Where should I ski?

B

Blarneypip

Member
Alright, I've had it with NW weather. Seattle's grayness is dragging me into a bottomless abyss and I have had enough. Solution? My boyfriend and I have decided to move away.
I have a BS in geology. I love to ski. I love to rock climb. Where should we move to? We have narrowed it down to: Taos/Santa Fe, Lake Tahoe (specifically Truckee), Somewhere in Colorado, and maybe finally, Salt Lake City (factoring in, of course, that we can get liquor and 6% beer.....).
Words of advice? A huge factor on where we end up will be job availability, and I don't want to be a liftie, and proximity to a school of sorts, like a community college where my boyfriend and myself can take classes (chem, physics, soil science, and other bio and geo-based classes).
Accessible outdoor sport and trad climbing are also a definite necessity, along with an indoor [climbing] gym for training purposes.
Thanks ya'll!!
-Molly
 
thats such a sick choice to make. no help from me, i have no idea, but good luck. where ever you end up should be really sick
 
I would say Colorado definitely, they generally get some of the most snow in the country, and the majority of the population love the outdoors. There would be plenty of opportunities for jobs, and there are plenty of places to go to school. Colorado Mountain College is in Aspen, for example.
 
utah or colorado definately. theyre by far the best places for that stuff. utah is not the best state for drinking tho with the morman thing but either way you cant go wrong.
 
haha i wouldn't call it a stick. i'll apologize for being jaded for growing up in an area surrounded by fantastic microbrews that are a nice compliment to my afternoon when i am done with work.
;) and p.s. i was making a snide remark since i know utah gets a lot of shit for being mormon country. obviously it's on our list for a reason, and famously has better climbing than the other states.
thanks for the advice so far guys! it really helps.
anyone know much about taos?
 
I'm from SLC, UT and currently living in Boulder, CO.

Here are my views on the positives and negatives of both places:

Things I liked about living in Utah: super close to skiing (like 15-60min to get to pretty much any of the mtns depending on where you are located), awesome pow & big mountain terrain, beautiful up in the mountains, a lot of milfs, molca salsa & lonestar taco are awesome.

Things I disliked about living in Utah: in the valley it is polluted as fuck (sometimes seems foggy from pollution - thank god the mountains are beautiful), there many Mormons (I'm not hating towards the religion/people & I know many awesome Mormon people (not all are crazy like some people assume lol)) but it affects the life people living in Utah in someways: Lots of shit closed on Sundays. A lot of young people already engaged or married (not a problem for you since you're in a relationship). State liquor stores - you need to go there for buying any hard alcohol or above 3.2% beer. Shitty marijuana laws - possession of less than an ounce of marijuana is up to 6months incarceration & $1000 fine, and sale of marijuana is up to 5 years incarceration & $5000 fine...

paraphernalia is also an offense - misdemeanor, up to 6months incarceration & $1000 fine.

Things I like about living Boulder, Colorado: Awesome college town, green / environmentally friendly, good public transportation, beautiful in the mountains, awesome pedestrian system (there are some crosswalks where you can press a button & flashing lights will come on, cars have to yield to you while you cross the road), healthy/outdoorsy people (I don't see many if any fat people, a lot of people seem to be into outdoor activities), hard alcohol doesn't need to be purchased from the state liquor store. Medical marijuana state = awesome marijuana laws (compare to Utah's above lol) - possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is a petty offense, with no incarceration & just a $100 fine. Sale or cultivation of less than one ounce (with no payment) is a petty offense, with no incarceration & a $100 fine.

Things I dislike about living in Boulder, Colorado: Skiing is "far away" compared to what I grew up with in Utah. If you wanted to get a shit ton of skiing in & live in CO you need to either live near the mountains you want to ski @ (I don't think there are many school options close-by though) or you need a car / a crew of reliable friends with cars who like to go often. That being said I currently don't live very close to the mountains, and don't have a car, so I did not get enough skiing IMO - I had somewhat disappointing of a season for that reason & am considering going to Utah for next winter.

 
There are tons of microbrews in Boulder & in CO. If that's your thing then go with CO haha.

There is good climbing in both UT & CO, I don't know which is 'better' though because I am not a climber.
 
sweet, thanks so much! good to know the pros and cons about both Boulder and SLC. marijuana laws are not a big deal to me, and I'm from Washington state, where you can only get liquor in a liquor store, so I'm totally used to that though in fact, not sure why i made the liquor comment since I haven't even gone in almost a year now...
And honestly, it's not a permanent move so if I don't fall in love with wherever we end up, no worries, try again next year.
 
Thats the way to do it, just live for a season or so and see if you like the location and the skiing. I have family in boulder and I know it is pretty expensive to live there, a smaller town in the mountains would be much cheaper.
 
