# Relocating.



## fet123 (Aug 27, 2006)

So I am finally done with the university, and as soon as I get my degree I am looking to relocate somewhere that I can more snow than south Florida. I still undecided where to relocate, my thought are Salt lake, Denver, Reno or Sacramento. My main issue is I don't get enough riding a year so I figure it is better to move. I have to move to a Big city to get good employment with my degree, it is in the computer industry. I am also looking to be close to the slopes from the city. Snow conditions are important, as well. I am not familiar with Salt Lake, but some friends tell me that the city is very nice, clean and employment opportunities are great. I visited Reno last year and it was ok, but it seems to me like the snow there has more water content and it is not as reliable as the rockies. I wish I could move closer to the slopes, but I need to get some experience in my carreer, so I have to stick with the big cities. Any advice on my choices, or any other choices out there is greatly appreciated.

thanks


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## Badazws6 (Mar 4, 2007)

I'm in IT as well. The job market seems steady and profitable. I moved to Denver about two years ago now and I love it. I like it because it has all the major sports teams/cultural events unlike the rest of the cities you mentioned. I can usually get across town from my place in a half hour as long as I don't try to go North/South during rush hour, my place is on the west side of Lakewood. You do have to travel a good bit to get some decent turns in but as long as you avoid the 70 mad house drive on the weekend (have a couple beers in summit before you leave) the drive usually isn't bad.


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## danger (Oct 13, 2003)

well, it's a choice of equal evils. salt lake has horrid smog but great snow. denver has decent snow, less smog, and the I-70 mania. I can't speak for Sacramento or Reno but i'm sure they're jacked up in their own special way. go where the money is, suffer for the next ten years, and then move to B.C. (not beaver creek). or, admit that chasing the almighty dollar is a soul-sucking sacrifice that rarely ends in happiness and move to a secret mtn. town w/ >350"/ year and great boating in the summer and truly live the dream rather than chase a myth. we're on this planet for ~70 years. do meaningful work and have fun. money should be a distant third.

dan


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## Badazws6 (Mar 4, 2007)

Have you thought about Boise?


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## fet123 (Aug 27, 2006)

Badazws6 said:


> Have you thought about Boise?



Yes I saw it but i do not know anything about it, I don't know about their snow, city, and employment opportunities,... any advice there?


I am not desperate for money, but I want to to grow in my career and of the service sector. I do want to live comfortably, but near to the snow, I know sacrifices will have to be made depending to were I move..


Thanks for the advice.


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## h2obro (Apr 22, 2004)

*SLC*

At the moment I am living in SLC. If you want close proximity to the slopes from a city,as well as quality of snow, I dont think you can beat it. This truly is the greatest snow on earth. (at least that I have experienced) Yes there is an inversion issue in the winter regarding smog. However utah is a super beautiful place, especially Southern Ut. As for paddling. There isin't tons of great stuff really close. ID and WY are somewhat close. The Co Rio is about 4 hrs away. Also The Mtn biking is hard to beat. I'm no chest beater when it comes to SLC, however it seems like if paddling isin't your main bag then this is a good place to be. And with the LDS church ruling 60% of the pop, there is generally a mello vibe and friendly folks living here. Plus crime is pretty low. 
Just my 2 cent.


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## fet123 (Aug 27, 2006)

So what is the issue with the smog, is it year around or just in winter. So i guess the 300 days a year of sun are not seen like in Colorado?




h2obro said:


> At the moment I am living in SLC. If you want close proximity to the slopes from a city,as well as quality of snow, I dont think you can beat it. This truly is the greatest snow on earth. (at least that I have experienced) Yes there is an inversion issue in the winter regarding smog. However utah is a super beautiful place, especially Southern Ut. As for paddling. There isin't tons of great stuff really close. ID and WY are somewhat close. The Co Rio is about 4 hrs away. Also The Mtn biking is hard to beat. I'm no chest beater when it comes to SLC, however it seems like if paddling isin't your main bag then this is a good place to be. And with the LDS church ruling 60% of the pop, there is generally a mello vibe and friendly folks living here. Plus crime is pretty low.
> Just my 2 cent.


