Berkeley Ironworks

😎 Student Summer Special 😎

Who doesn’t love a Summer belaytionship? ⛱️ No commitment, no problem.

This Summer, students can enjoy 3 months of unlimited climbing, yoga, fitness, weights, & more for $200 🤩.

✅ New members only
✅ Must purchase at the gym
✅ Must have a student ID

💥 The Oaks is Open—$0 Initiation Deal 💥

Just in case you’re one of the 27,000+ people who asked, we want to make sure you’re one of the first to know 🥰—The Oaks opens today. 🙌

⚡️May 10
⚡️10am – 10pm

Located in the bustling section of upper Solano Ave. in Berkeley—just east of iconic Indian Rock Park—The Oaks offers state-of-the-art bouldering, fitness, saunas, and more.

Join us to explore the space, relish the friction of brand-new plastic ⚡️, and vibe with our community in all the splendor.

To celebrate the opening of our new East Bay bouldering gym, we’re also offering a $0 initiation fee sale. Join the gym online or in-person before the end of May and pay $0 in initiation fees.

😻 TCS2024 Dates Drop 😻

We can’t wait for this year’s Touchstone Climbing Series (TCS)!
TCS is our way of saying thank you to members and friends. Expect 👏 fresh sets light-hearted 💕 competition, raffle prices galore, and 🍺 beers for all (21+).

For 2024, we are sticking to our new format where events are happening at multiple gyms on the same day. This format will keep crowds 🧗‍♀️ manageable, comp climbs accessible, and ensure each community gets its own party.

NORTHERN CA:
March 1st at 5pm - 10pm, ROPES
+

May 11th at 12pm - 5pm, ROPES
+

July 19th at 5pm - 10pm, ROPES


April 26th at 5pm - 10pm, BOULDERING
+

September 27th at 5pm - 10pm, BOULDERING
+

SOUTHERN CA:
April 20th at 12pm - 5pm, ROPES


June 15th at 12pm - 5pm, BOULDERING
+

October 5th at 12pm - 5pm, BOULDERING
+

Big thanks to for creating this year’s TCS design!

🚨$0 INITIATION LAST CALL🚨

🪨🍂 ROCKTOBER 🪨🍂 ends tomorrow: 10/21.

Get the deal while it lasts online (link in bio) and in person🕺 🤘

🎇Progression Sessions Climbing Clinic 🎇

Individualized training—group camaraderie

Looking to improve your overall strength 💪, send a specific project 🧗‍♀️, recover from an injury 🤕, or harness group camaraderie 👯‍♂️ for powerful workouts? The Progression Sessions climbing clinic is for you.

Led by Team Touchstone coach and v10 climber Justin Black, this month-long climbing clinic is designed for committed climbers looking to up their game and includes:

⚡️ An individualized training plan 📓to meet your goals
⚡️ Guidance on rest & recovery, nutrition 🥑🥗🍗🫘, injury prevention, etc.
⚡️ 8 coaching sessions, including on- and off-the-wall drills

This one-month clinic begins Sep 5, 2023, and meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7 am – 9 am.

Price 💵: $200 for members, $400 for non-members

Learn more, including the prerequisites, by following the link in bio.

July artist of the month is none other than James, one of BIWs finest .pork. Although self described as a “man of few words” he is a regular fountain of puns and takes a lovely photograph. Please enjoy this celebration of Berkeley Ironworks that dear James has cooked up and stop by the desk for a chat!

We’re proud to celebrate the full spectrum of kaleidoscopic love. Check out this year’s super fun design modeled by our faves, Amy, Jeffrey, Conrad B, and if you swipe right, a special guest at PP this past weekend:

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️
Join our celebration while supporting LGBTQIA+ organizations across California:

Pride Wear $25
Pride Stickers $2

100% of proceeds to LGBTQ organizations across California.

Can’t make it into the gym? Purchase Touchstone Pride wear online at shop.touchstoneclimbing.com

💫 Celebrating Black Excellence in Climbing this weekend 💫

In 2013, made history as the first all-Black team to scale America’s highest peak. This history-making continued in 2022 with — the first all-Black team to summit the highest mountain on Earth.

Join Expedition Denali and Full Circle Everest athletes to celebrate these historic ascents.

