Mountains and Living in WA?

[SSC_43]

Hi all, hope this is the best place for this.

My girl and I are Michiganders, born and raised. I lived in CO for a while, and I absolutely love the mountain lifestyle - but there were a couple things that spooked me off (most notably no water, dryness, and volatile summer weather.) We visited CO and she loved it, but I expressed some of my apprehensions about going back (mostly the things listed above.) Which brought us to Washington. Seems to fit the bill of what we need.

Now, if you wouldn't mind,

1.) Can you provide any kind of first-hand information about the mountaineering in WA vs CO? All aspects preferable, skiing/snowboarding, climbing an hiking, etc.

2.) If possible, can anyone compare living in Denver vs the Seattle area and/or Spokane?

Thanks!

[Exiled Michigander]

The SSC in your name doesn't refer to Standish-Sterling Central, does it? If so, Class of '95 here. Go Panthers.

Can't help you with your question, having unfortunately never climbed in Washington (YET), but I'm sure there are several on this site who can chime in with great advice.

[SkaredShtles]

Mountaineering: Way better than Colorado
Skiing: coming from MI it will be WAY better than that. Arguably better than CO, but it kinda depends on what sort of skiing you like. Skiing better/more accessible in Seattle. Spokane - ehhhh... gonna be worse than CO.
Living: If you didn't mind the $hitty weather in MI, you will probably tolerate the $hitty weather in WA just fine. Seattle will be a lot worse than Spokane weather-wise. Both will be worse than Denver by a long shot. Again - YMMV.

[TravelingMatt]

We've had several threads on this. Here's one of the better ones: http://14ers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... t=cascades" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I like to say compared to here, their easy stuff is easier and their harder stuff is harder.

Summer there is shorter on both ends, but no monsoon. We have better foliage.

Cost of living is higher there by a good bit, but maybe you get more. You can live without a car in Seattle, which I wouldn't try in Denver.

[peter303]

You can live without a car in Seattle, which I wouldn't try in Denver.

Denver isnt that bad carless. I tried it for a couple years and climbed 14ers that time.
It helps to both live and work downtown Denver or Boulder.
There is limited public transportation along both major freeways.
Low end rental cars can get to at least dozen 14er trailheads without violating the road restrictions. And mooch trips off of friends.

[ajkagy]

Hi all, hope this is the best place for this.

My girl and I are Michiganders, born and raised. I lived in CO for a while, and I absolutely love the mountain lifestyle - but there were a couple things that spooked me off (most notably no water, dryness, and volatile summer weather.) We visited CO and she loved it, but I expressed some of my apprehensions about going back (mostly the things listed above.) Which brought us to Washington. Seems to fit the bill of what we need.

Now, if you wouldn't mind,

1.) Can you provide any kind of first-hand information about the mountaineering in WA vs CO? All aspects preferable, skiing/snowboarding, climbing an hiking, etc.

2.) If possible, can anyone compare living in Denver vs the Seattle area and/or Spokane?

Thanks!

1. rain forest vs. semi-arid desert, basically way more precip in WA except Spokane.
2. both Denver and Seattle have horrible traffic. Both aren't really a "mountain lifestyle". They are city lifestyles with a view of the mountains. As far as Colorado, unless you live in Golden, Boulder, ect. expect to be commuting for awhile (think traffic jams as well) just to get to a trailhead where you can hike, bike or recreate in the mountains.

[PaliKona]

Hi all, hope this is the best place for this.

My girl and I are Michiganders, born and raised. I lived in CO for a while, and I absolutely love the mountain lifestyle - but there were a couple things that spooked me off (most notably no water, dryness, and volatile summer weather.) We visited CO and she loved it, but I expressed some of my apprehensions about going back (mostly the things listed above.) Which brought us to Washington. Seems to fit the bill of what we need.

Now, if you wouldn't mind,

1.) Can you provide any kind of first-hand information about the mountaineering in WA vs CO? All aspects preferable, skiing/snowboarding, climbing an hiking, etc.

2.) If possible, can anyone compare living in Denver vs the Seattle area and/or Spokane?

Thanks!

1. rain forest vs. semi-arid desert, basically way more precip in WA except Spokane.
2. both Denver and Seattle have horrible traffic. Both aren't really a "mountain lifestyle". They are city lifestyles with a view of the mountains. As far as Colorado, unless you live in Golden, Boulder, ect. expect to be commuting for awhile (think traffic jams as well) just to get to a trailhead where you can hike, bike or recreate in the mountains.

You can shoot out Rte 6 from downtown Denver and be "recreating" in Golden/Morrison within 25 mins, 35 mins to Evergreen...have never had to fight traffic to do so....Summit County is 1:15 mins for me; you just need to be smart about when to drive I70.

Traffic was discussed in a thread recently - Seattle's is way worse than Denver. Of course, both are infinitely worse than Crested Butte

The thing I love about living IN Denver (not the sprawl) is I get my city fix (grew up in Boston, lived in NYC for years) and can escape to the mtns anytime. For me, it's perfect. I'm sure Seattle is the same. However, I need more sunshine (couldn't stand the northeast anymore) so I could not survive the PNW. Plus the snow here, while less in volume, is much much better than the PNW.

