UKC

Following up the London or Bristol post a more general question:

Assuming you had to live in a city for work and wanted to climb, what are the top ten great climbing cities?

In asking the question I was thinking of maximising quality trad climbing over a year. I think a different list might be needed if you wanted to include mountaineering. Cities in the SE need not apply.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

I lived in/around Aberdeen for some 10 years, good seacliff climbing (although the cliffs face east so no evening sun) and easy access to the southern Cairngorms (although some of the cliffs have long walk ins). But quite a drive to get anywhere else. Before that I lived in Stirling - not much climbing on the doorstep but quick access to most of Scotland's mountains (& better now than when I lived there in the late 70s/early 80s) & evenings at Dunkeld & the central belt crags possible. Also good for getting to England when the weathers bad 'up north'.

Have always thought Grenoble would be good

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Sheffield if you like Grit trad - not such a strong contender in the summer months unless you are happy to climb limestone trad (I much prefer lime over grit for trad) or are willing to travel at the weekends. This I feel is no bad thing.

Leeds would be similar.

Bristol would be pretty good though again for after work scenes you'd need to like limestone trad. Avon Gorge is pretty low quality in places.

Bangor is probably the best but only a city on a technicality.

Not sure about Scottish cities as I don't know enough about Scottish climbing.

In reply to Duncan Campbell:
I would add Manchester as another "if you like grit trad" option, but it's an hour closer to Snowdonia and the southern lakes.

Swansea and Cardiff are good if you like limestone sea cliffs. Swansea is the slightly better of the two I think.

St Davids is technically a city, and has large amounts of awesome sea cliff climbing nearby but I don't think it really fits the OP city criteria.

In reply to davidbeynon:

Yeah true but its further from after work crags so a much poorer option overall imo. An extra hours drive doesn't really matter when you are going away for the weekend but it does make a difference for after-work cragging.

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

It's not that far from the crags - plenty of western grit within easy driving distance. The railway really helps as well.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

There's a cast iron rule, if you can't easily get to a crag mid week after work, don't live there.

1= Sheffield Grit crags within the city boundary, great lime trad. The sport climbing is either v hard or horrible but people seem to like it. Some of the best bouldering and climbing walls anywhere. 1/3 of the city is in the Peak. Nice friendly place, relatively cheap cost of living. Great vibe, one of the biggest concentrations of climbers anywhere. 'S7, the hardest climbing postcode on earth' think that was Jerry.
1= Leeds Really great city, prob access to more quality lime, similar attributes to Sheff
3 Bangor. Mountains, sea, trad, bouldering, seaside sport, and Anglesea. Great climbing walls, easy drive to crags. Parisellas cave.
4 Lancaster Really nice city, easy peasy to South Lakes and dales. Ingleton climbing wall is a revelation after corporate chains. Longridge.
5= Toon. Great, great city, local crags, good walls and easy up the A1 to gods own county for bouldering.
5= Bristol. Great city with character, good walls, varied outdoor venues within easy reach. Easy blast to Pembroke, Devon, Penwith.
7 Derby. Not as grim as it used to be, good walls, easy access to south Peak. Worth living there just to Boulder in the Churnet Valley.
8 Cities in Scotland, if you want to get strong by spending all your leisure time on a fingerboard indoors. Worked for Malcolm Smith

Getting difficult now, I'd say Exeter, but it's all a bit spread out. Manchester and Liverpool are great cities, but it takes longer than you'd think to get to a decent crag.

In reply to Duncan Campbell:
surely Inverness or Fort William?
Fort Bill: Pros:40 mins from Glencoe, withing spitting distance of the ben, no need to say more
Cons: town itself isnt not all that pretty , rains a lot, midges midges midges
Pros: who bloody cares about the architecture when you're underneath the ben and overlooking Loch Linhe?


Inverness:
Pros: cairngorms within spitting distance. couple of hours to western highlands. much better climate. midges aint that much of an issue.
Cons.: crags not on doorstep like Fort Bill - its still a bit of a drive. bit like York really - lots to get to fairly easily, but nothing to jump onto on the way back from the shops.Not the same grandiose surroundings as fort Bill.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria: Liverpool is 1-1.5 hours from the Lakes, N. Wales, Yorkshire and the Peak, dependant on traffic. Not ideal for the evenings, but doable in summer and fine for weekend hits. It has good indoor walls and the world famous Pex Hill, officially the hardest graded crag in the known multiverses along with the two greatest football teams in the world (Liverpool and Liverpool reserves) and the greatest fashion sense this side of a perm and shell suit.