🏔️Saturday, June 24th, 5:30pm – 10pm

An intentional space for folks who identify as Black Diaspora*, the Saturday event features a panel discussion moderated by .

🏔️Sunday, June 25th, 2pm – 7pm

A community celebration for all, the Sunday event features a panel discussion moderated by -anker.

Both events include:

✨ FREE CLIMBING WITH ATHLETES
✨ MUSIC
✨ FOOD
✨ RAFFLE GIVEAWAYS

In partnership with , this event is an opportunity for athletes to use climbing as a catalyst for belonging in the outdoors. We are all deeply connected to nature, and outdoor activities and belonging return us to that deep connection — reminding us .

📸

Men’s sauna is out of commission as we work to discover why it’s not working properly. Thank you in advance for your patience!

👨‍🍼Celebrating Rad Dads 👨‍👦‍👦

Hey dads, we see you 👀. Thanks for your support, guidance, and camaraderie.

To celebrate all we love 💗 about dads, we’re offering free guest passes to all of our members this Father’s Day — Sunday, June 18th. Bring a dad (or anyone!) to one of our gyms on Father’s Day, and they get to climb for free.

Join us this Juneteenth

⚡️ 100% of Day Pass sales to be donated to
⚡️ Enjoy free cupcakes (purchased from )

Black Rock Collective is a monthly climbing meet-up that fosters Black joy in climbing, offers a safe learning space, and empowers Black folks to get out there and crush in an encouraging environment. All Juneteenth donations will be used to organize larger free events, supply community members with climbing gear 🪢, and save for outdoor trips 🏔️ in 2024.

The realized vision of owner Lila Owens, Cupcakin offers artisan baked goods 🧁 made from high-quality, sustainable ingredients in Berkeley, Ca.

Wednesday, June 14th, 7:30pm Book Tour All and Nothing: Inside Free Soloing is a comprehensive look at the relationship with risk and reward in free soloing, as well as a look at the psychology of those who partake and the media that fuels it. Writer and climber Jeff Smoot explores the interplay of climbing and risk and shares original interviews with dozens of free soloists. Smoot recounts his personal experiences climbing in the same era as talented climbers like Mark Twight and Peter Croft and the price he’s paid for his escapades.

Immersive and personal, All and Nothing sheds light on the risks and rewards of following your passion when so much is at stake.

JEFF SMOOT is a writer and photographer. His memoir Hangdog Days: Conflict, Change, and the Race for 5.14, chronicling rock climbing in the 1980s, was a finalist for the Boardman Tasker award. Originally from Seattle, he now resides in Hawaii.

Congratulations to Ellie and Jasper for graduating from high school! It’s been such a treat watching you grow up in the gym.

Give them your wisest adult wisdom next time you see them out on a safety walk. 👩‍🎓🎉🧑‍🎓

📸: .pork

Donut 🍩Day $0 Initiation Fee Flash⚡️Sale

You know what donuts don’t have? An initiation fee.

To celebrate this, and all the other things we love about donuts, we’re offering a special $0 initiation day for National Donut Day. TODAY ONLY!

Become a Touchstone member online or in the gym on June 2, 2023 — aka National Donut Day — and pay $0 in initiation fees.

Why? Cause… donuts. That’s why.

🍩

Ready to take your climbing OUDSIDE, but unsure how to do so safely, and ethically? Learn the basics of real pebble wrestling with our Bouldering Outside clinic this Sunday at Indian Rock Park.

In this clinic you’ll learn how to read real rock, create a safe landing zone, and give a safe spot. You’ll also learn important outdoor ethics that keep climbing areas clean and accessible to the public.

Sign up online or at the front desk.

📸: .pork

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and what better way to show ❤ appreciation to the most important person in your life than climbing together?

This Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 14th, we are offering free day passes to our Touchstone Members most important persons (moms, parents, babysitters, role models, legends) — as long as they come with you, a Touchstone Member. Cause who doesn’t want to spend quality with someone they love on any day? Not to mention save some money?

