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Diablo Rock Gym has rearranged a number of their classes to give Touchstone members a greater opportunity to work out.

Beginning April 12th, there will be new group exercise classes including a couple of more Zumba classes, an early morning cycling/core class at 6:00 am, and some boot camp classes.

The 6am, Monday and Wednesday class will be a combination of indoor cycling and core work- outs- abs and strength training. Having a strong core is an integral part of moving well, not only on the rock- where it will help keep you tight to the wall, but also in daily use. It helps correct posture, and will make you feel more solid.



Come down to Diablo early on Monday morning and kick it into high gear!

Labels: Core Class, Diablo Rock Gym

This weekend, eight Touchstone Runners showed up to participate in the Oakland Running Festival races, which included a 5k, Half Marathon and Marathon. And what a successful showing they made of it. Here are some of the results:

Pat Ross–Yes, our bike racer extraordinaire is no one trick pony! Pat ran the Twilight 5K on Saturday. Not only did she finish first in her division (by a country mile), she finished in fourth place among all women, practically the only grown-up keeping pace with the kids!

Carol Baker–After winning her division in the Mt. Diable Half Marathon Trail race last weekend, Carol ran a stunning road reprise to take second place in her division in the Half Marathon yesterday.

Susan Abrahamson–She was our other Half Marathon runner who after a month of being sick and unable to fully train, beat her previous best time yesterday!

Tom Harrington–Tom ran his first marathon ever yesterday and finished 183rd out of 900+ finishers. Wendy ran the first half with him including the difficult and challenging miles through the Montclair Hills and reports he looks like someone whose been racing his entire life.

Laura Walpert–Laura was the second of four first time marathon runners. In a large and competitive division, Laura grabbed a top twenty spot by placing 19th!

Nicole Churchill–Nicole, having recently turned 30, set a goal of running her first marathon in sub-4 hours. Not only did she succeed, she placed 10th in her division.

Phil Yip–Phil suffered the most of all the TRs, but finished his race, joined the ranks of marathon runners and proved himself to be the bravest of us out on the course. It’s one thing to persevere when you’re feeling good. It’s quite another to run on guts and determination. Way to go, Phil!

Wendy Georges and Troy “Punk” Windsor–Another day at the office and they’re still loving it all! "Oh yeah, and by the way, Wendy placed in the top 20 for women and won her division by 14 minutes."- Susan Abrhamson

Many thanks to El Presidente, Marc Trotz, Deborah Georges, Whitney Lee and Judy Martin “Doc” for their first rate support. Berkeley Ironworks rocks!

It was a fantastic day out there and it was great to see all of our Touchstone Runners ripping up the pavement. Susan already set the record straight on Wendy and as for Troy, well, it was a very good day at the office for him, finishing 21st in an extremely competitive age group.

Touchstone Running Club is on the move! Anyone out there who wants to jump on, drop me an email at marctrotz@gmail.com- Marc Trotz

To check out the original blog post see the Spinner Blast blog page.
http://spinnerblast.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/touchstone-runners-show-up-for-oakland-running-festival/

Labels: SpinnerBlast, Touchstone Running

The San Francisco Chronicle profiled Cynthia Eastman in an article about Bay area athletes. She and her brothers, Mike, Chris and Kevin can be found at GWPC on Tuesday and Thursdays at 4pm like clockwork. The article appears on E4 of the SF Chronicle. Check it out a little excerpt-


Every Sunday morning, corporate librarian Cynthia Eastman attends her church of the climbing wall at Berkeley Ironworks. Eastman, who is 52 and lives in Oakland, makes sure her two older brothers attend as well.

Why: I love when all the pieces come together and you flash a hard route. With indoor walls, you can do it year-round and you don't need a lot of expensive gear.

Greatest accomplishment: Sticking with climbing while undergoing radiation treatment for cancer two years ago. The worst side effect was that the palms of my hands got thick and smooth, which is unnerving when you're trying to hold onto stuff.

Gear you can't live without: Evolv Defy climbing shoes. Evolv has the best fit for my narrow heels and high arches.

Where you train: Berkeley Ironworks on Sundays and Great Western Power Company on Thursdays after work. With two different places, you have more routes to climb.


