The Zero Gravity Climbing Team is currently hosting a raffle, at Mission Cliffs, to help send 6 of their athletes to compete in the Youth World Championships in Velance, France. Tickets are $1 each, or if you buy $5 you get 1 free, $10 is 3 free, etc. The drawing will be held on Saturday at Mission Cliffs, but you don't need to be present to win.

The Touchstone kids that will be competing are; Cicada Jenerik, Scott Cory, Josh Levin, Eric Sanchez, Hannah Le, Charlie Andrews, and their coach Scot Jenerik will be going as well. The competition will be the last week of August.

The prizes include awesome Madrock gear, t-shirts, a rope, and other rad stuff.

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, Josh Levin, Scott Cory, Zero Gravity

Four Touchstone Members on the Zero Gravity Climbing Team competed in the Youth World Championships in Sydney, Australia this past month. Josh Levin and Cicada Jenerik Podiumed. Josh had the best overall showing with a Bronze Medal in Speed and a 7th place in difficulty. Cicada also scored a Bronze in Speed and was absolutely crushing in Semifinals until her foot unexpectedly popped. She ended up 14th. Gabi Masse and Scott Cory were also in first heading into Semis but ended up 21st and 14th.

Next years Youth World Championships will be in France.

Gabi, Cicada, Scott, Josh and Scot Jenerik (coach) would like to give a huge thanks to everyone at Touchstone who supported the team by buying raffle tickets.

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, climbing, comps, kids, Scott Cory, Zero Gravity

The Touchstone youth on the Zero Gravity Climbing Team have had an amazing season this year. The team easily swept the top spots at the USA Climbing Northern California Regional Championships in May, which was hosted by Touchstone at the Great Western Power Company in Oakland. Zero Gravity were Regional Champions for the third straight year and the entire team qualified for the Division 1 Championships in Salt Lake City in June. Division 1 is easily the strongest division in the country and though a few kids were dropped there, ZG had multiple podiums and 10 of the team members qualified for Nationals, 9 in difficulty and 7 in speed.

At the National Championships the weekend of July 11-13 in Sunnyvale, CA seven of the nine made finals in difficulty. Zero Gravity placed 2nd in the country for Difficulty in the team scoring. Cicada Jenerik (4th) , Joshua Levin (2nd difficulty, National Champion in Speed) and Scott Cory (3rd) were all selected for the US National Team and will be competing in Sydney Australia at the end of August along with their Canadian National Teammate Gabi Masse. Eric Sanchez (4th) and Hannah Le (5th) both missed the team selection by 1 place. Nick Bradley (7th), Sera Busse, Yolan Caballero and Dakota Schwartz also competed.

Full results can be found at http://www.scsnationals.org/details/index.htm

Zero Gravity will be hosting a raffle at Mission Cliffs starting the first week of August to help the team travel to Sydney, Australia for the Youth World Championships (August 27-31) Please help them out and you may win some great gear from Madrock, PMI, Pranah, and more.

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, climbing, comps, kids, Scott Cory, Zero Gravity

Even though (or because?) there were the fewest competitors in the history of the TRS, Friday night's kickoff was a blast. Competitors came from all the gyms, except Sacramento, and every gym had a winner in at least one category. Great Western climbers represented, with Tony Calvert taking first in Men's Advanced and Erin Goodling crushing the Women's Beginner field. For full results, check the competitions page on the Touchstone website and more photos are in the gallery.

The fun just kept going with the SCS Regional Competition on Saturday, where the best of Northern California junior competition climbers showed off their stuff. Touchstone members led in almost every category with familiar names like Scott Cory, Cicada Jenerik, Gabie Masse and Sera Busse in the first place slot for each of their categories. See photos of the competition on flickr as well as results here.

For those of you who missed the competition, come check out all the new routes at GWPC!

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, climbing, comps, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Scott Cory, Touchstone Roped Series

It's almost a wrap for the USA Climbing season, so Concord members Evan Cronin, Gregor Peirce, Troy Gibb, Scott Cory, Gabe Matson and Wes Miraglio (not pictured) made the trek to Portland, Oregon for Divisionals. All did well in their categories, with Scott, Gabe, Gregor and Troy climbing well enough to be invited to Nationals taking place in Ann Arbor, Michigan on July 6-8. It's great to have this group of teens representing Touchstone! We want to with them the best of luck this weekend in Michigan.

Picture by Tom Cronin.

Labels: climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, kids, members, Scott Cory

It was May 2005 and Touchstone Concord was hosting the USAC Regional Competition. The gym was abuzz with 81 competitors from 11 different teams and a large crowd of spectators watching the kids vie for an invitation to Nationals. Competition climbing looked to be on track to become the next Little League, gaining in popularity and participation.

Fast forward two years. Touchstone course setters have once again put up National-level routes in preparation for a strong field of junior competitors, but this year the crowds and excitement never materialized. A precipitous drop in the number of competitors, 30% fewer, begs the question: is there a future for competition rope climbing in the U.S.?

The answer is a resounding yes, if Scott Jenerik, Northern California Regional coordinator of USA Climbing has anything to say about it. Scott has immersed himself in many aspects of the competition scene. He coaches a highly successful youth team out of the Touchstone gyms, sets routes for Touchstone (including setting for the regionals), and of course volunteers much of his time coordinating for the national USAC organization. Given the energy expended by individuals like Scott and the support of gyms like Touchstone who put a considerable amount of time and money into hosting competitions, chances are good that this year's low turnout is a fluke and we'll see even more kids psyched about competition climbing in the coming years.

