Blog
Father/Son Duo Tours 11 Touchstone Climbing Gyms
Talk about Father-Son bonding… This spring Robert and Michael Ryan visited each Touchstone Climbing Gym as part of the Berkeley Ironworks Challenge! Robert has been climbing for 43 years, picking it up along the Potomac River George near Washington DC when he was 40 years old. “Maybe it was a mid-life crisis,” he said with a…
Touchstone Brewing Company Coming to Sacramento
We’re excited to announce that we have begun work on Touchstone Brewing Company, a microbrewery in Sacramento, California. The brewery will be next to Sacramento Pipeworks, and will include a taproom on-site to give our members and guests a place to hang out after a good climbing session or work out. “We’ve been talking about…
Trip Report: The Dreamers
Below the southern reaches of Crowley Lake, between Highway 395 and the northernmost portion of the Owen’s River Gorge, a series of well-kept forest service roads lead into the remarkable landscape of the Sherwin Plateau. Almost all of the profoundly featured volcanic rock on the plateau appears to be climbable, and much of it has…
New Logo for Sacramento Pipeworks
We’re pleased to announce that Pipeworks, our gym in Sacramento, is the proud recipient of a new logo! We worked with long time Touchstone Climbing members Mark and Angie of Design Is Play to develop a new identity for Pipeworks. Previous projects with them have included Dogpatch Boulders, Mission Cliffs, MetalMark Climbing and The Studio. “We…
Ethan Pringle on Meadowlark Lemon (V14)
Touchstone Athlete Ethan Pringle warms up to take down Gateway Canyon test piece Meadowlark Lemon, (V14) and try his luck on the über proj, The Nest (v15) in First Creek Canyon. Check out the full video on Epic TV. Video by Tara Reynvaan [efsbutton style=”” size=”” color_class=”” align=”left” type=”link” target=”false” title=”Watch Video” link=”https://www.epictv.com/media/podcast/ethan-pringle-sheds-blood-and-sweat-in-red-rocks-nevada-send/604754″]
Gearing up for TCS 2016 at The Studio Climbing
The great thing about having 11 gym siblings, (and we’re expecting!) is that there is ALWAYS something going on in the Touchstone Climbing family. Next week it’s The Studio‘s turn to host a party, and we can’t wait! The Touchstone Climbing Series, or #TSC206 if you speak hashtag, is wrapping up with one last ropes…
Kickstart Your Climbing in our New 4-Week Clinic
So you’ve been climbing for a while… You’re in the gym a couple of times a week. You’ve managed to wrangle a handful of reliable climbing partners. You’ve downsized your shoes, and a photo of you crushing your project has become your profile pic. Everything is going great.. and then suddenly you hit… a plateau.…
Bouldering in the Land of Fear and Loathing
“I’m a man of constant progress. My life only moves forward, never in reverse. Oh, wait…” I thought as I struggled to back up my mini-van in the Las Vegas parking lot, “that’s just my broken transmission.” The taciturn mechanic needed a week and all my money to make the repairs, so with a bit of…
Training for TCS 2016 with Nick Bradley
With the time management struggles of starting college, I found it too difficult to go through with national-level youth and adult competitions. However, I’ve always loved competition and the rigorous training required to push myself to perform the best that I can, which is where the Touchstone Climbing Series comes into play. TCS2016 is a…
One Step at a Time: Clean Up Day at Nosos
We’ve got this beautiful boulder field that we want to get around. More people will come. Maybe 5, maybe 10…maybe more. As we found out from Ty Tyler’s visit, we can’t build trails on National Forest Service land, but we don’t want future climbers to get lost and have to bushwhack, creating more impact and…
Zen and the Art of Letting Go of Your Project
I wrapped my left thumb and index finger around the razor-sharp, Buttermilk gaston and pulled up onto my right foot. Nope. That’s not the move. With a thud, I’m back on the pad. Cursing, I notice an aching pain in my left index finger. Split…. Badly. My first day in the high desert is off…
Member Profile: Stephanie Goodner
Some of the best parts of these interviews include specific insights and peeks inside someone’s the true personality. Today, when I asked our next Member of the Month for some photos that I could include in the interview, I received this response: ‘I have had some difficulty finding pictures, but am going to send you…