Read more of the article

Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, Cynthia Eastman, librarian

Melissa Michelitsch came into rock climbing over ten years ago with a strong background in dance and ballet. In between teaching classes in Oakland, she makes trips to Yosemite, Indian Creek, Red Rocks, and anywhere there are long classic crack climbs. She's been climbing in Yosemite since she started, making ascents of El Capitan's The Nose in a single day as well as Never Never Land, Zodiac, and a myriad of other Yosemite Big Wall Climbs. She's also climbed wall routes in Zion National Park, hiking up some of the best desert big wall cracks in the world.


Melissa on Slice N' Dice in Indian Creek

The big wall veteran, the Wallress, Melissa took some time to answer a few questions about big wall climbing for the Touchstone Blog.


How did you get into wall climbing?

I lacked skill but had lots of zeal and endurance. I (wrongly) reasoned that climbing walls would be like doing other climbs that I’d done…just doing them for a long time. I talked a friend with legitimate skills and experience into doing Lurking Fear with me. He must have thought I was cute or something because anyone with his level of experience would have realized that I had no place on any end of the rope on El Cap yet. I led two pitches and jugged the rest, slowly and ineptly, fearing for my life. My lousy start left me with something to prove to myself, so I tried to come back with a few more skills the next season.


What do you enjoy about being up on the wall?

The act of being on a wall really isn’t that fun for me. I like the anticipation and strategizing before hand and the sense of accomplishment when I’m done.


Do you ever get scared being so high off the ground?

I’m not afraid of heights. The exposure down low vs. up high feels about the same to me, and mostly I only see the rock in front of my face anyway. (Looking down is an activity for long belays.) Heights might be the only thing that doesn’t scare me.

Often the things that scare me the most are phantom fears…Fears of things that are very unlikely to happen or, for some of them, that wouldn’t actually be that big of a deal if they did happen: fear of getting trapped in a storm, of being too uncomfortable for too long and just dying from it, fear that good gear will rip, fear the my partner will get hurt on a lead that I shirked, fear that my rope will cut or my jugs will fall off when I’m jugging.


Melissa waking up on Never Never Land on Yosemite's El Capitan

What was it like climbing the Zodiac?

I climbed Zodiac w/ my bff, Kate, 6 years ago. Kate had never climbed El Cap before but had led more aid pitches than I had. I’d been up El Cap a couple of times but had always had a much more experienced partner to pick up my ample slack. We had plenty of bugs in our systems, but on the whole it worked out quite well considering that we were as green as grass. When my interest in taking the next step in what up till that point had been a progression of more challenging routes never materialized following our climb, I realized that I wasn’t really on a path towards harder aid routes any more. Kate had a very different epiphany. She went on to aid pitches as hard or harder than any woman before her.

What's your favorite part of wall climbing?

A wall can end up eating up a whole month of your life…Planning, packing, humping loads to the base, resting, fixing, climbing, resting again, carrying loads down from the summit, being in la-la land daydreaming about what you just did, etc. When you’re not into it, it starts to feel like a big time waster. When the project is exciting, it’s fun to give yourself over so fully to one absurd goal.

What do you do to prepare for a big wall climb?

Spend a little or a lot of time gazing at the topo and convincing self that the nice line must be hand jams. Negotiate the rack w/ a partner, always too much and never enough. Buy necessary food and beverage. Spend $200 at REI on who-the-hell knows what. Meet up w/ my partner at the designated time and place. Decide that we need to either bring an extra bag or leave some stuff behind. Choose to climb forth or bail.

What's the best way to start wall climbing?

I don’t think there’s a best way. When you climb walls you have to figure out how to deal with situations that you’ve never seen before with the limited tools on hand. Your partner is often out of sight and out of earshot, so you’re on your own. People who are really driven to do walls (as opposed to casually intrigued by the idea) are going to be pretty good add seeking out the learning resources that they need to get started.


Melissa rebolting on Arches Terrace in Yosemite

You don’t have to be a strong free climbing to do many walls, but it doesn’t hurt either. People with years of experience leading long, traditional free climbs usually fare better than their counterparts with less rope and epic management experience on their first walls. I skipped the years of experience part when I started trying to climb walls, and as a result I often spent more time trying than climbing. Anyone seriously driven to stick with it can eventually summit (if they don’t make any grave errors or fall to wanton acts of nature).

Steve Schneider is easily the most well rounded El Cap climber ever. He’s also a member and employee at Touchstone Climbing. He’s an AMGA certified guide and has a clinic planned at Ironworks this spring.

