[fijal]

I like how "in The World" means "in the United States of America, in my opinion". As a rock climber, I can point out few problems:

- weather, Tennesse weather is not really that good compared to places like Boulder or California

- deep south, means you can't really be a foodie or god forbid vegetarian

and a lot of other problems, like US visa immigration. How many of those startups are willing to sponsor H1B, even if it's possible to get one?

PS. my choice of rock-climbing destination is Cape Town, South Africa, which is far off-the-way, but is definitely superior to Chattanooga for climbing.

EDIT: people point out that there is decent food in south - so maybe I was just incredibly unlucky or something.

[haney]

I'm sitting in downtown Chattanooga and I'm walking distance to 3 vegetarian restaurants, a whole foods, and a local grocery story with food from local farms, not to mention the numerous farmers markets and open air markets that are around on the weekends.

I'm so tired of the negative view of the south. Believe it or not we wear shoes, and you can have good food and entertainment here.

[ambiate]

As a southern person, I do not think of Chattanooga as the stereotypical southern area. In fact, most of TN is beautiful and avoids the pitfalls of 'true southern' towns such as: retirement cities, college towns, mix of prior two, devastation by constant natural disasters, no innovation, casinos and lottery leading to starvation, rampant drug problems hitting whole cities, etc.

Visited Hattiesburg MS, Jackson MS, Monroe LA, Shreveport LA, and a few others just this weekend. That's true south.

There are 0 whole foods in Mississippi, and why would you build one when there is a 2% chance it will be destroyed by a hurricane within 5 years.

TN is absolutely beautiful. I cannot say much about the people due to lack of experience, but the area is breathtaking. I'll never forget the water down the mountains turning into icicles.

I've learned to visit a city's craigslist prior to visiting the area. You can typically gauge the population by the amount of people using it, items for sale, and types of pets (odd, I know).

[fixxer]

I agree. I recently drove through Chattanooga and was pleasantly surprised (wasn't it one of the dirtiest cities in the country a few decades back??). I've added it to the list of places I'd rather be than the tundra that is the upper Midwest. If only it had Kentucky's taxes... at least it doesn't have California's.

Also: Chattanooga has a Trader Joe's, the true metric of civilization.

[subsection1h]

    Chattanooga has a Trader Joe's, the true metric of civilization.

Ha! I work from home, and every time I look for a new city to move to, I visit http://www.traderjoes.com/stores/.

[fixxer]

You are not alone.

[btrautsc]

no income tax tho :]

[fixxer]

Yes, but they still tax dividends & interest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax#States_with_no...

[gaustin]

> - deep south, means you can't really be a foodie or god forbid vegetarian

Really? I just spent two weeks in Kentucky, Tennessee and South Carolina. There was no shortage of decent restaurants in the cities. Rural areas were as devoid of decent options as anywhere else in the US. Maybe my perspective is warped, as I live in the food wasteland that is Montana. I know of about 5 restaurants that are what I'd call good and they tend to be expensive.

My brother is a big foodie and has had a great time exploring food in the south for at about 6 years so far.

[jdminhbg]

a) I'm not sure the actual subjective ranking of rock-climbing destinations is the point of this post.

b) "deep south, means you can't really be a foodie or god forbid vegetarian" Dear lord, that's ignorant.

[rquantz]

I might take issue with saying that Tennessee is the deep south. Regardless, while there are plenty of foodies in the south, vegetarianism is still looked at askance. I was vegetarian for eight years, and my trips to the Alabama/Mississippi every summer were pretty challenging.

[VLM]

"my trips to the Alabama/Mississippi every summer were pretty challenging."

Pass thru Huntsville? 20 years ago, before the "peace dividend" it was quite a hopping place. I hear Austin today is kind of like how Huntsville used to be. Has a heck of a .mil base and an excellent museum too.

[npsimons]

a) I'm not sure the actual subjective ranking of rock-climbing destinations is the point of this post.

When you lead your article with the headline ending in "And Come Climb The Best Rocks In The World", you're going to get people commenting on that, linkbait or no.

