The classic American climbing towns have priced out most of the people who climb. Estes Park, Bishop, Salt Lake City, New Paltz — median home values are all hovering around or above half a million dollars. A new rundown from Climbing, published by Outside Online, argues the answer lies elsewhere, and lists six towns where climbing is close, housing is cheap and the scene is still growing.

The criteria were strict: climbing within six miles of town, home prices below the Zillow national average of $371,774, renter costs below the national median of about $1,413 a month, and a cost of living under the $88,692 national average for a two-adult household. All six places clear the bar.

Fayetteville, West Virginia is the standout on price, with average homes at $203,204. It sits at the gateway of New River Gorge National Park, where roughly 1,500 trad, sport and bouldering routes run up unusually durable Nuttall sandstone that's 98 percent quartz. Cañon City, Colorado, at $334,912 a house, is close to the Shelf Road limestone sport mecca plus bouldering at Four Mile Creek, and gets a new gym, Rock Steady, in 2027.

Chattanooga, Tennessee brings big-city perks at $322,295 per home: bouldering at Wauhatchie Pike, deep water soloing on the Tennessee River, and multiple gyms including High Point. Tucson, Arizona is the list's biggest city at over 550,000 people, but with the lowest two-adult cost of living ($58,047 a year) and serious rock: 3,000-plus routes on Mount Lemmon an hour away, and another 800 at Cochise Stronghold.

The two wildcards are the most interesting. Bluff, Utah — population 240, county-average home price $365,780 — puts you 40 minutes from Valley of the Gods and just over an hour from Indian Creek's splitter cracks. And Winona, Minnesota, on the Mississippi, may be the next big thing: 40 new sport routes at Sugarloaf Quarry plus a rare ice climbing park with 100 routes, 25 minutes from town, which hosts a February ice festival. Local developer Eric Barnard says access deals could add 200-plus more rock routes nearby.

For travellers, the angle is obvious: these are cheap bases for climbing trips before they get discovered. Winona's ice festival, Shelf Road in winter, New River Gorge in autumn — you can visit all six without touching the prices you'd pay in Boulder or Bishop.