Touchstone Blog Archive
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Studio: Construction Update
Construction on Touchstone’s newest gym, The Studio in San Jose, has been moving along smoothly. The gym will be located on South First Street in an old theater. The building has significant character with a marquee, a ticket booth, and a setting like an old theater.
The building’s unique design allows for a significant amount of climbing. There will be over 75 lead and toprope anchors along the 44 foot high walls.
Bent steel makes the formation of the 15 foot bouldering walls. There are no angles, just smooth transitions from one section to the next. There will also be a free standing boulder and the second floor bouldering area will overlook the climbing wall. This large bouldering area promises to be one of Touchstone's best.
There will be an adjustable crack like the one at MetalMark. There will also be a chimney, a roof area, some extreme dihedrals and tons of other awesome climbing features.
The Studio will have an excellent yoga and fitness room. New showers and locker rooms will make the gym an easy place to go work out at and leave feeling fresh. The latest cardio machines, free weights, and tons of exercise machines will round out the facilities.
Mark Benkert acted as the lead welder and wall designer along with Touchstone founder, Mark Melvin. This is the second gym the pair have built this year and they used many of the innovations they developed at Fresno’s MetalMark.
Touchstone hopes to have the building finished by late 2011 or early 2012. Stay tuned for details about the latest construction.
The building’s unique design allows for a significant amount of climbing. There will be over 75 lead and toprope anchors along the 44 foot high walls.
Bent steel makes the formation of the 15 foot bouldering walls. There are no angles, just smooth transitions from one section to the next. There will also be a free standing boulder and the second floor bouldering area will overlook the climbing wall. This large bouldering area promises to be one of Touchstone's best.
There will be an adjustable crack like the one at MetalMark. There will also be a chimney, a roof area, some extreme dihedrals and tons of other awesome climbing features.
The Studio will have an excellent yoga and fitness room. New showers and locker rooms will make the gym an easy place to go work out at and leave feeling fresh. The latest cardio machines, free weights, and tons of exercise machines will round out the facilities.
Mark Benkert acted as the lead welder and wall designer along with Touchstone founder, Mark Melvin. This is the second gym the pair have built this year and they used many of the innovations they developed at Fresno’s MetalMark.
Touchstone hopes to have the building finished by late 2011 or early 2012. Stay tuned for details about the latest construction.
Labels: Mark Benkert, Mark Melvin, new climbing gym, The Studio
¶ Monday, October 31, 2011 0 Comments
Saturday, April 2, 2011
MetalMark Climbing Wall Design Complete
Metalmark’s climbing wall design is now complete. Mark Melvin, Touchstone's CEO says, "Our walls in Fresno are the best we’ve ever built -there’s not a bad line in the gym." In a unique collaborative effort, Mark worked on-site full time with a brilliant design team:
Mark Benkert- a 20 year veteran wall builder, artist, and sculptor, who thrives on model-less see-how-it-works building
Simon Benkert- who might be one of the best climbers in America if he didn’t like welding
so much.
Tom Ramier- also a veteran wall builder who says it’s the funnest job you could ever have.
Mark Benkert headed the construction of a model inspired by the design of famous climbing and wall designer Christian Griffith. The team thought about the placement of every stick of steel. "We’ve done things we’ve never done in a Touchstone gym before, with curves, corners, edges – it’s going to be brilliant and unlike anything else in California." says Melvin. "What we’re learning here will shape how we do things for our future gyms."
The opening is still a couple months hence but will be completed soon.
The Facebook page for Metalmark is the best place to stay up-to-date with photos and news for the newest Touchstone gym.
Mark Benkert- a 20 year veteran wall builder, artist, and sculptor, who thrives on model-less see-how-it-works building
Simon Benkert- who might be one of the best climbers in America if he didn’t like welding
so much.
Tom Ramier- also a veteran wall builder who says it’s the funnest job you could ever have.
