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This is a list of all the latest news and happenings at all six Touchstone Facilities. This blog also contains general information about Rock Climbing, Cycling and other items that Touchstone members may find interesting. Tuesday, October 14, 2008Shoe Demo at GWPC This Wednesday, from 6-8PM at GWPC, people are invited to climb in a pair of La Sportiva Arco or Mythos shoes. Here's what La Sportiva says about the Arco, which was new in 2008. This is a beautifully crafted shoe designed for all day comfort and performance with the following features: * Ventilated upper with a perforated, lined synthetic leather arch area for moisture management * Unlined leather upper for performance and sensitivity * 5mm Vibram® XS Grip sticky rubber outsole. The Mythos is such a classic that it defies description. But if you haven't had an opportunity to try them out, here's your chance. You may discover your new favorite climbing shoe.Labels: climbing, event, Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, September 12, 2008CrossFit: The Best View in Town With the gorgeous weather we've been having lately, it might be hard to get to the gym to work out. But now there's a perfect solution to wanting to work out AND be outside: CrossFit at GWPC. Now taking place on the roof, CrossFit offers the best of both worlds, a booty kicking workout and your daily vitamin D allotment. Labels: fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, August 29, 2008G.W.P.C. offers Yoga on Saturday Morning Join us Saturday mornings at 11AM for yoga at GWPC. Shy Sayar is the instructor and founder of Upeksa Yoga, a style of yoga that perfectly balances the alignment and safety of Iyengar, the strength building of Ashtanga, and the deep flexibility achieved by Bikram Yoga - all with no need for a heated room. Pronounced “oo-payk-sha”, the term literally means “balance” or “equanimity”, and it captures the style’s focus on perfectly balancing both practitioner and practice - physically, psychologically and emotionally. This invigorating, challenging, safe and fun style often also draws on the healing power of Tibetan Heart Yoga, the subtle energy work of Shadow Yoga and the fun and loving kindness of partner yoga.This class is open to all levels and is FREE to members, $12 for non-members. Labels: fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Yoga Thursday, August 28, 2008G.W.P.C has new hours. Beginning September 2, GWPC will open at 6:30AM. This will allow more of you to do an invigorating morning workout before heading off to work. Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Tuesday, July 15, 2008GWPC in Oakland Magazine If you happen to flip to page 17 in the July issue of Oakland Magazine, you may be surprised to see the familiar colors of GWPC's walls jumping off the page. Touted as the new cool place to "get fit, grab some exercise and meet friends in Oakland's ever-growing Uptown district", the short article will hopefully let Oakland residents know about the new climbing gym in town. Read the article online here. (Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the bit about G.W.P.C.)Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Tuesday, June 3, 2008New Logo Shirts at GWPC The new GWPC logo shirts are flying off the rack and as you can see from the photo, the guys look as good in the new styles as the ladies. The variety includes tanks, tees, hoodies and zip track jacket styles. Come in soon for the best selection! Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland, retail Tuesday, May 27, 2008Rock Climbing Summer Camps Tired of your little monkey climbing all over the house? Then sign them up for a week of rock climbing. Summer camps are help at Berkeley Ironworks, San Francisco's Mission Cliffs, Oakland's Great Western Power Company, Concord's Diablo Rock Gym, or Sacramento's Pipeworks. Camps usually run M-F from 9am to noon beginning in June and running through August. Check with your local gym for times and specific details. Campers will learn how to climb and belay in a supportive, fun, and safe environment. They will also try their hand at rappelling, ascending, slack-lining and playing many climbing games. Rock climbing emphasizes life skills such as confidence-building, self-esteem and goal-setting and is a great way to get kids to be active. Safety and having fun are our top priorities. Sign your kids up today! Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, climbing, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., kids, mission cliffs, oakland, Sacramento Pipeworks Friday, May 23, 2008Clinics at GWPC If you've been wondering how you can up the ante on your climbing power, technique and skillz, look no farther than Siriji's climbing clinics. Offered on various Saturdays in May, there is a clinic for climbers of all abilities. Take your pick of Bouldering 101, Intro to Climbing for Women or Intermediate Technique and find yourself flying up your project with alacrity. Advanced registration required. Stop by the front desk to register, ask questions or just say "hi".Labels: climbing, Great Western Power Co., oakland Thursday, May 22, 2008TRS 2008 & SCS Wrap-Up 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 Tuesday, May 20, 2008Road Really Closed This Time
