From the quaint Eastern Sierra townships of the Owens Valley, Highway 168 slowly rises westward from the subdivisions and shops of Bishop to the formidable crest of the High Sierra. Best known as “the road to the Buttermilks,” in the busy winter months the vast majority of its users will speed halfway up the highway’s […]
Fontainebleau has been on my radar ever since I first saw a video of the magical sandstone forest about four years ago. After climbing for a few years and becoming more involved in the community, I had heard countless stories of how this place is truly something special. I knew I had to experience it […]
Each winter season hundreds of climbers speed through the sleepy Eastern Sierra town of Lone Pine, continuing north on Highway 395 to the popular bouldering destinations outside of Bishop, California. The boulders of Bishop are world-class, and their position in the warm desert climate makes them perfectly suited to winter excursions. Yet the climbing options […]
“Spain is wonderful! Nate and I have become the most active winos we know,” I said, slurring slightly, to our new Australian friend Matt. While I was half-joking at the time that this would be the first line of the impending Touchstone Blog article, I knew that half-joking statements sometimes wind up being entirely serious […]
Toeing the line of the Central Sierra’s Emigrant Wilderness at a wind-sucking elevation of 8,500 feet, the colorful granite buttresses of Burst Rock have been a favorite early autumn climbing destination for Sonora Pass locals since the 1990s. The routes on the intimidating North Face of Burst Rock mainly consist of elegant, tall crack climbs […]
Touchstone is full of adventurous members and staff alike who like to get down with rocks in rad places. Today, Remi Moehring, manager of Cliffs of Id, gives us a taste of her adventures in Thailand and some advice for those of you looking to visit this South Asian climbing paradise. A couple weeks ago, […]
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, […]
California’s Highway 108 winds steadily through the Stanislaus National Forest until it ascends steeply to the 9,623-foot summit of Sonora Pass. Just below the steepest part, charming log cabins sit at the edge of a surreal sub-alpine meadow that makes up the small town of Dardanelle. Here, the banks of the Middle Fork Stanislaus River […]
In 1986 Matthias Holladay parked in a paved parking lot on California’s Highway 101 in Del Norte County just shy of Crescent City and the Oregon boarder. Holladay set off across the beach, crossing Wilson Creek, marching towards a distant outcropping of sandstone cliffs abutting the Pacific Ocean. That day Holladay discovered the Promontory; a […]
The plan was to drive to the Valley Thursday night, climb Friday through Sunday, and come down Monday. Casey and I had decided six months ago to attempt Freerider this year. We wrote up a training outline, picked some routes to do in preparation, and got down to work. Preparation For a bit things went […]
