and the large number of steep bouldering walls make you strong quick Who wants to mess about with a rope when they are training anyways? They had a texture put on a few years ago so they are no longer raw plywood.
The UW indoor gym is also decent and cheap if you can get in.
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jamescuth
Nov 4, 2004, 1:16 PM
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Registered: Oct 24, 2004
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and after all that climbing makes you thirsty, go to the Crocodile Cafe on 2nd ave, (a bit towards the city, nearish pike place market) and sink a few cold ones while some awesome band plays a few tunes. one of seattle's highlights. then rapp off the space needle....
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gfw123
Nov 4, 2004, 6:09 PM
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Registered: Jun 7, 2004
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Not sure about StoneGardens, but it should be about the same as VerticalWorld. Memberships are around $45/month. Each visit for
non-members is $15. Pertty steep, but for all the rain around here
it is worth it to me. At least now while I am trying to climb at least
3 days a week to try and get something that looks like good foot
work.
--greg.
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trangtu
Nov 5, 2004, 2:53 AM
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Registered: Sep 24, 2003
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I go to Vertical World ballard and love it. But don't love it as much as climbing outside--my favorites around here are Squamish (4 hr drive) or Smith in central Oregon (6 hr drive). I also like Exit 38, though I haven't been there for a while -- let me know if you'd like additional info about the gyms, climbing outside, or seattle in general--and welcome!
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