Please be aware that during the week of May 19 to May 23, 20th Street in Oakland will be closed to all through traffic for road repaving. Sidewalks will remain open. The best way to get to the gym will be by BART, bike or foot as street parking will be impacted by the road closure.
Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Monday, May 12, 2008Correction: Road OpenWednesday, April 16, 2008TRS Wants YOU!!! It is once again time to get out your rope, tie in and climb. Touchstone Climbing is pleased to bring back the Touchstone Roped Series for its third year. This will be a series of five Roped Climbing comps that will be held on Friday evenings, one at all five of the 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 after the final comp. The first event will be held Touchstone's newest gym, the Great Western Power Co. in Oakland on May 16th. There will be a comp each month for the following five months, with the finale coming in September at Mission Cliffs in San Francisco.May 16th G.W.P.C June 13th Diablo Rock Gym July 11th Berkeley Ironworks August 22nd Sacramento Pipeworks September 26th Mission Cliffs All comps will be from 6pm to 10pm and FREE FOR MEMBERS! Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., mission cliffs, oakland, Sacramento Pipeworks, Touchstone Roped Series Friday, March 28, 2008Yoga Comes to Oakland No, this isn't an April Fools joke, GWPC really IS starting yoga classes in April. With brand new hardwood flooring, high ceilings and full length windows, the Power Company's yoga studio is the perfect place to unwind. Sarah Jaeger Nidy, currently teaching Saturday mornings at Berkeley Ironworks, will be leading students in the lunch hour, noon to 1PM, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There will also be classes offered on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6PM, the instructor is to be determined. We hope to see all of you folks who have been clamoring for yoga at the gym this month! As is true at all Touchstone gyms, yoga is FREE to members and $10/class for non-members.Labels: fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Yoga Monday, March 24, 2008Touchstone Staff Runs Fast On an extremely rainy and windy Sunday recently, staff members from Touchstone gyms in Berkeley, Sacramento, Oakland and Concord, teamed up to race each other around Oakland’s Lake Merritt. Hosted by Lake Merritt Joggers and Striders (LMJS), the Couples Relay event featured a two-person relay, with each runner given a 5K leg around the lake. At 30 years old, this unique competition is LMJS's oldest foot race. Having already run this race several times in the past, Great Western Power Company staff member Skimra Rodriguez thought it would be fun to challenge her colleagues at Touchstone to team up with a staff member from another gym. Thanks entirely to her stellar performance, Skimra along with Pipework’s Vaughn Medford won bragging rights as the fastest pair, but not without good-natured promises of revenge next year from the other teams. Labels: concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Sacramento Pipeworks, staff Friday, March 14, 2008GWPC: Cylinder Gets a Facelift All new routes grace the walls of Great Western's lead cylinder. After waiting since opening for a holds order to be delivered, the course setters stormed Oakland and put up 13 new routes. Here's a shot of the setters in action! Labels: climbing, Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, March 12, 2008New Chill Out Lounge at GWPC As if the Great Western Power Company needed yet another cool feature to make it the hippest climbing hangout in Oakland, we've just unveiled a new chill out lounge for climbers' relaxing pleasure. Take a break from climbing and sink into the comfort of the leather couches. It's a great spot for people watching, catching up on past issues of Climbing Magazine, or working on your laptop. Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Tuesday, March 4, 2008GWPC Opens Earlier Starting March 1, GWPC will open a full two hours earlier, at 8AM, on weekdays. New hours are: M-F 8AM to 10PM Sat/Sun 10AM to 6PM That gives you a couple extra hours to climb or work out and take a quick shower before hitting the daily grind! Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, February 20, 2008GWPC Magnet for Nearby Schools One advantage to Great Western Power Company's urban location is its proximity to a number of schools. It is not uncommon on weekdays to find a group of kids experiencing their first taste of climbing on the walls of GWPC. To further Touchstone's commitment to serving underprivileged kids, GWPC provides indoor climbing experiences to kids who otherwise would never know that such an activity exists. Often these kids walk away with a great sense of accomplishment and increased confidence in their ability to face a new challenge. And as this picture attests, the staff has a great time with the kids, too!Labels: community, Great Western Power Co., kids, oakland Friday, February 15, 2008Plant to Play A new climbing gym has opened at 520 20th St. in downtown Oakland, turning an old power plant into a new place for nearby residents to play, climb, work out and socialize without having to get in a car and drive somewhere. On the outside, the Great Western Power Company gym preserves the classic 1924 architecture with its stone arch and 150-foot stack. Inside, it has 11,000 square feet of climbing terrain, with cool geometric features of the walls highlighted in a variety of colors. For an area seeing a lot of new condos, shops and restaurants, the gym adds to the character of the neighborhood and helps the community. Already several nearby schools have brought kids to climb at Great Western on a weekly basis. Many of them had never had the opportunity to see rock climbing before. Great Western also quickly became a magnet for parties and corporate events. “The structure is perfect for our use,” says general manager Lyn Verinsky. “It has a great, industrial feel.” One Oakland resident who comes to Great Western Power Company is novelist Leonard Chang. “I live less than a mile away, within walking distance. It’s really nice to have this new gym open up right near me,” he said. “What’s nice about the gym is I meet a whole bunch of people from all walks of life outside my usual profession, the writers and critics, and I’ve met a nice community of climbing friends.” He appreciates the fact that the gym is open late. “One of the problems downtown is that there is a lot going on during the day, but at night and on the weekends to some extent it’s harder to attract people down there,” he said. “So this sort of thing, revitalizing older buildings, it’s more than just commercialization of downtown Oakland.” Visit www.touchstoneclimbing.com/gw.html for classes, hours, directions, and other gym information. To see the inside during the wall construction phase, go to the photo album posted at http://touchstoneclimbing.com/gallery/v/gyms/gwpc/ This is a summary of the press release announcing the opening of the Great Western Power Company. A copy of the full release can be downloaded here. Labels: event, Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, February 1, 2008CrossFit also comes to GWPC Offered at the Great Western Power Co. Thursday and Friday evenings at 6pm, CrossFit classes promise an intense workout in a 60 minute session. Want to know more about CrossFit? Check out the website at CrossFit East Bay for a sample of past classes at Ironworks. People of all fitness levels are invited to try out this new class! The first class will meet in the fitness room. Subsequent classes may meet on the roof, weather permitting. Contact the front desk with questions. Labels: fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland Thursday, January 17, 2008Oakland TBS3: Fun as Always The fourth stop on the TBS3 didn't disappoint. Outstanding boulder problems, a good turnout and plenty of beer, soda and pizza made for an excellent night out. Many of the participants commented on the superiority of the course setting and the mellow vibe before thanking staff for putting on such a great party. With 150 competitors, there was lots of excitement and energy. Natasha Barnes handily won the Women's Advanced category and Gregor Peirce, yet again topped the Men's Advanced. You can see pictures of the comp in the Touchstone Gallery and your score for the series HERE as well as your score from the GWPC comp HERE. Thanks again for the incredible work by the course setters and to Metolius for providing some awesome raffle prizes. See you next month at Class 5 and Mission Cliffs! Photo: Natasha Barnes exhibiting her fingers of steel. Labels: climbing, comps, Great Western Power Co., oakland Thursday, January 10, 2008GWPC: Hot Water and Cardio Now you can treat your aching muscles to a nice hot shower after giving them a good workout climbing GWPC's new walls. And that's not all! There is now a smattering of cardio equipment for you to warm up on pre-climbing. So come on over - we are open weekdays 10AM to 10PM and weekends 10AM to 6PM. Labels: fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland Tuesday, January 8, 2008TBS Stops in Oakland In January, the TBS3 makes its first stop ever to the new Great Western Power Company. Come by for a fun community event that will