The Pipeworks gym on North 16th Street offers climbers more than 100 ever-changing routes. Everyday, the gym’s full-time team of routesetters changes a handful of paths, meticulously piecing together a massive puzzle of hand and foot holds.
“We’re like that guy in ‘Labyrinth.’ We’re David Bowie,” says routesetter Bennett Dahl. Josh Foster (pictured) has been setting routes for the past seven years and says it’s a job that can be physically demanding, requiring a significant amount of core strength to navigate certain portions of the wall while toting a 40-pound bag of equipment.
Pipework’s parent company, Touchstone Climbing, bought out a climbing-mould manufacturer in 2004 and has since been producing all the holds for Touchstone’s eight Northern California climbing facilities right here in Sacramento.
In a shop behind the North 16th Street gym, the routesetting crew, including Ryan Rougeux (pictured) hand shapes all the climbing holds to create the perfect selection of grips for each route.
The team is currently busy creating nearly 3,600 fresh holds for Touchstone’s newest gym, Dogpatch Boulders in San Francisco.
Photos: Ken James Captions: Christine Calvin
Pipeworks' routesetters set the bar high
Yoga is good for you, but be careful boys
I’ve always snickered at yoga.It just seemed ridiculous. But men are flocking to yoga the way we once, in the ’80s, took to this thing called “jogging.” We’re learning that yoga bestows a slew of health benefits — physical, mental, even sexual. But new research also points to increased health risks for men, and this muddies the decision.