Labels: big wall climbing, Melissa Michelitsch, Yosemite

Great Western Power Company climber and Oakland resident, Becky Trafecanty just returned from an extended spring break. She hit up Moe's Valley with Justin Alacron, and others. She made an awesome video of the climbers cranking on the Utah sandstone.

Check out her blog where she has the awesome climbing video of her climbing in Utah as well as some stuff from Red Rocks and beyond.

Here's a video that Becky made of Justin Alacron cranking out some Utah classics.

Moe's Valley 2010 from Becky Trafecanty on Vimeo.

Labels: Becky Trafecanty, Justin Alacron, Moe's Valley

The sumnmer climbing season is rapidly approaching. The weather in Yosemite is getting good, soon Lover's Leap, Tuoulumne, Calavaras Dome, and other California destination traditional crags will be in awesome condition. One of the best ways to start getting ready for the long tradical climbs, is to brush up on your crack climbing skills. Numerous articles have been written on the subject- one of the best is Pumping Cracks, an article written by Stonemaster and old school Yosemite rock legend Dale Bard.

For those looking for more information on trad climbing- check out some of the lead clinics with Todd Bartlow, a solid trad climber at Berkeley Ironworks. Also stayed tuned for crack climbing clinics with Yosemite master Hans Florine.





For the rest of the article check out Supertopo.

Here's a neat instructional video on hand jamming.

Labels: crack climbing, Dale Bard, Hand jamming

On March 19, 2010, over a hundred and fifty people showed up for the latest Touchstone Rope Series comp. Noted Yosemite Speedster, Hans Florine stopped by to compete as did Touchstone's own, Mark Melvin.



Berkeley Staff member Ellis Au snapped photos of the comp and did a little write up of his experience photographing the comp. Check out his blog, and his photo gallery of the event.



Get ready for the next of the Touchstone Rope Series coming to Berkeley Ironworks!

Labels: Ellis Au, Sacramento Pipeworks, Touchstone Roped Series

Legendary Yosemite climbing pioneer, Royal Robbins will be coming to the Bay area March 29 and April 27. Robbins will be discussing the first in his autobiographical series: To Be Brave.


Below is a description of the event, which will be an exciting opportunity to hear one of the world's greatest climbers to speak:

CLIMBING LEGEND ROYAL ROBBINS RAPPELS INTO BAY AREA REI

At 75, Robbins Recounts His Life of Daring Adventure

San Francisco, CA – February 19, 2010 – At age 75, Royal Robbins, one of America’s most leading climbing figures of the Golden Age of Yosemite Climbing, still inspires with his bold vision of what makes for truly great climbing. On March 3, 4, 29 and April 27, Robbins will regale outdoor enthusiasts with tales from his adventurous life during “An Evening With Climbing Legend Royal Robbins” at four REI stores in the Bay Area.

Robbins will share stories and images from his many daring exploits including the world’s first ascent of Yosemite’s famous Half Dome Face in 1957, and his historic climbs on El Capitan and the Leaning Tower. It was on these magnificent granite towers that Robbins invented his own form of rock climbing. His technique was environmentally friendly, personally challenging and today would be described as an ‘extreme sport’. The rock faces he climbed were preserved and not scarred by pitons and bolts that were typically used by climbers. Robbins forever changed the ethic of climbing worldwide.

Less known but equally remarkable, Robbins transferred his skills from climber to adventure kayaker, making first descents of the headwaters of major California rivers, such as the San Joaquin, the Kern, and the Kings. Following the program, Royal will sign copies of his new autobiography, To Be Brave, My Life: Volume One, published by Pink Moment Press, September 2009. This is a rare chance to meet and be inspired by one of America’s most extraordinary adventurers.

Dates and venues:
7 pm–8:30 pm, Wednesday, March 3 at REI San Carlos
7 pm–8:30 pm, Thursday, March 4 at REI Brentwood
7 pm–8:30 pm, Monday, March 29 at REI Saratoga
7 pm–8:30 pm, Tuesday, April 27 at REI Berkeley
REI Berkeley: 1338 San Pablo Avenue 94702; (510) 527-4140

REI Brentwood: The Streets of Brentwood Shopping Center, 2475 Sand Creek Road,
Suite 100, 94513; (925) 516-3540

REI San Carlos: 1119 Industrial Road, Suite A, 94070; (650) 508-2330

REI Saratoga: 400 El Paseo de Saratoga, San Jose 95130; (408) 871-8765

Please note: Registration is optional for REI’s free in-store presentations. If you register, you will receive an email reminder and any program updates. Seating is limited and is first-come, first-served.