[ttruett]

- The weather is certainly humid but it does provide for year-round climbing, shady spots in the summer and sunny spots in the winter. The rain can be a factor but there is plenty of steep stuff that stays dry. What's nice about Chattanooga in particular is that you can live downtown (for cheap) and be a twenty-minute drive from really, really solid sport/trad climbing and bouldering. Boulder is the only place I can think of that is similar in terms of city-size and access but while the weather is drier in the summer it's much colder/snowier/windier in the winter.

- While Chattanooga and the "Deep South" might not be world-class food destinations we still have more to offer than catfish and possum. I mean squirrel is pretty good...

- US immigration is definitely frustrating, not arguing there.

- While I've never climbed in Cape Town I've been fortunate to climb across the US in addition to Europe. Out of curiosity, what are the top three reasons to climb in Cape Town over Thailand for instance? I'm always looking to travel/climb in new places.

[fijal]

Top three (er more) reasons:

* Weather - it's ok to good all year round with the season (may-september) being always exceptional. You can climb as much as you want

* Rocklands + Cape Town has the best rock I've seen and I've been to tons of places (mostly bouldering though)

* The sheer amount - it's tons and tons of rock. The only thing that comes close is Utah, even boulder does not have that much rock.

* A little bit of non-climbing activities - safaris penguins, etc. Cape Town is a good tourist destination

* Food is excellent

* Surfing

[ttruett]

Good to know, I've heard a lot about Rocklands and the video footage I've seen is pretty incredible. Atlanta has a direct flight to South Africa so it's relatively easy for me to get there without wasting 15+ hours connecting through Europe/Brazil.

[jhought3]

"I like how "in The World" means "in the United States of America, in my opinion". As a rock climber, I can point out few problems"... I can definitely respect this criticism and to be honest I initially had US, but I think that with the Rock quality, quantity, and distance from the city, it can for sure be argued. As for the weather, we surely see some hot months, but you can climb here year round (not the case in Yosemite/boulder canyon). I also wouldn't consider us "deep south". Being located between Nashville and Atlanta we actually have a pretty hipster, crunchy, outdoors feel. There are 3 Vegetarian eateries walking distance from my office & organic/locally grown foods is a huge movement in Chat. I actually plan to travel to Cape Town in a few months, I'd love some pointers (jared at getfireplug.com). Have you climbed in Chattanooga? I'd happily give you the tour

[npsimons]

Came to make similar comments, although mine is more along the lines of "which part of the world has the most foreigners coming for the climbing, even with all the security BS?". Hint: it's not anywhere near the East coast of USA. There may be plenty of other good reasons to move to Chattanooga, but the best climbing in the world isn't one of them. And I can very much appreciate having low rent and plenty of awesome year round climbing within an hour's (sometimes much less) drive. Those are just two reasons why I live where I do.

[jhought3]

I've made tons of international climbing connections that come to climb in the south. Im actually meeting 2 people from France at the Red River Gorge this weekend (another world class sport crag- 3.5 hr drive). Atlanta, largest airport in the country = 1.5 hr drive from Chat. San Francisco = 3.5 hrs from yosemite, 6 hrs from bishop, 8 from Joshua Tree.

[fijal]

There is a huge difference between "good" (and climbing around Chattanooga is certainly good) and "the best in the world".

[joeblossom]

While Atlanta is in the south, Atlanta proper is much like any other big city. There is an unbelievable amount of great food and every restaurant has vegetarian options (my wife is one), etc.

I will admit that I hate the weather. I'd take 50's-70's any day over the 6 months of 90+ degree weather with 50%+ humidity we have here in Atlanta.

[ZanderEarth32]

Weather wise, it depends. Yosemite, Bishop, Joshua Tree, etc. are all too hot to climb in during the summer, or at least late summer. Is Chattanooga a different kind of heat? Dry versus humid?

[btrautsc]

Well, anecdotally - since I've been here I've always thought we have a longer "spring/ fall" climate than a really hot, humid summer. I would assume the elevation of the city and the Cumberland Plateau have some effect.

It definitely gets hot in the mid-summer months, but not nearly as severely as other cities like Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, even DC.

Also, I think calling Chattanooga "deep south" would be a severe misnomer.

[jhought3]

Not going to lie, we have our humid days... but no place is perfect. I've climbed bishop, yosemite, Joshua tree, even Indian Creek in not so great temps. Every place has its season but in Chatt you can find shade/dry rock/cooler temps year round