Earlier this year, Berkeley Ironworks climber and Touchstone blogger, James Lucas headed up with Katie Lambert, Luis Rivera, Hayden Kennedy, and a few other Yosemite Valley locals to attempt Border Country- a Grade V 5.12c route on the right side of Middle Cathedral. A story about the Valley scene in the past year and about the route was recently published in Rock & Ice. It's also available online.



Check out Mikey Schaefer's blog for more information about Border Country and about his adventures as a first ascentionist, a professional climbing photographer, and all around hardman.

Labels: Border Country, James Lucas, Middle Cathedral

On March 19, the Touchstone Rope Series will be heading to Sacramento's Pipeworks. This rope series comp will be an awesome opportunity to check out a ton of new routes in the enormous lead cave at Pipeworks, get some free pizza, free beer, and t-shirts from the comp. There will also be a limbo contest!

The last comp at Diablo Rock saw more than 190 score cards turned in, there was an amazing limbo contest at the Concord gym as well, but by far the highlight of the comp was watching hardcore boulderer/mediocre sport climber Brian "Cuz" Hedrick z-clip on one of the lead routes.



Craig McClenahan spoke a little about the setting saying, "We had a 13 man crew and we set 13 routes; we always set from hardest to easiest (5.13b/c - 5.10d), so now we have 9 routes left to set (5.10c - 5.8). There is a set of 5 new jugs and some new crimps and footholds." Craig and the crew will be hard at work establishing rad routes for the comp.

Check out the comp page for information about the results from the past few comps.

For directions see the map page.

Labels: limbo contests, Sacramento Pipeworks, Touchstone Roped Series

Simon Carter wrote of World Climbing: Images from the Edge. The book won the Mountain Image award at the Banff Mountian Book Festival. His work has appeared in numerous climbing publications. He was also named by Men's Journal Magazine (USA) as one of the World's Best Adventure Photographers. In a recent digital Photography school blog post,Simon discussed a little bit about how to capture great still shots of climbers. Check out the videos that were made- first of the climbers, then of Simon talking about his work.

Labels: australia, Climbing photography, Simon Carter

Berkeley Ironworks is searching for a new graphic to put on the back of their t-shirts and hoodies. To add some incentive, Touchstone is offering a free 2 month membership to the artist that submits the best design. So bust out your stencils, sharpen your creative mind, and have your image grace the back of a large series of climbing clothing apparel.

The contest ends on March 15. Please submit all design entires to biwnewsletter@gmail.com

Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, climbing graphic, t-shirt design

Beyond climbing, the Touchstone gyms also host a number of different activites. One notable group that uses the facilities are the Crossfitters. Combining Olympic lifting, gymnastics, and intense excercise, Crossfit has amassed a solid following in the Bay area. The different Crossfit groups all join together for an Olympic style competition.

The CrossFit Throwdown on March 6 at GWPC was a rousing success. 44 competitors from all around the Bay Area came to compete with many more spectators attending to cheer on their favorite athletes. The competition involved athletes completing an hour+ of more intense activity than most of us are accustomed to doing in a month.



The CrossFit East Bay site has great pictures of the workout of the day.

Reports of the event were made by a few different parties involved. Crossfit Silicon Valley, Crossfit Oakland, and Diablo Crossfit all posted reports on their websites.



For the event, competitors had to do the following:
Event One:

30 Burpees
30 C2B Pull-Ups
30 Deadlift 275/185
Run 6.2KM
Max Rep Burpees
40 Minute limit

Final Event:
Top 5 Male/Female competitors:

AMRAP in 10 minutes of the complex:

5 Deadlift 135/95
4 Hang Clean 135/95
3 Thruster 135/95
2 Front Squat 135/95
1 Shoulder to Overhead 135/95

Come join the Crossfit crew at your local Touchstone gym and get strong!

Labels: CrossFit, CrossFit Throwdown, GWPC

The Berkeley Ironworks artist of the month for March is Sam Miller. Check out her piece and a little about her.



Sam Miller has spent her entire life creating art. For the past 15 years, she has been honored by local communities and private institutions for her murals, painting, sculpture, and photography. She has taught thousands of elementary school students how to unleash the artist in themselves while teaching teachers how to make art a powerful tool for change. Sam fervently believes that everything is “artable.” Much to her mother’s chagrin, Sam even turned her car into a mobile canvas.

Currently, she devotes her time working closely with clients who commission personalized wall hangings. Each piece is tailored to the heart and aesthetic of each client. Clients choose from a variety of techniques and media such as realistic portraiture, layered fabric, abstract painting, digital photography, linoleum block printing, etching, embroidery, hand-beading, and/or quilting. Clients also decide their level of involvement in their piece. Some wish to take part in each step of the process; others want to know the broad strokes, and there are those who seek to be surprised at the unveiling of their piece.

It is Sam’s gift to make art which honors what people deeply love; it is her passion to make art that also heals. Each commissioned piece centers around what one loves – family, pets, memories, experiences, nature. This love creates a connection between one’s heart and the art. Simply looking at the wall hanging can open and soften one’s heart. Globally, the connection transmits loving energy that has the power to restore the balance of our planet.

Love lives in our hearts and is the fabric that holds us together. Sam Miller‘s gift is give this love a visual home.