####

If you would like more information, or to schedule an interview with Royal Robbins, call

Susie Bennitt at 626-226-6392 or email Susie at susie@pinkmomentpress.com.


"Royal Robbins writes with the same unflinching courage that made him a climbing legend." - Malcolm Maroglin Founder and Publisher of HeyDey Books

Labels: Royal Robbins, To Be Brave

Natasha Barnes, a Mission Cliffs climber, and bona fide rock crusher has been climbing for the past 11 years. In between sending 5.13d sport routes, bouldering problems like Thriller and Midnight Lightning in Yosemite,and going full tilt on the Yosemite offwidth circuit, Natasha attends Palmer West Chiropractic, where she is obtaining a doctorate in Chiropractics and Physiotherapy.

For the past five years, Natasha has followed a strict vegan diet. "I only eat Vegans," she jokes. Natasha abstains from animal products, processed food, and operates her body on nutrient dense food. She took a moment to talk about her diet as an athlete and how being vegan helps her send.



what are the advantages of being an athlete on a vegan diet?
Being healthy, feeling healthy and recovering faster. Nutritional stress (stress to the body created by food that has unhealthy properties) is a major source of stress on our bodies as climbers. We put our bodies through the ringer all the time and if we are not eating the right foods (unprocessed foods rich in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, high-quality protein, fiber, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and good bacteria aka probiotics) than our bodies lack the components they need to to regenerate completely and effectively. Regular consumption of nutrient dense whole foods supports cellular regeneration which rebuilds muscle and other body tissue and is essential for recovery. Faster recovery = climb/train more often and harder = climb better.


VEGAN PIZZA. Spelt crust, ricotta, Sundried tomato pesto, basil, spinach, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and sundried tomato topping with a Malbec.

What do you eat to perform your best?

My best performance foods are whole veggies and fruits. The most nutrient dense and hydrating food. Bananas, oranges, apples, bell peppers, dates, grapes, leafy greens, nuts and seeds etc. I like to eat a big salad with lots of different veggies incorporated if I can. My favorite is one I call Guacamole salad. Mixed greens, cilantro (lots of it), garlic, tomato, avocado (2-3), agave nectar and salt and pepper to taste. It's only a few ingredients but its a winner.



Do you have any difficulties cooking on climbing trips?
No. I usually do burritos or veggie stir-fry because its pretty easy to put together no matter where you are. Plus I love black beans, avocado, tomato and cilantro...AND hot sauce!!


Sprouted corn tortilla, lime crema, shredded cabbage and carrot slaw, chile-beer marinated tempeh, cilatro, tomato, avocado.

How do you eat when you are bouldering? How about when you're sport climbing?
I try to eat pretty light while sport climbing. Bananas and other fruits for quick energy or hummus and veggies for lunch, sometimes I'll just snack on whole grain chips and salsa. I've been trying to remember to drink more water lately. While bouldering all bets are off and its cookies down the hatch. For some reason when I am bouldering I want to snack all day.

How do you add variety to your diet?
I try to experiment a lot and try different foods that I see or read about that I haven't tried before or try different recipes. A lot of the time I end up finding a new food that I totally love and I try and make it more. Its a also good way to make sure I am getting a good rotating variety of vitamins and minerals in my diet.


Will bacon ever grow on trees? How can someone switch their diet?
Haha!! Maybe they can genetically modify some plant to do that but that would be weird. It's easy to switch to a healthier diet. It doesn't have to be a vegan diet. Most of us could benefit even from a small change in diet. It's all about experimenting with new foods and finding what you like. Try to incorporate new veggies and fruits into your diet. You might be surprised. There are a plethora of web resources to help you with the transition to healthier living and recipes for vegetarian food.

http://www.brendanbrazier.com/articles/index.html

http://www.theppk.com/

http://www.veganhealth.org/

These are some.

I also HIGHLY recommend this book by Brendan Brazier Canada's best (vegan) triathlete for athletes more serious about healthy living and eating.

Labels: climbing diets, Natasha Barnes, vegan athlete