[Pops921]

Grew up in Washington 30 minutes from Seattle, College in Golden, CO and retirement home in the Colorado mountains, with multiple summer trips to Washington per year.

Skiing - Colorado is significantly better
Hiking - I give the edge to Washington for it variety and choices - North Cascades, Cascades, Olympics with its Rain Forest, the Pacific Coast and the Puget Sound...
Mountaineering - It is different...Colorado has lots of high peaks many of which you can basically walk up. Washington has more hard core Alpine Glaciated type mountaineering like Rainier and the North Cascades.
The Seattle area is very rainy, especially in the winter, but August and September are usually great. Denver has way more beautiful sunny days, Denver air quality seems worse. Both large crowded cities, with a population that tends to lead active outdoor lifestyles. Both cities have an REI Flagship location!

[SSC_43]

Wow, thanks for all the replies (and the link,) very helpful.

I think I need to address a few things if it helps -

1.) We're not necessarily sold on *just* Seattle, the city itself. If we were in the area it'd likely be Tacoma or a similar area outside the big city, so commuting would be almost a given. (Considering I drove i36 every day from downtown Denver to Louisville every day at 6am and 4pm, I can deal with hair-pulling commutes at this time.

2.) Spokane also grabs our interest because we've been told by a friend (who's lived all around,) it's similar to what we have here in Michigan - except with mountains. Nice! The city is also a little more manageable in size.

Now the good stuff,

Our mountaineering is none and less, but it's something we'd like to explore further. We do LOVE to hike though, and I didn't know how accessible CO was with mountains vs WA (apparently very.) We'd likely be working up on our technical skills slowly but surely, and it does sound like CO is a little better for that.

As for weather is concerned, personally, I'll take rain and mild temps all DAY over CO weather. One of the things that threw me off the most was that there was ample sunshine in Colorado...in the winter and for 2-3 hours in the summer mornings and evenings. I thought the claim of 300 days of sunshine was a bit of a misnomer.

Edit: I always heard there's two seasons in Washington, summer and everything else. While that's a fairly attractive quality I need my autumns! Outside of the northeast we in the Midwest have some downright amazing foliage and weather.

[rijaca]

As for weather is concerned, personally, I'll take rain and mild temps all DAY over CO weather. One of the things that threw me off the most was that there was ample sunshine in Colorado...in the winter and for 2-3 hours in the summer mornings and evenings. I thought the claim of 300 days of sunshine was a bit of a misnomer.

Really? It was 70* in Denver today with a mild breeze and mostly sunny. Been that way all week.

[LadyClimber]

I was born and raised in Western, WA. Lived in Seattle for 5yrs, and I agree with most of what others have said about living in WA. The only thing I have to add is: Spokane itself may not have epic skiing, but Northern Idaho (Selkirks) have some amazing backcountry skiing (and climbing), which is relatively close by.

Don't forget about Portland, if you're thinking of moving to the NW.

[Scott P]

If we were in the area it'd likely be Tacoma or a similar area outside the big city

Tacoma is not a big city? There really isn't much separation in the different cities in the area; it's just one big metro.

Spokane also grabs our interest because we've been told by a friend (who's lived all around,) it's similar to what we have here in Michigan - except with mountains.

Weird. How are they similar? I can think of very few ways in which they would be similar.

Also, chances are if you don't like Colorado weather that you wouldn't like Spokane weather either. Spokane weather is nothing like that of Seattle's and is decidedly continental and fairly arid as well (though it is cloudier). Spokane gets about the same amount of precip as Denver, but is rainier in the winter and drier in the summer and with less t-storms, so maybe you will like that part.

Spokane weather is somewhat similar to that of Boise or Salt Lake, and both probably have a little better access to the outdoors (especially SLC). Boise is a bit drier though and both have some nasty inversions at times, which is the worse part of the weather there. Spokane weather is actually pretty nice, but it isn't mild and is dry, so you may not like it? If you don't like arid you may not like it there either.

Anyway, I'm from Everett Washington and have lived in Chicago, Salt Lake, Fruita Colorado, Craig Colorado, as well as on and off long term seasonally in Denver, Parker, Colorado Springs, Jackson Wyoming, Kremmiling Colorado, and for at least several months each in several other Colorado locations as well (Meeker, Rifle, Carbondale, Naturita, and Granby). I've been lots of other places as well. I have family in Washington, California, Utah, Idaho, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

One area you might want to look into is Medford Oregon or somewhere similar. It isn't that wet, but it's not as arid as Denver. There are few thunderstorms. Temperatures are usually pretty mild, though it can get hot in summer. Winters are fairly wet (but not like western Washington) and summers are dry. There are lots of mountains around there and the skiing is pretty good, though the snow isn't powdery like it is in Colorado.