Mark Benkert headed the construction of a model inspired by the design of famous climbing and wall designer Christian Griffith. The team thought about the placement of every stick of steel. "We’ve done things we’ve never done in a Touchstone gym before, with curves, corners, edges – it’s going to be brilliant and unlike anything else in California." says Melvin. "What we’re learning here will shape how we do things for our future gyms."
The opening is still a couple months hence but will be completed soon.
The Facebook page for Metalmark is the best place to stay up-to-date with photos and news for the newest Touchstone gym.
Labels: Mark Benkert, Mark Melvin, MetalMark
¶ Saturday, April 02, 2011 0 Comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Great Western Pacific Works Bigwall Facelift
This past week Great Western Power Company's 150' smokestack was enhanced. With the consultation of Oakland's Ray Peretti and graphics designed by San Francisco's Mark Getty, Touchstone only needed someone to scale the mighty steel encased concrete monolith.
Touchstone Facilities pooh-bah Russell Olsen was up to the task, with the help of assistant Eric Schmidt. Something this silly needed the attention of someone with big wall experience - Mark Melvin rigged the ropes and pasted most of the stencils. Says Mark, "the pencil thin nature of that thing makes it scarier than all but the hardest big walls I've been on," although he admits the ladder up the side, backed up with a auto belay isn't something you get often on El Capitan.
Check out Russell's awesome work next time you visit! Tell us what you think.
Touchstone Facilities pooh-bah Russell Olsen was up to the task, with the help of assistant Eric Schmidt. Something this silly needed the attention of someone with big wall experience - Mark Melvin rigged the ropes and pasted most of the stencils. Says Mark, "the pencil thin nature of that thing makes it scarier than all but the hardest big walls I've been on," although he admits the ladder up the side, backed up with a auto belay isn't something you get often on El Capitan.
Check out Russell's awesome work next time you visit! Tell us what you think.
Labels: Big Wall, Great Western Power Co., Mark Melvin, Russell Olsen
¶ Thursday, July 16, 2009 2 Comments
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Nose: Really Really Fast
Hans Florine was able to hang out with the Hubers over a beer in June 2006 while they were working on the record. He also chatted with the Hubers, again over a beer, in SF after they got the record this past October 2007. In this webinar, Hans will talk about the way the Hubers tackled the route and go pitch by pitch how his attempts at the record went after talking to them. (Hans got a good go of 5:26 in November.)
Hans is joined by NIAD experts to go over the Huber's ascent and discuss strategies for improvement. Hans will also be inviting some Climbing Manufacturer experts to join in on the session.
Hans will take between 20 to 40 minutes to go over just how the Huber's climbed the route, how Yuji and Hans climbed the route (previous record of 2:48), how Hans just last month climbed it with Mark Melvin, and will discuss tools strategies and more. Then we'll open it up for a panel of experts to suggest things and YOUR input or questions. Maybe you have insight on a strategy on how better to go through the King Swing or you know of a tool we are not using that would help us move more effectively/faster through the route. Just listen or contribute. Recording from the webinar will be available afterwards.
Join Hans for this live Webinar on December 18th at 6pm, sign up now here: http://hansflorine.com/shop/webinar1.html
CHALK TALK about the Huber's Speed Record Ascentof THE NOSE, in 2:45:45. QnA on ways to improve.
LIVE WEBINAR
December 18th 6pm PST
December 18th 6pm PST
Hans Florine was able to hang out with the Hubers over a beer in June 2006 while they were working on the record. He also chatted with the Hubers, again over a beer, in SF after they got the record this past October 2007. In this webinar, Hans will talk about the way the Hubers tackled the route and go pitch by pitch how his attempts at the record went after talking to them. (Hans got a good go of 5:26 in November.)
Hans is joined by NIAD experts to go over the Huber's ascent and discuss strategies for improvement. Hans will also be inviting some Climbing Manufacturer experts to join in on the session.Hans will take between 20 to 40 minutes to go over just how the Huber's climbed the route, how Yuji and Hans climbed the route (previous record of 2:48), how Hans just last month climbed it with Mark Melvin, and will discuss tools strategies and more. Then we'll open it up for a panel of experts to suggest things and YOUR input or questions. Maybe you have insight on a strategy on how better to go through the King Swing or you know of a tool we are not using that would help us move more effectively/faster through the route. Just listen or contribute. Recording from the webinar will be available afterwards.
