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Las Vegas: Rock-climbing capital of the West?

Where else in the country can you drink Cristal all night out of a stripper's shoe, then wake up in the morning and scuffle-and-scritch for your life on a sheer sandstone cliff?

Forgive me in advance: Vegas, baby! Indeed, there's been a long-brewing debate over which burg hosts the best climbing -- Las Vegas or Boulder, Colo. -- and one enthusiast weighs in in humorous fashion. At the Daily Camera:

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B:We have the best variety of year-round climbing in America. Thousands of killer boulder problems and routes -- on granite, gneiss and several types of sandstone -- are within half an hour of town. LV:Boulder Canyon sucks. Eldo has crappy rock, and it's scary as hell. You have to walk forever in the Flatirons. Clear Creek is an over-bolted choss pile. B:We have the most diverse indoor climbing in America: Movement, The Spot, the Boulder Rock Club, CATS. LV:Climbing plastic? We climb hard outside all day, then drink beer and cosmos. We wake up early and do it again the next day. B:Pearl Street is the perfect setting après-climb. It's not The Strip, but that's the point. LV:Pearl Street sucks. The bars close at 2 a.m.

Oh, and may I re-introduce you to our climb-a-riffic sports and outdoors issue?

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As a longtime journalist in Southern Nevada, native Las Vegan Andrew Kiraly has served as a reporter covering topics as diverse as health, sports, politics, the gaming industry and conservation. He joined Desert Companion in 2010, where he has helped steward the magazine to become a vibrant monthly publication that has won numerous honors for its journalism, photography and design, including several Maggie Awards.