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## h2obro (Apr 22, 2004)

Man, I got to be honest, I have only lived here in from the end of aug and I will be starting my summer early and jamming out in about 5 weeks si I cant vouch for the summer, but from what I can tell and have heard, it's mostly a winter thing due to all the cold air flowing into the valey from all the surrounding mts.(think lots of places to ski/ride) Classic Inversion. When it snows the air is clear. When it doesnt, It's pretty visable. Especially as you drive down the canyons (big/little Cottonwood). However we are not talking about smog as impressive as LA. Generally it seems to be a problem with any large metro area that is in a bowl like valley surrounded by peaks. lots of em'. I am not playing the ol' My town is better than any other town game, it just seems like A. big city w/ good job market+ B, close proximity to great riding, = C, SLC. But, as i'm sure others will chime in. C may also = a number of other places. Good luck.
Christo


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## h2obro (Apr 22, 2004)

h2obro said:


> . When it doesnt, It's pretty visable.
> 
> "it" meaning the smog. As for sun. Before the snow gods unleashed this winter/jan. It was pretty sunny and nice. I cant imagine it not being alot like Co for summer weather. Sunny days with a rain shower or two moving in in the afternoon and clearing out. Just a guess.


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## danger (Oct 13, 2003)

is seattle an option? what do you do in the summer?


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## fet123 (Aug 27, 2006)

danger said:


> is seattle an option? what do you do in the summer?



in the summer nothing yet, here I surf, but I am willing to give it up. Given that we barelly get any waves here. it seems to me that seattle slopes are not as high and there season is shorter than the one in the rockies.


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## skibuminwyo (Nov 8, 2005)

For me, personally, I would go with either Salt Lake, Seattle, or Bozeman or Missoula. Bozo and Missoula aren't quite as developed, and are still small town Montana. People are nice, skiing is good, and whitewater is fairly close. Missoula attracts more dirt bag hippy outdoor kinda people, Bozeman more the yuppy outdoor people. Seattle seems to be a pretty good place, maybe a little to yuppy and urban for my tastes, but oh well. Salt Lake would be great for reasons already mentioned. the paddling isn't super close, but I believe Ogden has a ghetto whitewater park. By ghetto I mean that in every sense of the word. The snow is the best I have ever skied, and the climbing is incredible. Moab is 2 1/2 or three hours away, very easy to take a day and go ride. I'd say it's a crapshoot, just whatever you like. I personally can't stand the front range, but I have never had an opportunity to get out of the Fort Collins/Denver area when I've been down there.


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## skibuminwyo (Nov 8, 2005)

fet123 said:


> in the summer nothing yet, here I surf, but I am willing to give it up. Given that we barelly get any waves here. it seems to me that seattle slopes are not as high and there season is shorter than the one in the rockies.


But, you are very close to BC. That is worth something.


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## Waterwindpowderrock (Oct 11, 2003)

If you can handle the winter rains, Seattle is definately a great city & has an amazing amount of outdoor activities nearby.


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## Andy H. (Oct 13, 2003)

Two words:

Driggs Idaho


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## skibuminwyo (Nov 8, 2005)

4 words. Too close to Jackson. 


That being said, I really do like the Victor/Driggs side. Targhee has great skiing, and when I get the chance to get down there, Wendell is showing me some mountain bike trails that he is building for the Forest Service.


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

If I were moving to an urban area for just the skiing, I'd go to SLC (coming from a Summiter). It's much closer to the slopes than D-town and you don't have to deal with I-70 (Typical skier traffic patterns typically have me wishing I'd just shoot myself and end the misery). The Alta-Snowbird combo is the best terrain I've ever skied with the best snow, too.

COUNT

P.S. I'd take the Mormons over the Frontrangers, anyday, too .


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## tress33 (Jan 5, 2007)

Bend, OR


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## Badazws6 (Mar 4, 2007)

COUNT said:


> I'd take the Mormons over the Frontrangers, anyday, too .


You will be assimilated, resistance is futile! :twisted:


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## fet123 (Aug 27, 2006)

That was my initial thought, the only thing that I don't like about SLC, is Alta denying riding to boarders, altoght maybe that could be a good excuse to try skiing. Thats something that I always wanted to try but never got around to do it. How come theres no traffic like I70? different roads available? Any good inbound terrain for boarding? What about the vibe of the city? I do not have anything against Mormons, but I heard bad stuff about the city. But then again I would imagine that they keep the city nice and organized, their religion tends to be that way.




COUNT said:


> If I were moving to an urban area for just the skiing, I'd go to SLC (coming from a Summiter).  It's much closer to the slopes than D-town and you don't have to deal with I-70 (Typical skier traffic patterns typically have me wishing I'd just shoot myself and end the misery). The Alta-Snowbird combo is the best terrain I've ever skied with the best snow, too.
> 
> COUNT
> 
> P.S. I'd take the Mormons over the Frontrangers, anyday, too .