To all the and and out there, thank you for all you do. We literally wouldn’t be here without your love, nourishment, and support. 🥰

May Artist of the Month

Jack Byrley uses his art to support his lifestyle of being a National Park Ranger. He went to school in the Bay Area studying animation but has since decided to pursue a career that involved spending less time in front of a computer. He has spent three summers in the Sierras, as well as having worked at Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Pinnacles. When he's not full sending V0s at the crag, he is fascinated by aspects of nature that often go overlooked: insects, mushrooms, moss, and more. He hopes that his art will inspire people to appreciate the nature that can often be found just under our feet. Other sources of inspiration include obscure cartoons, strange sounding music, shady Oakland alleyways, and the visions he gets in his dreams.

Contact Info: https://ebyrley6698.wixsite.com/lbyrley (website), [email protected] (email)

Not a lot to add except, please refrain from pouring water on the heating elements!

Can’t wait until RR 17 next week? Come get your fix tonight in the training center!

The epic story of Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s years long battle with El Cap’s most challenging route. The Dawn Wall is truly one of the greatest climbing film.

7pm in the Training Center across the street from the gym. Bring snacks, bring drinks, bring friends, bring enemies.

Booking link:
http://bit.ly/43qP2IY

REEL ROCK 17

Three heart-stopping new world-premiere films:

DNA
Stunning footage of 29-year-old French phenom, Seb Bouin, as he tackles what may be the world’s hardest sport climb in the Verdon Gorge of France.

RESISTANCE CLIMBING
In conflict-torn Palestine, a diverse group of climbers finds community, solace and redemption.

BURNING THE FLAME
Elite Austrian power duo Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher attempt a coveted free ascent of The Nameless Tower in Pakistan.

Date: Friday, 4/28
Price: $20

If you have wet skin, check out photo 1 for everything you need to take to the crag. Photo 2 is for you lucky dry skin folks. Make sure to use some spit before your send goes, it makes a world of difference.

We also just got a restock of and chalkbags, come get yours before they’re gone!
These new .climbing skin shapers are the bomb! 💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣

Guess what? (Chicken butt)

We are hosting a showing of ReelRock 17 on April 28th at 7pm! Make sure to sign up quickly since we will have enough seats for about 50 people. Everyone else should bring something comfy to sit on ☁️ and maybe some yummy snacks. We love snacks 🍩💜

We’re all so lucky to have Victor in our lives, and now we’re even luckier to have more Victor! Starting March 7th Victor will be teaching a lunchtime boot camp class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 to 1:30.

👀👀 MONDAY 2/27 👀👀

🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓🆓

Left over carpet from our old floors up for grabs. First come, first served!!! Dog beds, back of truck, backyard? So many uses. Let’s not put this in the landfill!!!

🥰 Free entry for member’s special someone this February 14, 2023 🥰

It’s that time of year again — the time to cherish that special someone who’s always there to catch you when you fall. The one you count on to ensure your harness is doubled back, your figure 8 looks good, or your carabiner is locked. The one you count on to remind you to breathe, shouts for you to “try hard!” and victory dances with you after the send.

We’re talking belaytionships, people. Because February 14th is Belaytionship day at Touchstone Climbing.

On this day, any member can bring a special person — a friend, partner, or someone else they trust with their life — to the gym with them, and that person will get in for free.

If they look hard enough, we’re sure every climber can find their own special belaytionship. And isn’t that something worth celebrating?

Tonight at 7 in the Training Center!

Sylvester Stallone’s 1993 action thriller Cliffhanger has been ridiculed by the climbing community for the last three decades for its hilariously poor portrayal of climbing (Can you say bolt gun?)
Does accuracy matter in Hollywood blockbusters? How was this nominated for three Academy Awards? And does it pass the Bechdel test? We’ll answer all these questions and more tonight.

Bring snacks, bring drinks, bring friends, bring enemies

This month at Berkeley Ironworks we're featuring a collection of Brian Fogg's landscape and travel photography. This exhibit features enlargements of medium format panoramic images depicting Utah's finest cliffs and geological formations. All shot on film in December 2022 and printed to fit our wall! View the exhibition digitally at brianfogg.com/Photo

Hola todos! LatinX is coming by tonight! Come join us for an evening of fun festivities like piñata smashing, boulder crushing, socializing with new friends, y mucho mas! Te esperamos aqui 🎉