Some people believe there's not much to do in the Central Valley but Socrates Lozano and Joey Ybarra started a YouTube channel to prove people wrong. Recently they headed over to MetalMark in Fresno to show some of the excitement going on in the Central Valley.
“We’re trying to show people what there is in the Valley and see if we can do it,” Ybarra said. “Our goal with this is to have a great time, make videos and show people that life in the Valley isn’t as bad as some people say it is.”
Rockfall is a serious hazard to rock climbing. On April 3rd and the 4th, a serious amount of rock fell at Yosemite's Churchbowl climbing area. The granite fell from an area above Bishop's Terrace and hit the second pitch of the climb, the short section that climbs to Bishop's Balcony. The rappel for the route was also hit. A large amount of debris fell to the west of the base of Bishop's Terrace.
Greg Stock, a Yosemite National Park geologist, commented about the hazard. "Although I'm not able to predict future behavior, I have seen cleaner source areas than this one. Future rockfalls are possible."
This winter Touchstone athlete, Ethan Pringle crushed the boulders of the Buttermilks. He made a fast ascent of the Swarm (v13) and a number of other amazing problems. Pringle captured some of his sends on tape and filmed other climbers sending classics like Stained Glass (v10), and Secrets of the Beehive (v5/5.12-). Check out his cool video.
Thousands of red, green, yellow, and blue holds cover the walls of the Touchstone gyms. But where do all the holds come from?The easy answer is from right next to Sacramento Pipeworks, in a white corrugated steel building next to Garlinger Steel.More specifically, Stone Age provides Touchstone with all of its holds.Wes Tite, a climber of 20 years, runs Stone Age and creates all the holds himself.Tite has worked as a climbing guide, a route setter, and a coal miner.For the past 20 years, he has traveled around the world climbing and looking for inspiration to create the best grips for the Touchstone climbing walls.
Evan Kristiansen snapped a couple of pictures of Wes at work.
Tite began working for Touchstone in 2009, beginning as a route setter.As the gyms grew, there became a need for a full time supplier of gym holds.Tite’s experience in an industrial work environment made him an ideal candidate for running Stone Age climbing holds.Tite makes around 1000 holds a month for the Touchstone gyms.This past year has been a busy year for him with the openings of MetalMark and the San Jose gyms as they both needed a ton of new holds.
Recently, long time Touchstone Member Lisa Feather Knee climbed her first 5.12a at the Berkeley Ironworks lead cave. Knee, who hails from Santa Fe, New Mexico, works as an artist painting large colorful oils and making serigraphs with acrylic paint. The Touchstone blog got a hold of the rock crushing artist shortly after he send. Knee began climbing 12 years ago when a friend took her out to a local crag. “All was going well until the point when I realized I would have to let go and trust the rope to get me back on ground. That's when the screaming started. After that I was hooked.” Knee started a membership at Mission Cliffs shortly afterwards.
Nothing tastes as good as sending feels. If Kate Moss was a climber, I’m sure that would be her mantra. Many sport climbers follow this mantra living off a diet of brocoli crowns and Diet Coke while many hard core aid climbers live off of a six pack of King Cobra and potato chips. So what’s the best diet for a climber? Fortunately, it’s neither starving yourself nor non-stop gorging.
Proper climbing nutrition starts with eating a balanced and appropriate diet with a focus on healthy nutrition. A basic climbing diet should consistent of plenty of fresh vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, and unprocessed foods, plus a limited amount of refined sugar and unhealthy fats. The most important part of a solid climbing diet is to be knowledgeable about what you’re putting into your body.
Even superstar boulderers like Fred Nicole have to balance out their diets. Behind the bread and wine is ton of fresh veggies, lean meat, and other good food.
Several hours before heading out to the crag or to the boulders, it’s important to give your body plenty of fuel to start with and then help it sustain that level of energy throughout the day. Plan on eating small amounts of food throughout your climbing session to help sustain your energy and performance.
Three Pitfalls to Avoid
Extreme weight loss: While strength to weight is a crucial part of rock climbing, losing a ton of weight or starving your muscles will decrease your long term performance and increase the likelihood for injury and exhaustion. Dehydration: Athletes lose a huge amount of performance potential while dehydrated. Make sure you drink regularly. Replace the electrolytes in your body and stay well hydrated.
Bonking: Bonking is what happens when a climber’s blood sugar drops during long term exercise. The phenomenon occurs often on long wall routes or long trad climbs. Suddenly, you just can’t move. Avoid bonking by eating frequently and regularly through your workout.
There’s a number of different ideas about maximum performance. Some climbers caffeinate their bodies for long term endurance, others prefer a vegan diet, and still others adhere to the paleo diet. Stay informed about your health. Eat well and climb better. Check out the great bars, foods, and protein drinks that each Touchstone gym has to offer.
2 eggs cooked in a little coconut oil 4 oz salmon or turkey sausage 1 cup veggies (broccoli, greens, peppers, whatever we have) 1/4 avocado small piece of fruit lots o’ water 4 g L-glutamine (it helps sugar cravings, recovery and gut health and I love it)
Snack If I get hungry for a snack, which I usually do, it’s about 2 hours after breakfast after I’ve done about 3 climbs.
1 oz pemmican or about 2 oz jerky and a handful of berries
Lunch As Mark Sisson likes to call it, a Big Ass Salad. Even though we’re camping, we have a giant, fully stocked cooler at our disposal all day, so I bring plenty of veggies. Spinach, kale, cabbage, cucumbers, squash or zucchini, sliced turkey or ham, lemon juice and avocado.
Or I’ll get lazy and just eat about 5 oz of meat, a bit of avocado and a piece of fruit.
Snack Lately it’s been a banana berry nut paleo muffin made with a mix of coconut flour, almond flour and tapioca flour with a LOT of fruit and nuts mixed in. It’s about 240 calories, 25 g carbs, 14 g fat and 6 g protein. I’ll put the recipe up soon because they’re aMAZing.
Dinner Last weekend this is what we made.
1 lb grass fed ground beef 1 jar marinara 1 green pepper 1/2 yellow squash capers 5 oz mushrooms