Andy F

Some of the above may not be true.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Surely Manchester is top.

Brand new big shiny best bouldering wall in the country.

Peak within an hour for weekend and outdoor evening cragging.

Gogarth / Anglesey within 2 hours for sea cliffs.

Lakes and Snowdonia both within 2 hours.

Decent airport accessibility for climbing abroad.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

I moved to Leeds a year ago after living my whole life in the south east, more recently, 8 years in Surrey.

Haven't looked back. Plenty of crags available for evening trad. Unfortunately I'm not massively keen on grit, all the same there's plenty to go at. Within an hour on the weekends you can be in the middle of the Peak or the Dales, and within 2½ hours you're in the Lakes or Snowdonia. Only 6 from Fort William for winter weekends.

Climbing aside, Leeds is a fantastic city. Absolutely love living here. I don't think I will ever live in the south again - its just too far from everything.

In Leeds, there is plenty of work. I work in software and have found I'm now earning more than I ever did down south, but the property is a fraction of the cost. For example, last year I bought a 3 bedroom semi detached house with a garage, driveway, conservatory, large garden, in a desirable quiet area just 3 miles from the city centre. It cost less than the crap 1 bedroom flats I was looking at in Surrey the previous year. It seems to be a well kept secret that up here you can earn a lot and buy cheap (relatively speaking) property. Add to that the proximity to the hills and crags, its a no brainer.

No offence to the Sheffield folk but its just no where near as nice a place as Leeds. Best city in the UK in my opinion.

In reply to andy farnell:


Can you have more than one multiverse?

In reply to andy farnell:




There's the Breck as well, you're hiding your light under a bushel!

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Bradford - no its not Leeds - just nearer to the climbing and its a city.

In reply to RyanOsborne:

We should keep it quiet about Manchester otherwise all will want to come.

You forgot to mention Yorks is 1 to 1.5hrs away..Malham after work is easily doable
You nip over the border in 45 mins to see Andy F at Pex or Helsby or bolted routes at Frogsmouth ( but if he mentions Jurgen..its a funny scouse german lager..and Klopp is again scouse for what you do with a quickdraw at a bolt)

We also have the great beer and night-life
Finally, for tough trad the LANCS Quarries..Wiltons, Anglezarke etc...Egerton..etc....the list goes on
and a shiny new Guide to the area comming out soon!!!!

So we can have our (eccles) cake and climb as well!!!

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:

I feel bad for pulling the average S7 grade down

edit: Also, there's something to be said for having your favourite crags only 10mins drive away. It even makes a quick lunchtime solo sesh possible for when your evenings are tied up with kids and chores.

In reply to RyanOsborne:

Having lived in Sheffield and now Manchester, Sheffield wins hands down for quick access to really good climbing for half day/evening sessions.

I live in SW Manchester, work in Cheadle and getting to crags after work with the traffic is a right ball ache.

In reply to paul_in_cumbria:


Not forgetting Frogsmouth quarry, the Northwests premier sports climbing venue par excellance

Andy F

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

UK only?

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Vienna
Munich/Nürnberg
Salt Lake
Queenstown (NZ)
Sheffield
Grenoble
Boulder
... basically there is trad climbing for a year near many, many cities. It depends on how open and adventurous you want to be.

Cheers
LD

In reply to davidbeynon:


It can take quite a long time to actually get out of Manchester unless by train. Typically at least an hour from the city centre to where I live (Chapel), assuming good traffic.

In reply to Lurking Dave:








Vancouver.

In reply to astley007:


not if they dont want to be replacing nicked gear every six months. lived there a while, fun town, nice surroundings, too many toerags

In reply to pebbles:

Fort William isn't a city. It's barely a town.

Anyway you are all wrong. The correct answer is Truro, for proximity to Cornish granite.

In reply to Dogwatch:
http://dailygael.com/fort-william-to-be-renamed-64-miles-to-inverness/

Edit: I've kind of got a soft spot for Fort William, but I don't think anyone would consider it a great world city...

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Belfast - 1hr to the mournes, 1.5hr to fairhead, 2.5hrs to donegal, 2.5 hrs to dalkey..... And the guinness is better

In reply to duchessofmalfi:


Bishop maybe? I was looking for somewhere between Yosemite and Red Rocks, and you've got access to the Sierra Nevada for something a bit more alpine. The bouldering is a bonus.

