The Yosemite bouldering season is fast approaching. Cool temps are just around the corner. It's time to get amped to crush some of the great new lines put up by Paul Barraza, Randy Puro, Scott Chandler, and the other Bay Area hard men. In this video clip, Randy Puro makes the second ascent of Goldilocks (V9)
A few nights every week at Berkeley Ironworks, a young girl in zebra striped pants crushes the lead cave and in the Wave boulder at the Touchstone gym. "Zebra Girl", Touchstone desk staff's nickname for Kat Gentry, made a big impact recently when she won the Touchstone Rope Series comp.
Imagine competing with the best climbers on a world class climbing wall. The Touchstone rope series comps, which are in their sixth year, are a demonstration of what climbing could be like in the upcoming Olympics. The comps are also an important part in climbing's move towards global recognition.
One of the most important parts of lead climbing is clipping the rope correctly. While this seems simple and straight forward, it is easy to back clip, z-clip, and make mistakes that could jeopardize the climbers safety. In this video, Chris Linder shows the proper way to clip a rope. While Linder's video shows the details in a sport climbing aspect, the same rules apply when traditional climbing.
The Touchstone gyms have a lot of pysched members, climbers who climb non-stop. Christina Freschl, a 29 year old Berkeley resident, climbs non-stop. Freschl teaches at Hillcrest, an Oakland public school. "This year I have 21 3rd graders who are excited to read stories and learn about thousands of places." Between her work weeks and after classes Freschl climbs often. Actually, Freschl doesn't climb often, she climbs a lot. Just a week after placing second in the Touchstone Rope Series, Freschl started heading up the Nose of El Capitan. Freschl crushes in the gym and in all aspects of climbing outside.
The California Bay Area has an immense amount of amazing climbing. Finding all of it can prove difficult as the climbing, though great, is fairly spread out. Thankfully there's a new guide to help with that.
Local climber, photographer, and guidebook author Jim Thornburg just released the 7th edition of Bay Area Rock. The 328 page guide book features amazing photographs of the climbing from Mickey's Beach, Castle Rock, and Mount Diablo.
Beside having excellent pictures that make the crags look irresistible, Thornburg included a number of new areas including Kimball Canyon, Table Rock (St helena) Black Sand Beach, Columbia Boulders, Jailhouse, Mt Tam Boulders, Cliff House Boulders, Aquarian Valley and The Rocklin Quarry Boulders.
The guide offers great directions in a user friendly format. Thornburg included solid information about all the types of climbing in the bay, the bouldering areas, trad zones, and sport routes. The directions make it simple to find any of the routes.
Thornburg began climbing in the bay area in 1980 and has established first ascents at Mickey's Beach, Mount Diablo, Dry Creek, and the Nut Tree Boulders. Beyond his significant route development, Thornburg also makes significant contributions to rebolting climbing areas. This year he replaced many of the sea worn bolts at the coastal climbing areas with SS glue ins.
Stop by your local Touchstone gym and grab a copy of the new Bay Area Rock from Potlicker Press.
