On March 1st, MetalMark held the first Touchstone Wine tasting. Over 50 members headed to the Fresno gym to taste wines from Ceja Vineyard, a Napa Valley Winery, and Englemann Cellars, a local Fresno Winery.
MetalMark Climbing and Fitness is under an hour from the Valley floor, and yet many Fresnopians have never made the drive, let alone climb there. Having a world class climbing gym in the Central Valley allows people who would never consider climbing to give it a try with our friendly and helpful staff.
On February 27th, the Madera Adult School came to MetalMark to climb. They have made several trips to the gym over the past year as part of a program to introduce their students to unique extracurricular activities.
Aurora Garcia is a teacher at MAS, and brought the group of students to MetalMark this month. "I work with the students ages 18-22, and our program is designed to assist special education adults in providing them with transitioning skills to adulthood. Two of the components of our program are community and fitness." Climbing is a great chance for the students to build confidence and challenge themselves in a safe and supportive environment.
Daniel, a staff member at MetalMark, worked with the teachers before hand to teach them to belay, so that when the students arrived they were able to climb with instructors that they knew and trusted. "It was super fun," said Daniel. "Especially to see everyone working together to cheer each other on."
Climbing for the first time can be both physically and mentally demanding, but the feedback from the students was positive. "I feel like I was on top of the mountain," said one student. "It was my first time climbing, it was awesome. I enjoyed climbing all the way to the top."
"I was very excited to see our group gain more confidence with each climb and challenge themselves to do something new. Students continue to set new goals to reach higher each time," Said Garcia. This has been a wonderful experience for our students and staff."
Each Touchstone Climbing and Fitness gym has a strong commitment to outreach and supporting their local community. If you have a group you would like to bring to the gym, please contact the gym manager for details!
Yosemite National Park represents the highest peregrine falcon nesting area in the Sierra Nevada. The park has played a pivotal role in the birds recovery from an endangered species. There are numerous climbing closures to help protect the birds' nesting areas. When planning your next climbing trip to the national park, make sure to consider the peregrine nesting areas.
On March 15, nearly 300 climbers headed to Concord to climb at the Touchstone Bouldering Series 8 comp at Diablo Rock Gym. "It was high energy," said manager Hans Florine. "Folks were stoked on the problems."
Want to break through a plateau? Want to improve your footwork or general technique? World class boulderers, Lisa Rands and Wills Young will be heading to Dogpatch to provide specific instruction on how to improve your climbing.
For over 20 years Lisa Rands has climbed across the world from Alpine spires in Argentina’s Patagonia to first ascents in the boulders of South Africa’s Rocklands. In 2002, Lisa was the first American to win a World Cup Bouldering Competition, and was ranked world number one in competitive bouldering the same year. She went on to break ground for women with ultra-bold ascents of “E8” gritstone test-pieces in England and super-highballs in Bishop, California.
One of the best technical climbers in the world, Wills Young has made an enormous impact on the US climbing scene. Wills wrote the book on bouldering in Bishop- literally. Beyond climbing thousands of problems in the Bishop area for his guidebook, Wills has climbed across the globe, spending significant time in Rocklands South Africa, in the south east US, and of course in Bishop.
In the video below, Wills shows his impeccable technigue as he casually hikes professional climbers Chris Sharma and Tony Lamiche's project.
The clinics will be held on Sunday April 28th from 6-7:30pm and Tuesday April 30th from 5-6:30pm. To ensure personal attention classes are limited to 14 climbers per class. The clinics are $40 for members and $50 for non-members. This is an amazing opportunity to learn from a pair of highly accomplished climbers and instructors.
This weekend, Saturday, March 23, 2013, The studio is hosting a USAC Northern California division Sport Climbing Series comp. This comp provides a great opportunity for young climbers in the South Bay to begin climbing competitions.
USA Climbing is the national governing body for competition climbing in the United States and is responsible for sanctioning the American Bouldering Series (ABS), the Sport Climbing Series (SCS) and the Collegiate Climbing Series (CCS).
The Studio comp marks the second of the six regional comps. The Regional Championships will be held in May at City Beach in Fremont. Divisionals will take place in June at Vertical World in Seattle and Nationals happen in early July at Stone Summit in Atlanta.
Registration 9am-10am
Comp 10am-2pm
$30 for USAC members ($35 for non-members)
Youth-B and above will need to get a Touchstone Lead Certification. You can get this done at any Touchstone Gym prior to the comp. You can do it at The Studio before the comp, but there might be a line. f you plan to Lead, please bring your own rope.
Climbing for the first time can be both physically and mentally demanding, but the feedback from the students was positive. "I feel like I was on top of the mountain," said one student. "It was my first time climbing, it was awesome. I enjoyed climbing all the way to the top." 
