The season for Yosemite is upon us. The boulders are in great condition, almost too warm. The current forecast according to NOAA calls for a week of sun and a high of sixty degree temperatures. For those looking to climb down-canyon, that means t-shirt bliss.

There is still snow on the north facing rocks. The Housekeeping boulders still have some snow. The Sentinel has a large pack of snow at its base but the Ahwahnee boulders, Camp 4, and most importantly El Capitan are all clear. This year has been a relatively wet one and there has been some seepage on routes but things are drying quickly and it looks like the spring in the Valley will be awesome.

For further up to date weather, check out the Yosemite Web Cams- live views of Yosemite National Park.

Labels: Yosemite bouldering, Yosemite climbing, Yosemite Weather

Berkeley Ironworks climber Tim Medina has been cranking hard in Yosemite Valley for years, establishing a slew of first ascents. One of his best is Diesel Power, a highball V10 located along the trail west of Camp 4.

Tim stated about the climb, "Randy (Puro) cleaned this amazing line in the Crystals and asked me to help him figure it out. After three days of throwing our selves at the problem I unlocked a sequence and had success."

The temps in Yosemite are perfect right now, and though Diesel Power may be under spring water, at least this video of Tim crushing the problem will get you pysched to go boulder in the Valley.


Diesel Power FA - Full [v10]
Uploaded by tmedina.

For more info about Yosemite bouldering check out the Betabase page

Labels: Diesel Power, Tim Medina, Yosemite bouldering

Berkeley Ironworks manager, Paul Barraza has worked with Touchstone Climbing gyms since 2001. Despite long hours making sure one the busiest Bay Area climbing gyms runs smoothly, the 36 year old has managed to crush many difficult boulder problems in the Sierras. Every weekend with an incredible degree of consistency, Paul drives to Yosemite, where he sends projects and develops new boulder problems. His impressive tick list includes Yabo Roof (V12), Shadow Warrior (V12), the immense Diesel Power (v10), and countless other problems. In 8a.nu's 35+ ranking, Paul is number 1 in the United States. In the first few weeks of February, Paul managed to put down a long time project- Dominated a V13 in Yosemite's Camp 4 Boulders. He took a moment out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for the Touchstone Blog about his life and his climbing.



How long have you been climbing for? How did you get into climbing?

I loved to scramble around in the mountains as a kid, but I didn't start climbing until I discovered the climb wall at Oregon State University 17 years ago. After my first trip to that tiny gym, I was hooked. Every weekend my friends and I would go out to Smith Rock and scare ourselves silly on the technical routes there. It was a good place to learn because there were tons of great routes of every grade and you learned to use your feet.

How do you balance a full time job, a family life, and still manage to climb hard?
It's not hard when you like all three! As long as you can climb consistently and train in a semi-scientific way, you can always make progress. Saying that, I have had long stretches where I haven't improved, but you just have to ride those out as well. The nice thing about climbing is that while you might not be improving - you're still having fun!

Can you describe your training a little. How does your periodization schedule work?
Basically I boulder/train two nights during the week and try to boulder 2 days outside on the weekends. During the year I will do an training cycle (where I do intense weight training) in the late summer to get ready for the fall season and a second cycle around this time of year to get ready for the spring season. Since it is too hot to boulder in the summer, I take it easy to rest up the muscles and tendons a bit, but I still climb and hit the gym consistently so I don't lose that base level of fitness.

Dominated [v13] from Paul B on Vimeo.

Here's Paul's ascent of Dominated captured on his iPhone.


How long have you been trying Dominator? What was your process of sending such a difficult project? What's next?
I spent about 5 years working the Dominator when the conditions were good. I joked with friends that I was going to write a book called, "101 ways to fail on the Dominator" because I had tried every conceivable method and nothing ever worked out. There wasn't much to the process besides being psyched and flogging the heck out of it with a delusional level of devotion. I think I just wore down the boulder problem to the point where it felt sorry for me, if that is possible. It did help to watch Tim Doyle and Randy Puro (both of whom have done the Dominator) get on it one day to actually see the subtleties in their beta so I could see what I had to do with my body. What's next? More bouldering of course!

