[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.