Join Hans for this live Webinar on December 18th at 6pm, sign up now here: http://hansflorine.com/shop/webinar1.html
Labels: climbing, event, Hans Florine, Mark Melvin, The Nose
¶ Monday, December 10, 2007 0 Comments
Monday, July 16, 2007
We Are Competitive
This past weekend was full of competitions for Touchstone Climbing.
On Friday night, Berkeley Ironworks hosted the 3rd stage in the Touchstone Roped Series. This was the biggest turnout yet for a TRS event with over 128 climbers turning in scorecards. You can check out the complete results here. The next TRS event will be on August 10th at Mission Cliffs.
On Saturday, the Touchstone Cycling teams took to the hills. Well, one very large hill to be exact. Eleven Touchstone team members competed in the 3rd annual Mount Diablo Hill Climb. Touchstone Climbing was a co-sponsor of this event and our Director of Operations, Markham Connolly, built a very impressive start ramp for the event. The Touchstone Women's Elite team had a strong showing by placing 3 riders in the top 10.
And finally as noted last week, Mark Melvin, founder and CEO of Touchstone Climbing, competed in the Hardrock 100 Endurance Run in Colorado. Mark finished the 100 mile run in 37 hours 56 minutes, an hour or two before nightfall the second night. He placed 44th out of 98 finishers and 134 starters.
On Friday night, Berkeley Ironworks hosted the 3rd stage in the Touchstone Roped Series. This was the biggest turnout yet for a TRS event with over 128 climbers turning in scorecards. You can check out the complete results here. The next TRS event will be on August 10th at Mission Cliffs.
On Saturday, the Touchstone Cycling teams took to the hills. Well, one very large hill to be exact. Eleven Touchstone team members competed in the 3rd annual Mount Diablo Hill Climb. Touchstone Climbing was a co-sponsor of this event and our Director of Operations, Markham Connolly, built a very impressive start ramp for the event. The Touchstone Women's Elite team had a strong showing by placing 3 riders in the top 10.
And finally as noted last week, Mark Melvin, founder and CEO of Touchstone Climbing, competed in the Hardrock 100 Endurance Run in Colorado. Mark finished the 100 mile run in 37 hours 56 minutes, an hour or two before nightfall the second night. He placed 44th out of 98 finishers and 134 starters.Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, climbing, comps, cycling, Mark Melvin, Markham Connolly, touchstone, Touchstone Roped Series
¶ Monday, July 16, 2007 0 Comments
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Hardrock 100
This weekend, Touchstone's founder and CEO Mark Melvin will be running in the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run.
The course will be run counter-clockwise - a big loop through the San Juan Mountains of beautiful southwest Colorado: Silverton - Ophir - Telluride - Ouray - Sherman (Lake City) - Silverton, 100 miles, 33,000' total elevation gain, 11,186' average elevation, low point 7,680' at Ouray, high point 14,048' at Handies Peak.
Last year's winner finished the course in over 27 hours, while only a little more than half the field finished the run. Of those that did finish the course, most of them finished well into the second night of the race. Mark's goal is to finish the race before the second night. Mark has completed the Hardrock 100 before, as well as the Western States Ultra 100 in the Sierras.
You can see a cool photo tour of last year's course here.
Once the race starts, you will be able to follow Mark's progress on the Hardrock's webpage.
This weekend, Touchstone's founder and CEO Mark Melvin will be running in the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run.
The course will be run counter-clockwise - a big loop through the San Juan Mountains of beautiful southwest Colorado: Silverton - Ophir - Telluride - Ouray - Sherman (Lake City) - Silverton, 100 miles, 33,000' total elevation gain, 11,186' average elevation, low point 7,680' at Ouray, high point 14,048' at Handies Peak.