NM is sick I've been there a lot (to Santa Fe and Taos in particular) It's definitely a different place If you're looking for more artsy I'd say taos santa fe is obviously a bigger city but you lose a little bit of the wild west feel (Taos is far from just about everywhere.) You might also wanna consider Los Alamos if you're looking to pursue a career in geology especially seeing as the lab is there and there are great schools. There is also Los Alamos ski basin right there which isn't the biggest mtn. but is still a sick place. (Taos ski resort is unreal though) as far as other activities, it's NM you can literally walk 10 minutes and come to a place where you can hike rock climb kayak white water raft (and whatever other outdoors things you may enjoy). CO is cool Denver is a nice city and has everything that that offers plus great mountains. I'd say maybe not SLC. The skiings unreal but it's under a theocratic tyranny (though slightly less dramatic than that) but seriously it's a weird place from my experience everyone goes to bed early and I got a really weird vibe. And I had the highest hopes for it since it's kind of a center for the ski industry. But it does have the best skiing you could ever ask for and it's way more accessible than CO. As for Tahoe I've never been there so have nothing to say about it other than it sounds very nice and if you end up going there tell me how it is.
I'd say NM if you don't mind it being Very Dry (other than Los Alamos), but it is the desert after all. It's and it's about as different from Seattle as you can get.
 
Radness, that is definitely kind of what I'm looking for... the polar opposite of the lush, green, gray, and wet PNW. thanks for the advice!
 
I know this isnt in your choices, but the Jackson area probably has job availability for the National Park, if your a geoligist. That area is probably a little expensive/remote though. But rock climbing and Jackson hole are there. so...
 
Colorado has the most Microbrews in the country, like 25 ski resorts, almost no fat people, great weed, lots of snow, a ton of people interested in the outdoors, about 50 14ers, 300+ days of sunshine a year, and a countless number of running/biking/hiking/whatever trails.

How does that sound?
 
Yeah sorry I just get sick of all the Mormon comments everytime Utah ever gets mentioned, but for what you were looking for Utah does sound the best.I'm obviously biased seeing as how I've lived my entire life here. Anyways, you have the U and Salt Lake Community College really close to the mountains. Both are around a half hour to Big and Little Cottonwood which both have everything you can dream of to do related to the outdoors.
 
Utah - the only choice for what you are looking for. 3 or 4 colleges within 30 min from all the major resorts. No one gets as much snow as the cottonwoods - Alta averages 500 inches a year. Don't let the Mormon factor scare you away, like mentioned before it provides a few inconveniences but overall you won't notice it Think about it, you could finish a class at 10:00 and be skiing neck deep pow by 10:45. Where ever you end up - stay stoked.
 
Salt lake. Been to colorado, been to cali, been or oregon, been to washington, been to BC, salt lake blew them all away. Everything from the snow to the atmosphere, it seems everyhting is just 15min away, at least 7+ resorts within 45min's. Go down to moab, (couple hours away) and its the exact opposite, hot, dry, and red rock everywhere, awesome if you jeep or mountain bike, im sure they have rock climbing around there to. The city was awesome to in my opinion. Been out there 5 years in a row for 2 weeks, house has been forsale for 4 years but the market sucks around here. Skiing doesnt get any better then there. We had at least 2 pow days per week, sometimes even more. The first day we skii'd there we were put in a hotel at the bottom of the mountain for an avalanche warning because we got so much snow. Suck a sick place. If you dont move there, its definitly worth a visit in my books.
 
move to Golden, CO. I go to school there. Golden and the Denver area have a decent amount of companies that need geologists. I am assuming that since you mentioned your degree you arent going to be a person that just tries to scrape by and ski as much as possible and needs a place with actual jobs but is still close to skiing. That is Golden. I have made it to the tunnel in a little less 45 min and then it is anywhere from 10 mins(a-basin) to 1 hour (vail) to skiing. Also Golden has it's own small town feel because it is separated from denver by Mesas to the east and the foothills to the west but you are only a 15 min drive to downtown. There is a great downtown in Golden with some fun bars and nice people. Also you can get FREE BEER 7 days a week in the summer and 5 days a week in the winter at the Coors Brewery
 
also there is pretty good rockclimbing up clear creek canyon which is about a 5 min drive from golden
 
If you move to tahoe, don't do it. the college(s) up there are not so hot, and im not sure if theres even a climbing gym. Skiing is dope, but i don't think its the place ur looking for. You guys seem to active and driven to live in tahoe, tahoe is for chillers. I would find a place like 30 minutes from boulder, being like an hour from skiing. I haven't looked into it, but i bet there are some cool places west of boulder.
 
I love people who keep recommending her schools, she already had her bachelors dummys.
 
Also take a look at Bend, Oregon. It's within an hour from Mt. Bachelor, smith rock, lots of mountain biking spots, and the deschutes river, which has unbelievable fishing and kayaking. Its a great town with a really relaxed, outdoorsy vibe and has some of the best microbreweries in the country.Smith Rock
SmithRock.jpg

The Deschutes
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Mt. Bachelor
mt-bachelor-in-winter.jpg

Also there is a community college in town that has a lot of biology/geology classes because you said you were interested in that.
 
In the OP, "and proximity to a school of sorts, like a community college where my boyfriend and myself can take classes"

Also, northern Cali is the most beautiful place i have ever been to. Ive been to Colorado once but none of the other places your talking of so i dont have much to compare to but tahoe is super cool. Great skiing, good night life in town, or you can spend days in the mountains without seeing another person. Defiantly dont rule out California yet.
 
kinda similar to seattle, she wants to get out of the NW, not move a little north to a diff country, it would be a way bigger hassel to move to canada then it would to move to SLC, plus cost of living in SLC is much lower
 
hahah i know... i was just throwing out there...

breck, steamboat, dewtah?... assuming you dont wanna go out east
 
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