Labels: Artist of the Month, Berkeley Ironworks, Sam Miller

Austin Holey, a 20 year old Merritt College in Oakland student and Berkeley native, studies at the landscape horticulture department at Merritt College in Oakland. When he's not busy building vegetable beds, he photographs his friends, other Bay Area climbers in Bishop, Owens River Gorge, and Yosemite. He's been climbing for over two years, mostly bouldering. He has started to take his experience from Ironworks out to Bishop and the routes at Mickey's Beach.

Shooting with a Canon Rebel XTI and a Nikon D 300, Austin has taken a number of great climbing photos. He took a moment to talk about some of his climbing shots.


Scott Cory on the Buttermilker in Bishop

I have always been interested in photos and have always been the one with the camera but have never taken any formal classes. Up until very recently my photos have simply been for pleasure and for cool documentation. After my trip to New Zealand I was given the opportunity to take some really cool pictures of climbers and amazing landscapes which has helped me to begin taking photography a bit more seriously. Right now its looking like something that I will want to continue with a more "professional" attitude and hopefully produce some cool shots.


Matt Johnson on Center Direct

I try to find angles that never really been shot from. With climbing that can be hard but if you find that angle you can make a simple climb look world class.


Cuz flashing Fight Club 5.13b at Owen's River Gorge

Don't be afraid to be the guy who is always taking pictures or to tell people to get out of your shot.

You can check out more of Austin's work at his Flickr site.

Labels: Austin Haley, Climbing photography, Matt Johnson

There are numerous belay devices on the market. Grigris, ATCs, the old school Sticht plate and the new school Cinch have all found their way into the Touchstone gym at one point or another. The best way to use the devices sometimes gets muddled through word of mouth and incomplete instruction. Below is a video of the correct way to use a Trango Cinch. Check it out, use the device correctly, and be safe!

Labels: belay devices, belaying, Trango Cinch

Evolve rep and SoCal boulderer, Buck Branson is touring the Bay Area tonight through the 9th of March putting on shoe demos at the Touchstone Climbing Gyms.

From 5-9 Pm at Berkeley Ironworks on March 3, at Mission Cliffs on March 4, and at Pipeworks on the 9th, Buck will be rolling out his baller Sprinter Van and unloading 14 of Evolve's 18 shoes for people to check out. Check out Shoes like the Pontas Lace up. Buck had to get the new van just to fit all the shoes!

Come check out shoes like the Evolve Pontas Laceups:
The Pontas Lace is a sporty outdoor shoe that performs brilliantly at edging. With the added rand rubber around the toe box, it can also be used as a more technical traditional climbing shoe.




"They edge like no other- perfect for Buttermilks bouldering or the techy edges of Yosemite."- Touchstone climber James Lucas

Buck will also have the Defy's, which are available at many of the Touchstone Gyms. These are some of the most comfortable shoes around.



Evolve's best selling men's model just got an upgrade. The Defy VTR appeals to new and advanced climbers alike as a comfortable, great-fitting shoe that performs exceptionally well.

Buck got the new van just to fit all the shoes! Don't miss out on a chance to check out 14 out of 18 of Evolve's full line!

Labels: Buck Branson, Evolve, Shoe Demo

The CrossFit Games are the ultimate test of fitness. It's a grueling two-day competition in which the world's fittest athletes compete in a variety of workouts. What are the workouts? Each year they change, and the details of them are not announced until a couple days before the event. This means that all year long, the athletes are training for a competition whose format is almost completely a mystery.

Sat March 6th at 11AM, CrossFit East Bay presents the second throwdown of the season right here at GWPC!

Since their inception in 2007, the games have grown from, basically, a barbeque where a workout broke out to an international competition attracting tens of thousands of competitors all vying for 100 slots (50 women, 50 men) in the games. This year there are sectionals, regionals and, finally, the games. Here in the bay area, the competition season kicked off February 20 with the first "Throwdown" of the year: CrossFit Oakland's crushing time limited run/thruster/burpee combo. The throwdowns are an opportunity for anyone who desires to get a taste of CF competition, and to help prepare the serious athletes for competition.



The first event, at 11 AM sharp, will be a 6.2K run, from the back gate, around Lake Merritt and back to GWPC, immediately followed by as many rounds as possible of of 4 burpees, 3 chest-to-bar kipping pull-ups and 2 275 pound deadlifts (185 pounds for women). There will be a 40 minute time limit (anyone running any slower than a 10 minute pace will DNF), and faster run times will be rewarded with more time to do rounds. A six-minute pace will give the athlete about 15 minutes to do rounds, a seven-minute pace about 11 minutes, etc. Of course faster athletes may have trouble with the heavy deadlifts, but such is CrossFit.

The second event, at 12:40 sharp, will be a contest between the top five male and female finishers for top honors. It will be as many rounds of possible of the complex: carry a loaded barbell (135 pounds for men, 95 pounds for women) 150 feet, and, without putting it down, perform one deadlift, one hang clean, one thruster, one back squat and one shoulder to overhead press, anyway, anyhow. That is one rep, and more than a momentary pause on the ground for the deadlift constitutes a miss. There will be a 15 minute time limit.



Spectators welcome. Scaling will be available for those who wish to try it (you must be able to do at least 3 pull-ups and 2 185 pound deadlifts, or 135 pounds for women).

Labels: CrossFit, GWPC, Olympic lifting