include great bouldering, pizza, beverages and a chance to win some cool raffle prizes from Metolius. PLUS, everyone competing in their FIRST comp of the series will receive the best boars hair brush available; perfect for cleaning holds on your latest sick project. Registration will begin at 5:30pm and the comp starts at 6pm sharp. Please note: In order to make the boulder problems the best ever, the bouldering area at GWPC will be closed starting TODAY, Tuesday the 8th until the comp starts on Friday the 11th at 6PM. Labels: climbing, comps, Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, January 2, 2008Help Wanted Looking for a job, part time or full? Then check out Touchstone’s help wanted page. Right now Concord is looking for full and part time staff to work at the front desk. Mission Cliffs is looking for a full timer as well and the new Great Western Power Company is needs belay staff. Check out the help wanted page for more details. We are always looking for quality staff to fill a variety of positions at our different locations. There are always new positions opening up, so if you are looking for a job, be sure to check here often.Labels: concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., mission cliffs, oakland Monday, November 26, 2007Oakland is Open The Great Western Power Co. will be open at 5pm on Monday Nov. 26th. We will be open the rest of the week from 4pm-10pm. While we have received our final operating permits, we still have lots of work we will be continuing to work on over the next few weeks. At this point we do not have any fitness or weight equipment. We do have lots of boulder problems and a decent amount of routes to climb. So here is your chance to be one of the first people to climb at Touchstones newest gym. If you have already signed up for a membership we welcome you to use the gym this week for free. You account will not be billed till Dec. 1st. If you have not yet signed up for a membership, come on down and we can sign you up today. For the first 200 members, we will waive the initiation fee and you will receive a free GWPC t-shirt. We do NOT currently have hot water. We should have hot water by the end of the week. Labels: event, Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, November 23, 2007Oakland Prepares to Open We are very close to being able to open our newest gym, the Great Western Power Company, in Oakland. After a couple of delays, we are ready to submit applications to the city of Oakland for our final permits. If all goes well, we could be open as soon as early next week. As soon as we know the exact time we can open our doors, we will post it on the front page of the site. We are very excited to show off our newest gym. We believe that the Great Western Power Company will provide some of the best climbing terrain found indoors. If you have not already done so, you can see pictures of the construction in the online photo gallery. Labels: climbing, Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, November 21, 2007Lyn Does Thriller Great Western Power Company manager, Lyn Verinsky, recently climbed one of the most classic boulder problems in Yosemite Valley, if not the world. Thriller, v10, climbs a gently overhanging wall in the heart of the Camp 4 boulders and is a climb that not only tests one's strength, but skill and determination as well. Lyn began to try the climb in earnest last fall after seeing her friend, Robyn Puro (who also happens to be 5'2"), nab the second female ascent. After many days and hundreds of attempts, Lyn's hard work paid off this last Saturday. Nice work Lyn. Here is a video of her send: ***************************** Labels: climbing, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., oakland, staff, Yosemite Monday, November 12, 2007Another Chance to JoinView Larger Map Want to be a member of Touchstone's soon to open Great Western Power Company? Then show up Tuesday, November 13th between 5:30 and 6:30 PM at 520 20th Street to sign up! You still have the option to either put your membership on hold until GWPC opens or activate your membership immediately so you can start climbing and working out at any of Touchstone's 6 gyms right away. Don't miss out on the opportunity to be one of the first 200 GWPC members and receive a FREE GWPC t-shirt as well as have your initiation fee waived! Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, October 26, 2007Become a Member of G.W.P.C. The Great Western Power Company manager, Lyn Verinsky, would like to invite you to sign up for membership at the newest Touchstone gym. Although the facility is still not open for business, it is expected to announce an opening date in the near future. In the meantime, Lyn will be at the Oakland gym on Monday, 10/29, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM and on Tuesday, 10/30, from 7:30 to 9:30 PM to accept sign-ups.There are several options for starting a membership: The first is to sign up on the 30th and use the Berkeley facility until the Oakland location opens - in this case, billing would begin November 1st. The second is to fill out membership forms and wait until the Oakland location opens to activate the membership - in this case, billing would start when the gym opens. All start-up fees (regularly $100) are waived for people signing up in October. Additionally, the first 200 people who sign up for GWPC membership, regardless of the month, will receive a zero initiation deal. Even more cool? The first 200 members will receive a FREE GWPC t-shirt commemorating them as one of the first Oakland members! More sign-up dates will be announced on this blog as will be the Grand Opening announcement. Keep on watching this space for more information about the gym or contact Lyn with your questions. Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Thursday, October 11, 2007TRS Comes to an End at GWPC The second annual Touchstone Rope Series came to a raucous end at the Great Western Power Company last Friday evening. With more beer and pizza than the many competitors and spectators could consume and 14 amazing climbs courtesy of Ben Polanco and the awesome Touchstone route setters, everyone headed home full, tired and with smiles on their faces. Just the fun of getting to climb in the new Oakland facility created a buzz of excitement and good cheer. One of the evening's highlights was the post-comp pull-up competition that determined the winner of the Men's Advanced category. Doug Boethling eked out a victory over Dustin Park by completing 21 pull-ups. The rest of the results can be seen on our comps page and photos of the competition can be found both here and here. Thanks to all those who participated and made the roped series such a successful Touchstone Community event! Labels: climbing, comps, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Touchstone Roped Series Tuesday, October 9, 2007TBS3 Starts This Month!!!Touchstone Climbing will once again host the Touchstone Bouldering Series, now in its third season. With the opening of the Great Western Power Co. in Oakland, the series will expand to seven comps this year, that will be held on Friday evenings, one at each of the Touchstone locations. All events will include a red point Bouldering comp as well as refreshments, games and prizes. Points will be award for each comp with overall winners being announced after the final comp. The first event will be held in October in Concord and will conclude this year at Berkeley Ironworks. These comps are FREE for Touchstone Members Concord October 26th, 2007 in Concord San Jose November 16th, 2007 in San Jose Pipeworks December 14th, 2007 in Sacramento G.W.P.C. January 11th, 2008 in Oakland Mission Cliffs February 8th, 2008 in San Francisco Class 5 February 29th, 2008 in San Rafael Ironworks April 4th, 2008 in Berkeley Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, class 5, climbing, comps, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., mission cliffs, oakland, Sacramento Pipeworks, san jose, touchstone Friday, October 5, 2007No initiation Fee in October In celebration of our newest gym opening later this fall, all Touchstone gyms will be offering a zero initiation fee deal. Take advantage of this great opportunity to save from $50 to $150 off the regular sign-up fee by becoming a member in October. Those folks wanting to become members at the new Great Western Power Company should contact manager, Lyn Verinsky, to get their names on the pre-opening list. Everyone on the list will be eligible for the zero initiation deal immediately after the gym opens. Or better yet, sign up now at Berkeley Ironworks and start enjoying Touchstone today. Once G.W.P.C. opens, you can transfer you membership to the Power Company for no charge. Remember, the days are just getting shorter and wetter, so sign up soon Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, class 5, concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., mission cliffs, oakland, Sacramento Pipeworks, san jose, touchstone Wednesday, October 3, 2007TRS Finale in OAKLAND!!! The TRS Season 2 has been a huge success. A whopping 389 individual competitors have partied it up at the last five comps: eating pizza, drinking beer and soda and climbing some of the best routes indoor climbing has to offer. But all good things must come to an end, at least until next year's TRS. Yep, it's Finale time. And the TRS2 Finale, scheduled for Friday, October 5, looks to be the most exciting comp yet. First, the series finale will be held at Touchstone's newest gym, the Great Western Power Company. Add to that a neck-in-neck battle for the Men's Advance first place spot and you have the makings of an action-packed competition. If you have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the