This Friday, February 19, from 5-10 pm. The second of the Touchstone Rope Series 4th Competition will be held at Diablo Rock Gym. There will be free pizza, beer, and t-shirts for competitors. The events are always a great time to hang out, climb hard, and enjoy a friendly competitive atmosphere.

It is once again time to get out your rope, tie in and climb. After a year off, Touchstone Climbing is thrilled to bring back the Touchstone Roped Series for its fourth year. This will be a series of five Roped Climbing comps that will be held on Friday evenings, one at each of the five Touchstone locations. All events will include a red point roped comp as well as refreshments, games and prizes. Points will be awarded for each comp with overall winners being announced at the end of the final comp. Climbers are responsible for bring their own belayers.



You can see pictures from last season's TRS now in our online photo gallery.

This will be a self-scoring competition with points being standardized for each comp. This means that a 5.11a route at Mission Cliffs will be given the same points as a 5.11a route at Pipeworks. Scoring will follow the format below:

Each route will be broken down into three scores. The highest score is given for completing a route with no falls. However, points will also be awarded for reaching either of the two way-points on the route. A competitor's final score for a given comp is the total of their three best routes. You will not receive points for the same route twice.

At the end of the series, your final score will be calculated from your 3 highest scoring comps. Once the season starts you will be able to see your current standings online.

For more information about the comp check out the comp page.

Labels: Climbing Competitions, Diablo Rock Gym, TRS 4

Three years ago, Maria Ly began climbing at Mission Cliffs. Since she first started wrestling with the plastic holds, Maria has been an active member of the Touchstone community, competing in many of the comps, and recently ranking second in Advanced Women's at the TBS 5.

Feb 8 2008- Maria's First TBS(3) competition where she bouldered a chair and won a chalk bag!

Maria works with a partner on a two person start-up company in San Francisco. Skimble focuses on socially tracking rock climbing, yoga, and gym fitness. The company has launched a website, a blog, and an iPhone application.

Describing Skimble Maria said, "Skimble helps you track your active life! I began creating the tool with my boyfriend Gabriel Vanrenen as we wanted to track all of our rock climbs and trips. Not only that, we're really active and enjoy hiking, yoga, gym fitness, and skiing. With the mission to inspire active lifestyles, Skimble positions itself at the intersection of active sports and travel. Current fitness sites focus on weight loss whereas Skimble offers social activity tracking, comparisons and a leaderboard to motivate people to be active and have fun!

Last summer, we participated in the Founder Institute while running a private alpha among our rock climbing friends. Not long after, we released Skimble's beta website in the fall and Skimble iPhone app (http://itunes.com/app/skimble) on New Years helping you track over 15 sports activities, with GPS-enabled tracking and geo-tagged 'action shots'. Will have another version supporting over 30 activities in Feb."

Maria will be at the upcoming Touchstone Rope Series 4 competition at Great Western Power Company Friday night, January 22nd. She will be tossing out free Skimble t-shirts.

Maria Ly sends French Press, V6 at the Sads in Bishop, CA from Maria Ly on Vimeo.

Come check out the Comp. There will be free pizza from Lanesplitter's, free beer, a great community of climbers, and a lot of fun at the first of the Touchstone Rope series comps.

Check out the skimble blog, which includes updates from the ongoing Outdoor Retailer Show.

Labels: Skimble, Touchstone Roped Series, TRS 4