PLASTIC PARADISE: Mission Cliffs - San Francisco, California

Words by Rebekah Donaldson / Photos courtesy Touchstone Climbing

Mission Cliffs: 2295 Harrison St., San Francisco, California, 94110. 415.550.0515 www.touchstoneclimbing.com/mc.html

This month Mission Cliffs turns ten years old, and not only is it still world class, it's expanding to become even better.

Flashback to 1995, when I'd been on the road for six months, climbing outside and in every gym I could find across the U.S. When I arrived in San Francisco, I heard a rumor about a climbing wall being built in the Mission district. Some folks, named the Melvins, had convinced a few friends to go in it, and it might be big. Cruising down Harrison, I saw a vast metal building where the doors were thrown open and the scream of a circular saw was spilling out.

Inside workers were welding the steel frame of a wall that filled a cavernous building (they used to build the stage locks for the Panama Canal in there). There were overhangs of every angle, realistic looking aretes and dihedrals, and wide sweeps of tilted, textured wall. A lean, soft-spoken guy said, "Hello." He was Mark Melvin, CEO of Touchstone Climbing.

I'd seen fifty or more indoor gyms by 1995, so why was I floored when I first saw Mission Cliffs? Because it was perfect! Mark had hired Christian Griffith, hard sport route pioneer from Colorado and owner of Verve Clothing, to design the wall. There weren't too many features built in, so that the route setters would have flexibility. The shapes, angles, and look of the place inspired you to want to tie in and take off.

Later, when Touchstone would buy and build gyms all over northern California, the wall designs would continue to set the national standard. And when I pried my eyes off of the walls, I saw shiny new weight equipment, incredible bouldering, aerobic machines, a retail shop, a sauna, and the full fitness set up. I was moving to San Francisco.

Mission Cliffs had a national competition in the gym a month after it had opened. The paint wasn't even dry, and lots remained to be done. But it was clear to all the top guys that this was a destination for climbers from around the world. Later we'd see Jim Bridwell, Conrad Anker, Yugi Hirayama, gaggles of French climbers - even Royal Robbins and Yvon Chouinard - walk in and stare. Mission Cliffs isn't just huge, it's graceful - like a cathedral.

Now it's been ten years since Mission Cliffs opened its doors. Touchstone bought Class 5 in San Rafael and rebuilt it on the new, futuristic climbing/fitness gym model. Then they bought CityRock in Emeryville. Then they built a stunning gym down the road, Berkeley Ironworks. Then they built Sacramento Pipeworks on the same model, up the road. They even built a bouldering-only gym in downtown San Jose, and another gym in Concord. People flocked from all over northern California.

The Melvins set the tone for a zero-attitude atmosphere at all the gyms. Within that, each gym, including Mission Cliffs, created its own culture. New climbers materialized out of the general public, and a population of outdoor climbers who had been trekking to the Yosemite, Bishop, Donner Summit, Joshua Tree, and the Needles, breathed a sigh of relief. Here were places we could connect, climb, socialize, and cross-train.

The gyms have evolved each year to meet more member needs. Now they offer full weight rooms, cardio equipment, yoga, Pilates, birthday parties, spin classes, bike clubs, Tai Chi, corporate team-building, slack lines, climbing competitions in every format, summer camps - you name it. In essence, the gyms have created a center of gravity in their towns for a community of us folks who used to have to travel for hours to climb.