GWPC, you won't want to miss this comp! The finale will be a special sneak preview of the gym, which will not be open for regular business prior to or immediately following the comp. Doors will open for registration at 5:15 PM and the comp will start promptly at 6 PM. This event is FREE to Touchstone members and for this comp only, FREE to non-members as well. Take a look at the GWPC web pages for more information about the gym and to get directions. Take this opportunity to discover how convenient it is to ride BART - GWPC is only one block away from the 19th and Broadway station! Labels: comps, Great Western Power Co., oakland, Touchstone Roped Series Thursday, September 13, 2007Power Company gets a Viewing Now the final coat of stucco is up on the walls of the Great Western Power Company, the hole drilling and t-nutting begins. Come by Wednesday, September 19th to check out the construction and get a forecast of the great climbing to come. If you're lucky, we might even have a top-rope climb or two ready for testing. Patti Phillips, Touchstone's retail manager, did a spectacular job coloring the walls, and now, before holds go up, is the best time to view them. The gym will be open for visiting from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM with beverages and light refreshments to be served. Bring your shoes and harness - just in case!Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, September 12, 2007Power Company gets a Webpage We are getting ever so close to the opening of the newest Touchstone indoor rock climbing gym in Oakland. We are now drilling t-nuts (around 20,000 of them) and will soon be setting routes on the new walls. We also have brought the new pages online for the Great Western Power Co. You can get all the info you will need on the new gym here. And remember, you can see the latest pictures of the construction in our online gallery. Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Wednesday, September 5, 2007Power Company gets a Logo We are excited to unveil the new logo for the Great Western Power Company. As we get closer to the opening, we will continue to announce more details for our newest gym, located in downtown Oakland. For now, you can check out pictures of the construction in our online photo gallery.Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, August 31, 2007New Managers Current Touchstone Concord manager, Lyn Verinsky will be taking the helm at the Great Western Power Company, the seventh Touchstone gym in the greater Bay Area, when it opens this fall. Lyn has worked with the company since 2003, first as desk staff at Class 5 and Berkeley Ironworks, then as manager of Class 5 and Touchstone Concord. An avid climber since her first time on the wall at Ironworks in 2001, Lyn has embraced the climbing lifestyle and has tried to take as many road trips as her job and 11 year old son allow. Most recent adventures include a winter trip to Hueco where, as she laughingly says, "I had an amazing time getting spanked by the powerful climbing." Fontainbleau, Yosemite Valley and Squamish top her list of favorite climbing spots, though she also has a fondness for local crag Mortar Rock.  Taking over as head honcho at Concord is long-time desk staff Andrew Descalso. Andrew was one of the first members of Touchstone Concord when it opened almost five years ago and has worked the desk since 2004. Andrew has a love of bouldering that has survived even an ankle break while climbing at the Druid Stones in 2005. His most recent climbing accomplishment was a proud send of the infamously hard Ironman Traverse in the Buttermilks this last winter. Highballs and mantels are Andrew's greatest nemeses, but he has a weakness for adorable and friendly canines. One description of Andrew can be found on the yelp website reviewing Touchstone Concord: "Andrew . . . is fabulously helpful, not to mention easy on the eyes!"Labels: concord, Diablo Rock Gym, Great Western Power Co., oakland, staff, Yosemite Tuesday, August 28, 2007Power Company Gets A Coat The newest Touchstone gym, the Great Western Power Company in downtown Oakland is getting closer to being finished. We have started the final coat of texture on the walls. Unlike most of our other gyms (Mission Cliffs is the exception), we are taking the extra time to hand apply the texture. This will give the walls a unique look that will different than any other wall we have done. Patti, the retail manager, is consulting to help with the colors of the walls, and they really look great. We cannot wait to open and have everyone see the bay area's news climbing gym.For now, you can see pictures of the walls and other construction in our online photo gallery. Labels: climbing, Great Western Power Co., oakland Friday, June 29, 2007Smell the Holds Matt McCormick, a Touchstone member since 1995, wrote friends this note after running across photos of