Excitement in Southern California is building as the grand opening Touchstone’s newest gym, the LA.B approaches. The Los Angeles gym features 13,000 square feet of climbing terrain and is modeled after Dogpatch Boulders in San Francisco. The gym will offer two designated areas for fitness. The cardio area will house treadmills and exercise equipment […]
Amanda, a native Californian and former Berkeley Ironworks desk staffer, recently moved to London to pursue a graduate degree at the London School of Economics. She submitted this report to the Touchstone Blog to share a bit about what the transition has been like for her. Something very alarming happened to me today. I’ve tried to […]
Remy Orvis, a front desk staffer from The Studio, will be participating in an awesome event in Downtown San Jose. She submitted this report to the Touchstone Blog. It’s a powerless feeling to know someone with a real addiction and not be able to get through to them. It’s even worse to watch them slowly […]
CrossFit V16, Great Western Power Company’s new CrossFit affiliate, is in full swing at the Oakland gym. For the past three weeks, Oakland gym program manager, Rafael “Raf” Vega has been working as the new program manager, developing and creating the work-outs that the instructors are teaching from. To celebrate the new affiliate, there will […]
Recently, GWPC manager Jeremy Yee headed to one of the world’s best bouldering destinations with a crew of Touchstone members and employees. Located on the East side of the Sierra, Bishop hosts an amazing collection of granite and volcanic bouldering. Photo by Darrel Cheung Yee’s first trip to the bouldering mecca occurred almost exactly two […]
Every climber has a Project; a route or boulder problem that exposes your weaknesses and shuts you down. For Diane Ortega, the manager of The Studio in San Jose, that project is the Buttermilk Stem in Bishop, California. The problem is graced with slopey holds, requires tons of flexibility, and has sharp rock that bites […]
Nothing in climbing is more important than belaying. Belayer’s hold their partner’s life. While many people are cavalier about belaying, it’s an essential to pay attention and belay properly. They are significant differences in belaying a sport route, a long traditional climb, or an aid climb. The single most important tenet of belaying is to […]
The Salathe Headwall on El Capitan, the North Six Shorter in Indian Creek, and Dog Leg in Joshua Tree are all beautiful routes. These obvious cracks are some of the most enticing lines in climbing. Crack climbing is beautiful but it also hurts. Anyone who has stuffed their hand into a parallel splitter has […]
The short days of fall are here and many climbers are still chomping at the bit to climb big Yosemite routes Whether maximizing the number of pitches at the crag or moving quickly over a long trad route, the key to fast climbing is efficency. Diablo Rock Gym manager and author of Climb On! Skills […]
If you’ve been to Mission Cliffs recently and admired the photographs adorning the walls, you’ll be happy to know that they are the handy work of our very own member Tim Guffin! His work is also on the cover of Rock&Ive magazine! We caught up with Tim to find out a bit more about his […]
