June is one of our favorite months of the year, because it’s PRIDE MONTH! We love taking this time to celebrate our beautiful, diverse community and to honor the lives of those who made this month possible. This year, we are celebrating with new Pride stickers and Pride shirts, 100% of the proceeds of […]
Climbers often insist that, in addition to being a great workout and a fun way to interact with the outdoors, rock climbing is a creative activity. Boulder problems are puzzles to be solved using your body, oftentimes in configurations that are pretty specific to your strengths and dimensions. It’s no wonder then that students from […]
By Ting Chin. No seriously, we totally do! And not just with Jordan’s random, prolonged hugs to strangers and Dan’s sporadic calls of encouragement to struggling climbers from the desk. Not just with treating our employees and members with respect and compassion and rising to the daily toil of folding many dozens of towels in […]
We are well past the holiday hangovers and into our #NewYearNewYou resolutions, but we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the incredible things that happened in the Touchstone community in 2017. We use the word “community” a lot because it fully encompasses the things we care about most—the people and places that are […]
By Eric Nakano. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up at Castle Rock State Park with a group of young climbers from the Recreational Team at Dogpatch Boulders. This was the first time any of the climbers or parents had been on an outdoor bouldering outing, and I believe everyone in […]
We love being a place where our community can come together and learn something new! Our member Rich Tornai recently brought in some of the brightest young minds in Contra Costa County to Diablo Rock Gym to have them try their hands at our favorite sport. Rich was also kind enough to tell us a […]
The notion of community is rather nuanced. For most of us, we tend to think of our community as the people and places in close proximity to where we live and work. Another type of community might include friends and family, or others within our regular social circles. But Avram Pearlman and Marie Schwindler, […]
Aim High is a free summer learning and enrichment program in Northern California who believe that all students deserve the chance to succeed. They work with middle school students in high-need communities who have limited options and have a multi-year program that includes academic and enrichment opportunities to prepare students for the transition to high […]
At Touchstone Climbing we believe that climbing is for EVERYONE. We’re stoked to offer an adaptive program at Berkeley Ironworks in collaboration with Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program. If you know anyone with an impairment who has always wanted to try climbing but wasn’t sure if they could, send them our way! If you’re […]
Climbing has a long tradition of mentorship. Many climbers can trace back their first time climbing back to a friend who showed them the ropes (figuratively and literally). We know how powerful that kind of relationship can be, so we really get Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the oldest and largest mentoring program in the […]