the Touchstone facility being built in Oakland.A well-designed climbing wall is a thing of beauty. I’ve been climbing in gyms so long and loving it, that just looking at a new wall sends waves of anticipation, anxiety, ambition, and longing through me. And the acrid, carcinogenic smell of polyester resin in new climbing holds just out of the shipping box does the same thing. It’s like Christmas, but with fear and overdeveloped calluses. If my wife had that for perfume, I’d be helpless. A lot of climbers still think that gym climbing is still a means to an end—training so that they can get outside to real rock. That’s fine—but when one of the Touchstone route setters (and I just don’t think there are any better route setters anywhere) puts up a clever, well-executed route that pushes you to new levels, that’s a special thing. What’s more, you will not optimize your climbing-to-bullshit ratio better anywhere outside. Nowhere else can you do so many good routes in such a short time. Actually, more climbers should take the notion of a climbing gym road trip seriously. Get your partner, clear your afternoon schedule, and go to one of the other Touchstone gyms (your membership works there too). And that brings me to the next point: Touchstone is building a new gym in Oakland. The pictures here, will make you need to chalk up sitting at your computer. Check out the giant smoke stack in the middle of the wall, and the outrageous prows jutting from the top! The Great Western Power Co. (cool name, huh?) is at 520 20th street in Oakland, CA. They’re having an open house on Friday, June 29th from 6 pm to 9pm. Tell them you’d like to smell the holds. Labels: climbing, event, Great Western Power Co., oakland Monday, June 25, 2007Oakland Open House If the pictures of the Oakland gym construction in the Touchstone gallery have whetted your appetite to see the newest Touchstone gym in person, here's your chance to be one of the first people to visit. On Friday, June 29th from 6pm to 9pm, Oakland gym manager, Lyn Verinsky, would like to invite you to the first OPEN HOUSE. This is a great opportunity to see the awesome, light-filled space, and the walls-in-progress. The address is: 520 20th St. Oakland, CALabels: event, Great Western Power Co., oakland, touchstone Monday, May 21, 2007Progress in Oakland We are moving forward quickly at the newest Touchstone Gym, the Great Western Power Company in Oakland. We are continuing to construct the steel frame of the climbing wall. Most of the steel structure has been completed at this point. We also have most of the plumbing in for the bathrooms and have started to frame in the bathrooms as well. You can see photos here, in our online gallery. Labels: climbing, Great Western Power Co., oakland Monday, March 12, 2007Oakland Update Now that the space is cleared out and the keys are in our hands, we at Touchstone are very excited about the potential for an amazing climbing gym. Over the next several weeks we will be finalizing the layout of the main climbing and bouldering areas, but first some demolition and reinforcement of the building are required in order to meet updated building standards.Look for new photos on our website as we will be posting the progress of this exciting project periodically. Also, be sure to keep an eye on the Touchstone blog for information on tours of the new space. We look forward to seeing you there. Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland, touchstone Thursday, March 1, 2007The Great Western Power Co. Touchstone Climbing is thrilled to announce that we have signed a lease on a building in downtown Oakland. The Great Western Power Company is located in central Oakland, near BART and with quick access to the freeway. At over 45 feet tall, this building promises to provide some exciting new terrain to the Bay Area climbing community. We also plan to offer a large bouldering area with a variety of terrain. With over 10,000 square feet of space, there is still plenty of room for a great fitness area and rooms for yoga and other great programs. This gym will offer everything you have come to expect from a Touchstone facility.The current tenants are in the process of moving out and we will soon start construction. Keep an eye on the news blog for updates as this project progresses. We have also posted a few more pictures in the online gallery and will continue to add more as the building process begins. At this point we are hoping for an open date in late 2007. As soon as we start construction of the climbing structure, we will begin to host regular Friday night tours. Until then, we ask that you please respect the current tenant and the initial construction crews, and refrain from stopping by the building. Stay tuned... Labels: climbing, fitness, Great Western Power Co., oakland, touchstone, Yoga Powered by: |
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