Each one of our Touchstone Athletes embodies our core values, including a commitment to stewardship, community camaraderie, and pushing their limits—and Canaan Vallejos, former Dogpatch Boulders desk staff and our first ever running athlete, has all of that in spades. We sat down with him in this interview to get to know more about his […]
By Ethan Pringle. 2014: The Quest for the Nest The Nest is tucked deep in First Creek Canyon, in Red Rock, NV, about an hour hike west of HWY 159. Local developers Kenny Barker and Andy Rather, who were searching for FAs in the canyon in the winter of 2013/14, discovered the line and […]
Two days ago, Touchstone Athlete Ethan Pringle made the first free ascent of Blackbeard’s Tears, a 5.14c crack on the Northern California Coast that is as gorgeous as it is difficult. Previously only climbed using a mixture of trad climbing and aid gear, Ethan’s send makes Blackbeard’s Tears the second 5.14c traditionally-protected crack in the world, […]
“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 […]
To Pro·ject a route: \tə prä-ˌjektˈā rau̇t\ verb To try a route over and over and over and over and over and over and over, with the goal of completing the route without falling. See Redpointing. We’ve all projected a route and gone through the emotional ups and downs of failure. In this video, Touchstone athlete Ethan […]
Touchstone Climbing athlete Ethan Pringle isn’t just a one-trick pony. When he’s not crushing jumbo-something, he’s giving sage advice on a wide array of subjects. Got relationship woes? Want to learn if that thing you did at the crag is a total faux pas? Juuuuuust Ask Ethan! [Ask Ethan jingle still in development] […]
May 17th, 2015- Ethan Pringle flew ninety feet past North America’s hardest route Jumbo Love (5.15b). After completing the second ascent of the Chris Sharma test piece, Pringle took an enormous victory jump at the Third Tier at Clark Mountain, California. The nearly 29 year old Pringle began working the route in 2007 with Chris […]
“The first step is realizing that it’s possible,” Ethan Pringle advised me. While climbing in Siurana, a crimpy limestone area in Catalonia, Spain, I wanted to onsight 7b+ (5.12c). I’d managed to tick off a number of 7a+ (.5.12a) routes and had built a solid base. The past few days, I’d been trying more 7bs […]
“This is so exciting,” Randy Puro said. A half dozen climbers threw themselves at an undone boulder problem near the Merced River. They could barely get off the ground until someone discovered a match and wild hamhock maneuver. They climbed higher until a hold broke. They stayed with it despite the setback. They all wanted […]
It’s summertime in Berkeley. I sit in the hot living room of my friend’s apartment, the overhead fan creates a weak breeze. We are watching Reel Rock 7, I’m missing Bishop like crazy and getting inspired and terrified by Alex Honnold’s first ascent of Too Big To Flail: a micro-crimpy, foot-work intensive highball in the Buttermilks. I […]