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:


Las Vegas. Almost limitless world class trad on the doorstep at Red Rocks (and vast amounts of sandstone and limestone sport and bouldering). Much of the best climbing in the USA within a day's drive from Moab to J-Tree to Yosemite etc, etc, etc

(Bishop's not a city and is a bit mediocre locally anyway)

In reply to stev1e.wilso:

I second this! Plus it's the curry capital of England and living costs are pretty cheap.

I live in Bingley, which is about a 10 minute drive out of Bradford, I can get to all manor crags, for both trad and sport, within a 45 minute drive. This includes such powerhouses as Malham & Kilnsey, as well as Earl Crag (about 20 minutes away) & Ilkley (about 15 minutes away).

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

On a general point weekend access isn't important as getting out your bed an hour or two earlier gets you most places in the UK. It's what you can do on a week night is important and Sheffield or Leeds are the winners here. I loved Sheffield and close friends love Leeds. Derby is fine as long as you live/work to the northwest as traffic is a major problem. It remains a bit of a dump but there's lots of lovely places around it and you have a good choice of climbing (Churnet, grit, sport or trad limestone). It is also much, much drier (and warmer) than the other side of the Pennines. Liverpudlians recommending Liverpool remind me of ex-prisoners of war who made the best of it saying 'oh it wasn't so bad': no-one in their right mind would or should want to live there and there isn't much decent climbing close by. Surprised at Manchester suggestions. Not really a great deal of quality for an evening's climbing and the traffic is a sod. Some half decent grit around Dovestones but climbing is largely god-awful quarries which are green in the winter and midge holes in the summer (I spent a decade 2 miles from the Wiltons and never figured out why anyone would want to climb there other than lack of transport elsewhere). Manchester-Liverpool have good access to other places but so has most of Britain. Glasgow again has pretty poor local climbing for a weekday but when you can watch the sunset over the sea from the top of Ben Vorlich on a Tuesday after work, Glasgow gets my award. Were it not for the need to be near London (and, perhaps, the rain) I'd probably still be there. Don't overlook Swansea which has a lot of decent climbing nearby with good access to the Brecons. Exeter is a surprisingly excellent place to live and, providing you have the skin of rhino, the climbing is good. A friend loves Bangor but I don't have the gills required to survive the weather.

Forgive the verbal diarrhoea; I wrote this post piecemeal over the last 4 hours. In fact to save you having to read it, GLASGOW.

In reply to Toccata:


I would have thought that Perth and Inverness are the real contenders in Scotland (with Aberdeen arguably having a shout too). Inverness has by far the most quality within day reach, but Perth gives a shorter journey if you have to resort to heading south.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I was only really counting 'proper' cities (<50k people in Perth and Inverness; Bangor was a bit tongue in cheek). Besides Perth, nice that it is, is actually quite far away from any decent midweek climbing (that I can think of). Aberdeen is up there with Liverpool in the 'why on God's earth would you choose to live there' category (for me): close to some good things but miles away from almost everything else.

In reply to Toccata:

Dunkeld (better options than Glasgow surely anyway)


You could say that about anywhere that isn't fairly central in the country - certainly ruling out the likes of Exeter and Bristol.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Given that we are in the UK, I suspect that availability of a decent climbing wall will be a significant factor for many people - if Ratho were in Inverness, then it would be a no brainer for me (non-climbing factors being equal).

In reply to Lurking Dave:

Vienna??? I lived there for a year and it wasn't great TBH.

But the UK wouldn't make the top 50 worldwide.

Vancouver would be my overall winner.

In reply to duchessofmalfi:
Are you bothered by evening climbing? Then go for Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester area. They also have good local climbing scenes.

Do you want to maximise weekend climbing opportunities by being able to go anywhere, wherever the weather is best? Then go for Birmingham. Seriously!

In reply to Misha:


The North West is not really realistic for a weekend from Birmingham. A bit like Pembroke or Cornwall from Edinburgh. In the end you have to make the choice as to which end of the country is more important to you for weekend availability - you can't have it all!

In reply to Misha:


Lol. Good one, Misha.

In reply to Robert Durran:
I should have said anywhere in England and Wales. Obviously if you want to climb in Scotland, you should be further north but I daresay the weather is generally better further south.

In reply to planetmarshall:
I wasn't joking. It's great for being within relatively easy reach of anywhere in England and Wales. I can go to Land's End for a weekend without having to leave work early. Scottish winter weekends are always a driving challenge though. Manchester would be better for that. Obviously there's no local cragging here, so if evening climbing is important, this isn't the place to be. I'm just used to going to the wall year round. I do manage a handful of evenings out each year, typically it involves leaving work early and getting back home at midnight or later - got to be keen!

