Touchstone Blog Archive
Touchstone Kleen Kanteens

You've heard the news: plastic water bottles have been found to leach trace amounts of bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical that has been shown to disrupt normal hormone function leading to a myriad of health problems in mice. If you've been thinking of kicking your Nalgene to the curb (the recycling curb, that is), now is the perfect time. In your friendly, neighborhood Touchstone gym, you will find two sizes of of the 100% stainless Steel Kleen Kanteens priced to sell at $15.50 for 27 oz. or $22.50 for 40 oz. Who doesn't want a clean, BPA-free and odor free glug of h20 that's better for your health and better for the environment than those ubiquitous plastic water bottles?
Labels: retail, touchstone
New Logo Shirts at GWPC

The new GWPC logo shirts are flying off the rack and as you can see from the photo, the guys look as good in the new styles as the ladies. The variety includes tanks, tees, hoodies and zip track jacket styles. Come in soon for the best selection!
Labels: Great Western Power Co., oakland, retail
Cat in the Hat

Fashion is always changing, but the one thing that never goes out of style is representing your local climbing gym. There is a whole bunch of new Touchstone gear including Diablo Rock Gym's new logo t-shirts and a very "cool" fast wicking synthetic mountain hard wear running top. If your a cyclist we even have a full jersey and bib shorts. To top it all off all of our clothing is 100% pet friendly. Check out the new Touchstone threads at your local gym.
Labels: retail, touchstone
Two New Bouldering Guides
Yosemite Valley BoulderingYosemite Valley is one of the best granite bouldering areas in the world. This guide makes Yosemite bouldering accessible through clear descriptions, detailed topos, and numerous photos. It also includes many new problems and completely new bouldering areas. In addition to the problem information, this guide will help you plan your trip, give you insider beta for staying in the Valley, and give you an interesting narrative on Yosemite’s bouldering history.
Bay Area BoulderingThis book includes over 600 boulder problems within a 1.5 hour drive of San Francisco. All the classic spots are in this book: Castle Rock, Indian Rock, Mickey's Beach as well as a number of lesser known spots on the North Coast. This book includes everything from cruiser jug hauls on sandy beaches to sloper wrestling in lush forests.
Stop by a Touchstone retail store and pick up one or both of these beautiful new guide books!
Labels: climbing, retail, Yosemite
Elektra on Sale

On sale at Berkeley Ironworks and Mission Cliffs the ELEKTRA combines the benefit of a comfortable multi-purpose shoe and the convenience of a velcro performance shoe. With the feel of a sensitive slipper, the ELEKTRA will smear on any slick sloper or stick on overhanging faces while being comfortable enough to wear on long multi-pitch routes or gym marathon-training sessions. Narrow, low profile foot climbers and women climbers of all abilities and styles will truly appreciate this shoe. The ELEKTRA is a must-have for every climber who wants a comfortable shoe that fits and performs superbly out of the box.
The Elektra can easily be transferred to any Touchstone location.
Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, climbing, mission cliffs, retail
Bishop Guide
NEW! The town of Bishop, in eastern California, is a boulderer’s paradise, one of the few places in the world where a high concentration of world-class bouldering combines with magnificent scenery, convenient amenities, and near-perfect weather.
The new Bishop Bouldering guide details more than 2000 problems at this internationally popular climbing destination, providing complete coverage of the Buttermilk Country (including outlying areas like Dales Camp and the Pollen Grains), The Happy and Sad Boulders, The Druid Stones, Rock Creek and The Sherwin Plateau (north toward Mammoth).
This beautiful guide book at $36 will make your next bouldering trip a trip to remember so pick one up today!
Labels: climbing, retail
Berkeley Blowout Sale

As if 40% off regular prices isn’t cool enough, folks shopping at Berkeley Ironworks can get even bigger savings on the super-saver clearance racks where everything is 70%- 80% off regular prices. Here’s your chance to pay almost nothing for an assortment of pants, shirts, tanks and more. Look for the racks marked CLEARANCE and get ready, nothing is priced higher than $14.99. Make it the excuse you’ve been looking for to visit Berkeley Ironworks. After shopping, you can do some climbing, too!
Labels: Berkeley Ironworks, retail
Touchstone Winter Sale
Question: What’s better than being stocked up on all your climbing attire essentials?
Answer: Knowing you purchased everything at the Touchstone Clearance sale for 40% off the regular price! Don’t kick yourself later for missing the biggest sale of the year on cool Prana, Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear shirts, pants, sweaters, jackets and more. Get to your nearest Touchstone gym where ALL* clothing, hats and scarves are on sale for 40% off! If you’re doing the math that means you can get those awesome down vests for $60 and women’s down jackets are a crazy-inexpensive $87! This sale is going on NOW, so hustle if you want the best selection!
Labels: retail, touchstone
The Pontas are Here

Based on Chris Sharmas’ climbing expertise and design ideas, Evolv has created a shoe for him which he used to send "Es Pontas", his deep-water solo project route in Mallorca, Spain. This January you too can experience this outstanding overall performance shoe.
The Pontas fuses precision, power, and responsiveness with an excellent glove-like fit. The back of the shoe fits securely from the base of the heel to the achilles without discomfort and dead space. It’s equipped with an extended toe rand for toe-hooking without feeling excessive as well as tri-grooves for relieving pressure off the big toe. The 3/4 length semi stiff midsole provides the ideal balance of edging power and responsiveness from toes to arch.
The Evolv PONTAS will inspire confidence on technical climbs with micro-edges as well as steep toe hooking climbs. At $115 you won’t want to miss out.
Labels: climbing, retail
Last Minute Gift Idea

The Grimper Game is the perfect holiday gift for your favorite climber. At 29.95 this tabletop game strengthens your grip as it humbles and humiliates even the most serious climber. To play this game that pits climbers' grips against each other simply line up the center marks and using your hand's gripping strength pull your opponent off sides, you can also even the odds by assigning the (presumed) stronger player a more difficult finger positioning.
Don’t miss out on hours of fun with this fingery game of tug-o-war.
Labels: climbing, retail, touchstone
New DVD's for Christmas

Now in a Touchstone retail area near you are 4 new DVD's, perfect for
stocking stuffers:
"Best of the West" features Boone Speed, Chris Sharma, and Nate Gold making a 2-week side trip to Hueco and sending crazy-hard problems en route to New Zealand. "The Big Game" finds the trio finally making it to New Zealand and has beautiful footage of the boulders with a lot of high adrenaline climbing. "First Ascent" is all about today's top rock climbers as they lay siege to steep faces and soaring alpine walls in pursuit of climbing's pinnacle achievement - the First Ascent.
Dosage Volume IV follows the biggest names in sport climbing, traditional climbing, and bouldering as they make historic ascents at spectacular locations around the world. Highlights include: Tommy Caldwell freeclimbing both The Nose (5.14a) and Freerider (5.12d) in under 24 hours; Chris Sharma's first ascent of Dreamcatcher (5.14d) in Squamish, BC; Lisa Rands on first female ascents of scary grit routes in England's Peak District; Dave Graham doing his beautiful Coup de Grace (5.14d) in Ticino, Switzerland; and Berkeley Ironworks members Randy Puro and Courtney Hemphill pulling down hard on the gorgeous granite boulders of Switzerland.
Labels: Chris Sharma, climbing, retail, The Nose, touchstone