Paul is a member of the highly active Beta Base crew, who have established a slew of Yosemite boulders. Paul has also done some excellent work developing a solid training program, which can be read about at his blog. Training 4 Climbing.

Labels: Dominator, Paul Barraza, Yosemite bouldering

The ever diligent Betabase crew- a group of Bay area climbers, established another rad new boulder problem out int Yosemite's Woodyard. Located uyp the hill from the Woodyard Arete and Dogwood, is a rad boulder with a few warm-up problems. In addition to Chicken Nugget, there is another new problem- Teenage Mutant Ninja Gerbils (v8). This video of Berkeley Ironworks manager Paul Barraza making the first ascent shows a little of the beta. The first move starts off a crossed left hand on a good edge and a right hand on a small triangular edge.

The Beta Base crew has been the driving force behind new development in Yosemite, spawning hundreds of new classic problems. A number of them, Paul Barraza, Tim Medina, Scott Chandler, and Patti Phillips climb at Ironworks. Others, like Lyn Verinsky, Randy Puro, Becky Trefacany, and Justin Alacron climb at Great Western Power Company. They all meet Saturday mornings in the Yosemite Cafeteria to crush.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Gerbils >

Labels: BetaBase, Teenage Mutant Ninja Gerbils, Yosemite bouldering

Becky Trefecanty, a Great Western Power Company climber and Bay area crusher, made a great compilation of Yosemite Bouldering featuring Berkeley Ironworks' manager Paul Barraza, Great Western Power Company manager Lyn Verinsky, Touchstone Retail guru Patti Phillips, and a number of other talented Bay area boulders. Check out the cool footage!

Yosemite Fall '09 (Part Two) from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Labels: Becky Trafecanty, Paul Barraza, Yosemite bouldering

Recently, Siemay Lee, a doctor from Genoa Nevada, visited Yosemite with Dr. Noah Kaufman, who works at the Yosemite Medical Clinic. The two got out and bouldered in some great conditions. Siemay pulled down on Tim Clifford's slopey boulder problem Tapdance. The V10 is located on the opposite side of Dominator in the Camp 4 boulders. Check out the inspiring footage of Siemay "Crusher" Lee.



On the Columbia Boulder, Noah made an ascent of the difficult Moffat Start, a campusing start to the notoriously difficult mantle of Midnight Lightning. Check out Noah crushing.

Labels: Noah Kaufman, Siemay Lee, Yosemite bouldering

With temps in Yosemite still ideal, and the pysche high, the Bay area BetaBase crew has been crushing, establishing a slew of new problems across the Valley. Check out this video of hardman Paul Barraza, the Berkeley Ironworks manager, sending the first ascent of 601, a new V8 on the El Cap boulder.

Labels: BetaBase, Paul Barraza, Yosemite bouldering

The fall temps have descended upon Yosemite Valley. Today was beautiful, crisp, and perfect for bouldering around the South Side of the Valley. For those who aren't pysched to boulder already, check out this video of Touchstone tough stuff, Natasha Barnes, crushing Do-bop, a sweet V7 crack by the Cathedral rocks.

Natasha on "Do-bop" [v7] from scott chandler on Vimeo.

Labels: Do Bop, Natasha Barnes, Yosemite bouldering

"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add but when there is nothing left to take away." Antonie De Saint-Exupery

Winning the Editor's Choice award from Climbing Magazine, Organic Crashpads describes this quote perfectly. A one inch sheet of closed cell foam enclosed within one and two inches of open cell foam creates a perfect combination of both durability and shock absorption.

The thread through shoulder straps are height adjustable, and were according to Climbing Magazine, "The most comfortable we tested."

"The Ironworks crew and I climbed a number of Yosemite highballs with some of the Organic Crashpads. I fell pretty far but I've never landed so comfortably."
Yosemite climber and notorious gravity ball James Lucas

These great Organic Pads will be available at many Touchstone gyms. The multi-color pads will be retailing for $215 with members receiving 10% off!


Weight: 9lbs 8 oz
Open Dimensions: 48x36x4in
Closed Dimensions: 24x36x8in

Labels: Organic, Yosemite bouldering