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

I've been surprised how good Glasgow is in the four years I've been here (after living in Sheffield and the Lakes previously).

The evening cragging is OK but the best thing is the climbing scene here, everyone talks to everyone and seems to know everyone, which is great!

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

My advice: don't live anywhere with climbing nearby!

Sounds ridiculous, but I previously lived in Reading. After work the only option was the wall (you have to be somewhere with a good wall), which was great for getting stronger and meeting loads of partners.

When I had days off everything was equally far away, so I'd pick wherever had the best forecast and just go. It meant I got a wide variety of climbing.

Then I moved to North Yorkshire. With so much climbing right on my doorstep, I started getting lazy. Too windy? I'll just go tomorrow. Bit tired? It's so close, I'll just go tomorrow instead. Plus the thought of driving 3,4,5 hours to climb anywhere else when I had 20 crags within an hour seemed crazy. As a consequence, I only climb northern grit now and I don't even do that very much anymore!

Stay away from the crags, it keeps you hungry for climbing!

In reply to Duncan Campbell:

I'm 12 minutes by train from Manchester City Centre, nearest crag is 5 minutes away, hundred crags within 30 minutes drive.

In reply to Dave 88:

Sorry, your argument IS ridiculous!

In reply to Dave 88:
Yes there is something to be said for this.

In reply to Robert Durran:


Wiki said city.

In reply to galpinos:
I guess with Manchester it does very much depend where you live, Manchester is of course much bigger than most of the cities mentioned in this thread.

Whilst living in central Manchester is perfectly practical, most people who work there don't live in the centre. Various sub 20 minute train commutes from Manchester City Centre put you in nice areas very close to good climbing.

It's also worth mentioning that Manchester climbing isn't just about access to the Peak either, the Chew Valley, Lancs and lots of West Yorkshire climbing is just on your doorstep, depending on where you live in the city region. Obviously the north through to south East sides of the city offer the best access to climbing.

In reply to Toccata:

Good post but confusing. You started by saying Sheffield or Leeds are the clear winners and concluded by saying GLASGOW!

So which is it? Sheffield, Leeds, or Glasgow?

In reply to The New NickB:

rather more importantly, it rains all the time and smells ; )

In reply to lummox:


That's certainly what we tell undesirables!

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Having pretty much lived all over the UK in the last 20 years from Exeter, Manchester, Carlisle, Edinburgh, and Cardiff, if i was going to include quality of life, cost of living, and climbing, there would only be 1 choice - Cardiff. There is everything you need and a great annual climbing circuit to get the best of the weather - Brean, Chedder, Gower, & Pembroke. It is pretty central for all the main areas apart from Scotland with plenty to go at during the summer evenings..

In reply to duchessofmalfi:

Western Sheffield takes some beating for the rockaholic - 10 mins to the Grit, no traffic to battle with, great sunsets, decent boozers close bay, easy roll back home!


Chris

In reply to neilwiltshire:



Good spot; should have reread the post! It breaks down into pure climbing on a weekday (routes, bouldering) where Leeds/Sheffield win. However for midweek access to hills (biking, walking, climbing in summer or winter) Glasgow wins. Good indoor walls on that rainy monday? Well catered for. Regular winter ice on a Tuesday after work? Sorted. 700m unbroken ascent on the MTB on Wednesday? No problem. Thursday bouldering with some of the best views anywhere and not many midges (Craigmaddie)? Done. And you can nip down to Malham on Friday night (or Skye if you must)...

In reply to Toccata:

Well clarified!

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:


I think that's an American thing (about three buildings can get called a city), but Bishop is just a small town in normal British terms.

In reply to Robert Durran:


I met a couple the other week at Castle Naze. They'd come up after work for the evening. Now THAT's dedication!

On topic, I can't believe no-one's mentioned the Great City of Stoke-on-Trent! It's got

Oatcakes!
Stokies!
Cheap Houses!
An A road that's called The D Road!
God's Own Crag (aka The Roaches) nearby!
Colin at Awesome Walls!
It's close to The Peak and N. Wales, and the M6 runs right by....what's not to like??

In reply to Robert Durran:


Yay, I was right. Surely better than living in Vegas though anyway.

In reply to Le Chevalier Mal Fet:


so it's easy to escape, I see where you are coming from

LD