The Studio, Touchstone’s newest gym in San Jose, just announced that Diane Ortega will be managing the facility. The 30 year old Ortega is originally from Texas but transplanted to California when she attended Chico State, where she received a degree in Political Science. “Originally I wanted to be a lawyer but then reconsidered […]
Wellspring Academy Heads to MetalMark Climbing is a great way to get into shape and have fun. With movement that requires strong muscles from fingers, back, to calves, rock climbing provides the exercise needed to lose weight and tone your body. Recently, MetalMark had a group of students from Wellspring Academies, a weight loss boarding schools […]
Cal Prep Heads to Ironworks On October 12th, fifteen students from Cal Prep headed to Berkeley Ironworks to check out the climbing gym. The students were completely new to rock climbing but the Ironworks staff helped the kids climb for the first time. “The instructors were incredibly conscientious, patient, enthusiastic and skilled, which made the […]
Last Week, Trooper Johnson, the Youth Sports Program Coordinator, and a half dozen kids from BORP, the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, headed over to Berkeley Ironworks. BORP is the leading provider and promoter of accessible sports and recreation opportunities for children and adults with physical disabilities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. […]
Help Rebuild the Needles Outlook On July 28, 2011, the famous fire lookout at The Needles in Sequoia National Forest was destroyed by fire. Margee Kelly, the USFS Forestry Technician who has made the tower her residence for more than twenty summers, baking cookies for thousands of Needle’s climbers, escaped safely, but the lookout is […]
Zero Gravity, the international known youth climbing team has been led by Scot Jenerik at the Touchstone climbing gyms for the past decade. Jenerik’s excellent coaching has been augmented by a number of great team members and assistant coaches. Currently, Zero Gravity had three assistant coaches. Josh Levin, a climber for the past 13 […]
This May Great Western Power Company will be adding several new classes to the already stacked yoga and program studio upstairs. Stop by for Yoga with Craig and Prachi, check out the Latin grooves of the Zumba class with Diana, or work your core to the utter end with Avram. A strong core is great […]
Last week, while in Salt Lake City, I stopped by the Black Diamond headquarters. Bill Belcourt, the climbing hard goods manager gave me a tour of the factory. We stopped by the quality assurance department, where 10% of all Black Diamond equipment ends up. The QA guys spend most of their days breaking cams, carabiners, […]
This May Great Western Power Company will be adding several new classes to the already stacked yoga and program studio upstairs. Stop by for Yoga with Craig and Prachi, check out the Latin grooves of the Zumba class with Diana, or work your core to the utter end with Avram. A strong core is great […]
As part of the climbing wall build for MetalMark in Fresno, Touchstone wanted to create our first adjustable crack. To do this, Touchstone needed a solution for the movement of a set of interior wall pieces within a larger cutout of the walls. We observed the idea at Planet Granite in San Francisco, and whether […]
