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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Yeah. been a member the whole time, and the the place has gotten nothing but more crowded with rude, asocial, tech weenies talking about their bullshit jobs, or their time at burning man or some coding camp bullsh#t. And prices keep climbing, with no real effort made to regulate the crowding or poor etiquette or bad belaying, etc.
i go there in the mornings if possible, cause those bros are off at their super important jobs, or something like that. When it's quiet and not crowded it's great-you can get a lot done, and the routes aren't too goddamn boring.
When it's crowded it's like a 20 something pick up bar full of active wear d#@&%es. I can't decide what's worse, the ignorant newbies, or the screaming grunting sport leaders working their 25 foot proj. It's a gym for f*#ks sake, not Clark Mountain.
ooo that feels better.
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Rick Vena
climber
SF,CA
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Awww come on David! There's still a lot of fun to be had there. I have many fond memories of "climbing" there with you, Amy, Russ and a bunch of other folks. There are still good people to be found. You just have to see past the selvedge and plaid!
Besides, where else are you gonna find out about the next Bandalooping, Yoga, organic gardening retreat?
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jonnyrig
climber
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I kinda like Touchstone. They wont let me climb lead though, since i dont 'know' somebody there. Saw some famous dude there once. Always entertaining.
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monolith
climber
state of being
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I've seen lots of employees checking for bad belaying. Thay are pretty damn safe as far as I can see.
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WBraun
climber
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I've seen lots of employees checking for bad belaying.
I went to a gym and the first thing is I got busted for "Bad Belaying"
WTF man???
Then owner comes over and tells his techy to beat it ... LOL.
Hell ... TM was belaying with the rope around his waist in front of a sh!t load of n00bs.
LOL
David Knopp .... tooo funny man ......
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tallguy
Trad climber
tacoma
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My wife picked me up there when I was a big sexy beast in the meat market for 20 year olds.. Guess you could now make a case that we have a kid that wouldn't be around except for touchstone.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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My history is fuzzy... Didn't the Melvins buy City Rock from Peter Mayfield before Mission Cliffs every existed? Or am I incorrect about that transition.
At least I remember being a member at City Rock before going to MC.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Went to City Rock a few times...used to travel to the area a fair bit.
Ironworks was fun, and, going out afterwards was too (!).
Good times!
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Brian...I recognize half of the people in your photo, but I doubt I would today, and there would be 2x as many of them too. Do you ever swing through anymore? Good times.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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hey five thirty you actually are ruining everything. Oh well, enjoy the gym braj!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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I am ecumenical in my climbing gyms... and not a member of any one (as I don't climb in gyms enough to justify a membership)...
my favorite Touchstone Gym story has to do with meeting Jaybro at The Great Western Power Company in Oakland and climbing with John Bachar, who was there to give a slide show.
Jaybro and I were nursing a number of injuries, we arrived early and started a grade pyramid... easy to hard. I think Jay couldn't raise his left arm above his shoulder without pain, I'm sure I had some back issue at the time.
Anyway, somewhere around 5.10a John arrives. We give him beta about parking his car and the possibility that it would be broken into... after some adjustments he came back and was ready to do some gym climbing.
The first order of business was a disclosure of injuries... he had just gotten back from a groin strain caused by dropping off of a boulder problem. He was incredulous that the boulderers at the place were just dropping off the high points.
We started in on 5.10b...oops, John had forgotten his belay device (did he have one?) we decided it would be OK for him to use a Munter Hitch.. this was funny because he didn't have a "belay card" for Touchstone, and the manager of this particular venue was known to be a stickler for such things. But by now we were contained in the "Bubble of Celebrity" (BoC). The climbers recognized me, and Jaybro, and John (of course) and were somehow not able to come up and say "Hi!" This included people I knew very well, who had come to climb and then to see the show.
5.10c had us talking about our chronic body pain issues... three old men complaining... but none of the gym "belay police" made a peep about John's "belay device," the BoC seemed to be protecting us from their gaze.
On 5.10d I made it up about 2/3rds of the route... our rule was to lower on the first fall... Jaybro went up and made a couple moves more, then John, who gracefully let go after a couple of more moves beyond Jay's highpoint.
That was it, time was getting short... but John wanted to lead a route. We hadn't brought a lead rope, but no problem, we asked someone if we could use their's... "This is great, I can say John Bachar lead on my rope!" exclaimed the lender.
The BoC was in full force, John hadn't been "lead tested" nor had I, the belayer... up he went, though confused about the multi-colored tape path... making the top and lowering off.
Climbing was done and it was time to get ready for the show.
Dave Yerian showed up at some point, and though John and Dave were allowed to stay, the manager kicked Jaybro and I out while they setup... John protested "they are my security team!" but to no avail.
The show went off wonderfully, lots of Bay Area climbers in attendance...
...it turned out to be the last time I met with John, a great memory.
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FTOR
Sport climber
CA
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i alway get busted for not belaying like you're supposed to, then i noticed melvin in the other day and he's belaying just the same, like any other experienced climber would. they didn't seem to bother him.
just got a 20 year anniversary gift pack from them so been there a while. was a charter member of city rock before. city rock was open well before mc. while not the first indoor climbing gym, i believe the first to open on the model of artificial walls with modular bolt on holds. i know peter is on this site on occasion, wonder if he has any regrets with how the gym world turned out.
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Brock Wagstaff
Trad climber
Larkspur
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Hey Chris - I can't remember the year Mark bought Class 5 in San Rafael, but for awhile it was also part of the Touchstone family. Funky little gym, but it was home for a bunch of us Marin climbers. Wish they could find another location on this side of the bay!
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Is this where McClenahan went to after leaving Sonora?
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crankster
Trad climber
No. Tahoe
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Climbed a lot at the Bay Area and Sac gyms over the years. Great people, friendly vibe. The Sac bouldering area is cool, always stop in when I'm down off the hill visiting friends. Saw Honnald there last time cruising routes.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Mission Cliffs opened first. Then Touchstone bought Cityrock
So Mission Cliffs must be older than 20 years then, as I have a City Rock lead belay card from 1991, 24 years ago.
Regardless, they are all excellent gyms. I think MC is my favorite of their's. Go climbing and then get a good taco from the taco truck. Or if you're feeling flush with cash, go for dinner at Flour + Water down the street. Feeling skinny, head down to Humphrey Slocombe for some very fattening ice cream. Now I've made myself hungry...
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