Rock climbing attracts all manners of people. Artists make a significant contribution to the climbing community. The Touchstone gyms enjoy celebrating the amazing artwork that many locals climbers produce. From the great photography of Dan Mottaz at Mission Cliffs to the artistic work of Andreina Davila at Ironworks, amazing art work hangs on the walls […]
Want to learn how to establish your own anchors? Need some help on climbing safely on your own? Berkeley Ironworks is offering a new clinic, Anchors 101 with Chris Ahlgren. Chris learned to climb at a young age. His father, a Yosemite climber in the 70s, taught him how to build anchors from a […]
Today, CRAGS (Climbing Resource Advocates for Greater Sacramento) and the Access Fund negotiated an agreement with California’s Auburn State Recreation Area to lift a 9-year ban on rock climbing at the Cave Valley Climbing Area, the Auburn Quarry. While the agreement must still be approved by the California Department of Parks and Recreation, CRAGS and […]
Proper technique in climbing will help you scale the hardest rock faces. There are a few Golden Rules of Rock climbing. The first, keeping your arms straight, will help you conserve immense amounts of energy. Bent arms deplete strength quickly while straight arms and hanging on your skeleton will help conserve your energy. […]
The Touchstone Rope Series comps are in full force. On Friday, August 10th from 5 until 10 pm, TRS is coming to Diablo Rock Gym. In anticipation of the comps, the Touchstone blog talked with Trevor Pettigrew, the 28 year old owner operator of Pettigrew Electric. Pettigrew has climbed at all the comps to […]
Eying his opponent from across the nine foot long table, Scott crouched and spun his paddle. The small white ball volleyed towards him. Scott blasted sideways. His paddle smashed the ball. The hit gave the ball topspin and accelerated it towards his opponent in a finalizing blow. Frye’s Coach Xin, 9 year old national champion […]
Setting up as the belayer is one of the most important aspects of the climbing partnership. Belaying well involves more than just holding the rope for your partner. Using an ATC or GriGri requires a significant amount of attention to the activity of the climber. It’s important to pull in and feed out rope at […]
Ahab, The Steck Salathe, The Harding Slot, Generator Crack, there are hundreds of wide pitches in Yosemite. From the single difficult pitch Twilight Zone to the sustained 5 inch cracks of long route Mental Block, climbing in the Valley requires a specific set of skills involving off widths. Learning these techniques is far from easy. Arm bars, t-stacks, […]
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be working with Walltopia to build our newest gym in San Francisco, Dogpatch Boulders, built by the Bulgarian wall manufacturing company. With over 1.7 million square feet of climbing walls built since 1996, Walltopia has led the industry in climbing wall manufacturing. Stone Gardens in Seattle, Momentum in Salt Lake […]
On Friday, August 17th, the Bay Area Grip Challenge will be heading to Diablo Rock Gym for another round of tests of grip strength. One of the most active members in the Touchstone grip strength community, Daniel Reinard is known for his vast hand strength. He recently put together a video about one of the […]