Although most of the Touchstone gyms did not send Teen Team members to this competition, kids affiliated with Touchstone gyms did incredibly well, taking first in six of the nine divisions. To see final comp results go to USA Climbing's web site. Of particular note were Concord members Gregor Peirce taking first in Male Youth B, Dakota Schwartz taking third in Female Youth C, and Scott Cory taking second in Male Youth A.

Labels: climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, kids, Scott Cory

Concord members, Andrew Descalso, Gregor Peirce and Scott Cory, took a week off from school and work to go on a road trip to Bishop, with some spectacular results. Making clear once again that Touchstone is home to many a strongman, Gregor and Scott polished off several difficult Bishop problems such as Beefy-Gecko v11, Evilution (lip) v10, and Acid Wash v10.

Although Andrew wasn't able to send his project, Ironman Traverse, despite great beta from climbing master, Scott Fry, he did learn a lesson about the importance of securely attaching crashpads to the roof rack of his car. As Andrew describes it, "While cruising below the posted limit along 395 I caught a glimpse in my mirror of a huge black Metolious tri-fold pad taking flight behind the car, gracefully landing in the middle of the freeway. A quick 180 and a few tight knots later the pads were secure and we were back on track with another story to be told."

For more pictures and stories from their trip, check out Andrew's blog at http://web.mac.com/adescalso/iWeb/Climbing/Home/Archive.html and Scott & Gregor's scorecards on 8a.nu.

Photo: Gregor making short work of Action Jackson (v10) in the Happies.

Labels: climbing, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Scott Cory

Touchstone Concord and Team Fuego members Gregor Peirce, Gabe Matson, Evan Cronin and Wes Mirgalio traveled to Timonium, Maryland to compete in the ABS 8 National Championships that took place February 16-18. All four boys train with Coach Yuki Uemora for Team Fuego and were excited to be heading to their first National-level competition. Scott Cory and Troy Gibb, also from Touchstone Concord, attended the event with their team, Zero Gravity.

Despite this being Gregor's first on-site format competition, he took first in his division, Youth B (14-15 year olds), a truly impressive accomplishment. The rest of the Touchstone crew also did well, with Gabe and Evan taking 19th and 29th respectively in Youth A. Wes placed 23rd in the Juniors' division and Troy took 7th in Youth B. Scott Cory fought through an ankle injury sustained in the qualifying round and still managed to place 8th in Youth A.

Gregor climbed perfectly in the qualifying round, flashing all four problems. He continued his streak of great climbing in the finals, flashing the first problem and getting the 2nd high point on problems number two and three. Troy reached the high point on problem number 3 and came within a hair of making it a 1-2 finish in their category.

On the female side, Dakota Schwartz, competing in the Youth C category, took 14th place. This category was won by Mission Cliffs Member Cicada Jenerik. All in all, a great performance by everyone from Touchstone Concord! We look forward to following these strong, young climbers in their future adventures.

You can also read more about these climbers in the Monday edition of the Contra Costa Times or online here.

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, members, Scott Cory, Zero Gravity

The TRS finale held at Touchstone Concord on Friday, September 15th delivered all that it had promised: 14 excellent routes, free beer and pizza, lots of great prizes, exciting lead falls and a nail-biting finish in the Men's Advanced category. 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners, Scott Cory (16), Simon Benkert (16) and Dustin Park (19), were separated by a mere 300 points, with Scott Cory flashing the 3 most difficult routes to take the win. Dustin Park, the homegym favorite, still handily won the Advanced Men's category for the series and heard a lot of cheers when he finished the 13c route third try.

To say that the young Touchstone members had a strong showing would be a bit of an understatement. Cicada Jenerik (12) cruised the 12a and 12c to clinch the Advanced Women's title for both the comp and series. Concord member, Jacob Phillips (12), won the Intermediate Men's category by sending the 12a second try and making it to the first box of the 12c. Dakota Schwartz (12), also a Concord member, had a great night and took first in the Women's Intermediate category.

It's a miracle that anyone over 20 had a chance, but Berkeley Ironworks members, Mike King and Ngoc Nguyen who placed first in the Beginning Men's and Women's categories respectively, showed us that climbing isn't just for the kids. All in all, it was a fun night and not only for the comp winners - everyone had a great time.

Labels: Cicada Jenerik, climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Scott Cory, Touchstone Roped Series

Nearly 200 competitors from California, the Pacific Northwest, Montana and some from as far away as Alaska gathered in Sacramento over two days, June 10th and 11th for the Youth Sport Climbing Divisional Championships. The top finishers moved on to compete in the National Championship to be held next month in Tigard Oregon. Competition was fierce on the first day as 200 climbers were slowly pared down to the strongest 100. The end of the second day featured a thrilling head to head tie breaking super-final route between Scott Cory and Simon Benkert. Cory, who climbed first, came off the 5.13A route only three holds from the finish. Benkert, climbing second, managed to flash the difficult route to cheers from the very large crowd. Check our online gallery for more photos from this contest.

Labels: climbing, comps, event, kids, Sacramento Pipeworks, Scott Cory