All it takes is one look at the Team Touchstone Training Center to know that it’s special. It isn’t just a smaller, boutique-style climbing gym—it’s a Touchstone facility whose entire focus is honing our Team athletes for anything the competitive climbing world could throw at them. Zach Wright, Team Touchstone‘s Director and Head Coach, […]
We’re taking training to the next level with our first Team Touchstone training facility, located across the street from Berkeley Ironworks! This new facility will be geared towards helping our Team kids reach their climbing goals and preparing them for anything competitive climbing could throw their way. The Bay Area Teams will be training here […]
By Zach Wright, Director + Head Coach of Team Touchstone. Header photo by Jason Chang. Team Touchstone just returned from Philadelphia, where 7 of our team climbers competed at the USA Climbing Sport & Speed National Championships. It was a wonderful experience full of fun and challenges, and we want to give you a rundown […]
By Zach Wright, Director + Head Coach of Team Touchstone Bouldering Championship Season For Californians, winter is unequivocally the good climbing season. Bishop and Yosemite are crisp and sticky (when the boulders aren’t buried under snow) and our collective stoke can be summed up in a single word: temps. That is to say, with […]
Each year, young climbers from around the country compete in the USA Climbing competitive youth circuit, which features both a bouldering season (September–February) and a sport/speed season (March–July). Each season culminates in a National Championship where the top climbers in the U.S. gather to test their climbing at the highest level of competition in […]
It’s always a pleasure seeing our student athletes getting a chance to share their love of climbing. Samantha Fanger of the local school newspaper The Piedmont Highlander recently featured two of our intermediate team athletes from Berkeley Ironworks, Faith Zirkelbach-Ngai and Aviv Ratinski. “You’re only really competing against yourself,” Ratinski said. “There’s no having to […]
By Zach Wright, Director and Head Coach of Team Touchstone Stepping out of the airport in Atlanta, the heat and humidity hits you like a punch in the face. As you walk outside, there’s a grace period of approximately 0.7 seconds during which you think, “Oh, it’s not that bad,” before you realize that yes, […]
You’ve seen the Team Touchstone competitive team training in our gyms getting ready for their next big comp, and now you can get a behind-the-scenes look at their training and the philosophy behind our team program! We’re so proud of all the amazing young climbers who call our gyms home, and we can’t wait to […]
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 […]
The USAC Bouldering Divisional Championships took place earlier this month at the BaseCamp climbing gym in Reno, NV. After qualifying for the event at the Regional Championships, 19 Team Touchstone climbers from Northern and Southern California convened in Reno for a shot at competing at the national level. The two-day Divisional Championship took hundreds of […]