Last year's winner finished the course in over 27 hours, while only a little more than half the field finished the run. Of those that did finish the course, most of them finished well into the second night of the race. Mark's goal is to finish the race before the second night. Mark has completed the Hardrock 100 before, as well as the Western States Ultra 100 in the Sierras.
You can see a cool photo tour of last year's course here.
Once the race starts, you will be able to follow Mark's progress on the Hardrock's webpage.
Labels: fitness, Mark Melvin, staff, touchstone
¶ Thursday, July 12, 2007 0 Comments
Friday, July 14, 2006
Mt. Diablo Hill Climb
Touchstone Climbing was a proud sponsor of the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb Time Trial and the Lafayette Criterium last weekend. On Saturday, racers rolled down the Start Ramp, built by Touchstone, to start the grueling 10K climb up the North side of Mt. Diablo and finish at the junction that leads up to the summit. Beverley Harper, a Touchstone Women’s Elite Team member, posted the fastest women’s time at an impressive 28 minutes flat- especially considering that she had only 3 hours of sleep after returning from the Nationals Time Trail Championships in Pennsylvania the night before. Incidentally, she came in 7th at Nationals. The next day Beverley went on to crush the field in the Women’s Pro 1/2 race at the Lafayette Criterium. With the help of her teammates, Pat Ross and India San Juan, she was able to pull away and maintain her break for more than half the race. Congratulations to Beverley and the Touchstone Women’s Elite Team. Touchstone would also like to give a big thanks to Ruth Bender, David Chen, Susan Abrahamson, Penny Avril, Christine Frolich, Mark and Debra Melvin for their support at the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb. They played an integral part of its success.
Touchstone Climbing was a proud sponsor of the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb Time Trial and the Lafayette Criterium last weekend. On Saturday, racers rolled down the Start Ramp, built by Touchstone, to start the grueling 10K climb up the North side of Mt. Diablo and finish at the junction that leads up to the summit. Beverley Harper, a Touchstone Women’s Elite Team member, posted the fastest women’s time at an impressive 28 minutes flat- especially considering that she had only 3 hours of sleep after returning from the Nationals Time Trail Championships in Pennsylvania the night before. Incidentally, she came in 7th at Nationals. The next day Beverley went on to crush the field in the Women’s Pro 1/2 race at the Lafayette Criterium. With the help of her teammates, Pat Ross and India San Juan, she was able to pull away and maintain her break for more than half the race. Congratulations to Beverley and the Touchstone Women’s Elite Team. Touchstone would also like to give a big thanks to Ruth Bender, David Chen, Susan Abrahamson, Penny Avril, Christine Frolich, Mark and Debra Melvin for their support at the Mt. Diablo Hill Climb. They played an integral part of its success.Labels: cycling, Mark Melvin
¶ Friday, July 14, 2006 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Food Pyramid Giveaway
Anyone fed up with the media’s apparent complication of information regarding food groups? Touchstone’s CEO certainly is. ‘Study after study on the topic of health is flawed. Correlation is not causality’ he says. ‘And besides, we’ve known many of the answers to basic health for decades.’ Mark Melvin, a casual reader of Scientific American, finally dug up an old article and had it reproduced for members as a courtesy of Touchstone. If you’re interested in hearing that fat percentage does not equate to being fat, and that whole grains might as well not be the same group as non-whole grains, ask for a complimentary copy at the front desk of any Touchstone gym.
Anyone fed up with the media’s apparent complication of information regarding food groups? Touchstone’s CEO certainly is. ‘Study after study on the topic of health is flawed. Correlation is not causality’ he says. ‘And besides, we’ve known many of the answers to basic health for decades.’ Mark Melvin, a casual reader of Scientific American, finally dug up an old article and had it reproduced for members as a courtesy of Touchstone. If you’re interested in hearing that fat percentage does not equate to being fat, and that whole grains might as well not be the same group as non-whole grains, ask for a complimentary copy at the front desk of any Touchstone gym.Labels: community, fitness, Mark Melvin, tips, touchstone
¶ Wednesday, May 10, 2006 0 Comments
