Climbing and parenting: a balance between hanging on and letting go. Kate Reese McGinnis is a parent with a young child. When Annie was born, Kate thought her lifestyle as a climber would change drastically. The Red River Gorge climber didn't know what to expect. She's learned how to balance the climbing lifestyle with being a parent. Her story is just one of thousands of climbers with children. Across the bay area, climbers with kids crush. It's not an easy task but it's fully doable. Check out her inspiring story.

Touchstone athlete and renown global rock climbing super star, Ethan Pringle just returned from an exciting trip to Turkey.

After spending the holidays in Norway with friends, Pringle headed to Antalya, Turkey, to climb on the limestone crags of Geyikbayiri for three weeks with his girlfriend, Trine Hollerude-Odden. Daniel Woods, Emily Harrington, Sam Elias and other members of the North Face crew had traveled to the area and made a video series of the area. Pringle had seen the amazing climbing in the area. “It was steep limestone sport climbing with tufas and pockets.  Some cracks too.” said Pringle. “It’s world class. It’s on par with Kalymnos.”

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Mill Valley resident, Kyle O'Meara transplanted from Washtington earlier this year and has been crushing the boulders in Yosemite. He flashed Midnight Lightning, the Moffat Start to Midnight, the Force, and a number of other classic Yosemite boulder problems. He's documented a number of his ascents. In his latest video, he made a super proud ascent of King Air. This V10 by Leconte Memorial sits next to a short practice aid climb. The boulder problem is higher than the bolt ladder! Check out Kyle going all out on the problem with 4 pads and no spotters. Proud!

The folks over at Louder Than 11, Dave Wetmore, Max Zolotukhin, Natasha Barnes, Rich Crowder, Ryan Silven, and Jordan Shipman, spent ten days climbing in Yosemite earlier this winter. They came out with a rad video featuring some of the best problems in the Valley. Check out their 25 minute long movie of a ton of amazing pebbles.

This is a great opportunity for a young climber to explore the world beyond the US, to discover some of the best rock in the world, and to have an amazing time.  For more information see the award page. http://johnlhornaward.org/

Project Yosemite is a collaborative project by Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty. The time lapses of Yosemite are breath taking. Take a few minutes to watch some of the beauty in California's greatest park.

Winter finally arrived in the Bay area.  The cold wet weather will be around for a few weeks.  There are numerous people in the Bay who have a hard time staying warm through these periods of rain and sleet.  Brittini Tanebaum, an AmeriCorps Program Coordinator and Ironworks member, is conducting a winter clothing drive to benefit the underprivileged youth of Berkeley.   

The clothing drive is being run through an organization called Playworks (www.playworks.org) by a group of AmeriCorps members.  AmeriCorps members dedicate a year to serving communities that are in need.

From Thursday January 19th until Friday, February 3rd, bins will be located inside Berkeley Ironworks for clothing donations.  The drive has a number of different sites.  When everything is collected, the clothing will be distributed to different elementary schools throughout the East Bay and anything that is left over will be donated to charity.

Take the time to donate some of your warm garments to kids who need them.