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## COUNT (Jul 5, 2005)

I'm not completely sure about the traffic thing. The highway up to Big Cottonwood Canyon (Park City, Solitude, Brighton, Deer Valley, UOP, The Canyons, etc.) is much bigger (4 Lanes each way, I wanna say). Then you've got Little Cottonwood Canyon with Alta and Snowbird which splits the traffic with more than half going up BCC and a decent number going the other way up LCC. They do have issues with the road up LCC getting closed from accidents (and blasting, too). Apparently they will even enforce chain/snow tire laws (for all cars) sometimes, too.

There's tons of terrain up there even if you don't ski. Snowbird is sick with 3,000 vert off the tram and then you've got BCC, which all seemed pretty good for boarders too (I don't board, though, so I'm no authority).

COUNT


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## Yonder_River (Feb 6, 2004)

I'd keep Seattle on your radar, but it really depends on what you're looking for. It's definitely the most expensive of the towns mentioned, but there are plenty of jobs in I.T. up here. Other negatives are traffic, gray winter skies, and it's expensive and time consuming to fly out of there. Everything else is great.

The skiing can be year round up here if you like to skin up volcanoes, but I don't do that since there is tons of year round paddling within an hour of here. There's little traffic going to the ski areas and my local hill is an hour away. There is also good night skiing so afterwork sessions are pretty easy (I've had my share of knee deep nights). The terrain is pretty varied and for the most part, more interesting and technical than summit county. The snowpack is usually one of the biggest in the U.S. and the snow quality is actually pretty good. It can be wet sometimes, but that helps with stability and bc safety. If the snow sucks, I usually just go paddling.

The winter's are gray, but mild (it's been in the 50's and partly sunny for the last couple weeks up here) so I prefer them over freezing my ass off all the time. Scenery wise, this place blows away both slc and denver imo. Summers have the best consistent weather I've ever experienced. PM me if you have any other questions.


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## danger (Oct 13, 2003)

secretly, dave misses bear creek and keystone. but he won't admit it.


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## Yonder_River (Feb 6, 2004)

danger said:


> secretly, dave misses bear creek and keystone. but he won't admit it.


Lol, you know it Dan. It's good up here, but we haven't completely ruled out moving back to the Denver area after the wife is done.


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## h2obro (Apr 22, 2004)

Snowbird is the shit. Plus, i think alta is ok to "ride" You just cant use the lifts. It is after all on natl forest. "this land is your land this land is my land......"So if you really wanted to push the issue, you could ride the tram at Snowbird and hike over the top and down alta slopes. Take the shuttle bus down to the bird and do it again. But I dont see why you would need to.


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## robatnordic (Jul 1, 2005)

My two cents- The Durango area has a growing service based IT industry that is constantly looking for help. Some of the local companies that are in the area are Mercury Payment Systems-credit card processing...Verint-security information...Fort Lewis College..Mercy Regional medical...some web based medical info sharing (sugical teleconferencing). Manufacturing is mainly beer and chocolate. The pay scale is lower than some and the housing,while not cheap, is less expensive than Seattle and Cal. The skiing at Purgatory (Durango Mountain Resort) is fun and Wolf Creek is an hour away. Summers are insane here with just about anything fun outdoors you can think of. Downside (maybe not) it's far from a decent sized airport for escape to tropical vacations, but it's where many travel to for their dream vacations. Good luck in your search! This should be a great oppurtunity to find adventure. Let us know where you end up.


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## widewhale (May 28, 2007)

Preach on, Brother Dan!



danger said:


> well, it's a choice of equal evils. salt lake has horrid smog but great snow. denver has decent snow, less smog, and the I-70 mania. I can't speak for Sacramento or Reno but i'm sure they're jacked up in their own special way. go where the money is, suffer for the next ten years, and then move to B.C. (not beaver creek). or, admit that chasing the almighty dollar is a soul-sucking sacrifice that rarely ends in happiness and move to a secret mtn. town w/ >350"/ year and great boating in the summer and truly live the dream rather than chase a myth. we're on this planet for ~70 years. do meaningful work and have fun. money should be a distant third.
> 
> dan


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## fred norquist (Apr 4, 2007)

Id move to somewhere less urban glenwood springs would be a sick place to live, especially with the new park in, check it out, Roaring Fork Kayakers

sick skiing close by also!!!


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