All Diablo Valley College students have just gained new statewide benefits throughout the entire Touchstone Climbing gyms chain.

For a long time, Diablo Rock Gym near Diablo Valley College has been offering a limited discounted membership for all college students. For $74 a month, students who paid for student membership had access to DRG in Concord but couldn’t climb or work out at any other of the Touchstone Climbing locations without paying a separate fee at each of them.

Touchstone Climbing has now changed these conditions. In a letter from Oct. 23 addressed to all DRG student members, the gym announced that student membership would now be available only for DVC students.

“This (student) discount was established and intended to be offered exclusively to full-time DVC students,” the letter stated.

The gym will continue providing continuous discounted access to DRG to all current non-DVC student members “for the duration of (their) continued educational period,” the letter said.

As a part of this change, DVC students who are or who become members at DRG now have full access to all Touchstone Climbing gyms at the same discounted fee of $74 per month.

The membership continues to be offered only to full-time students, and those who want to get the discount “must provide a current class schedule with at least 12 units,” as stated on the DRG website. An unofficial transcript or a screenshot of registered classes is enough as proof.

“We’ve also decided to allow reciprocal gym access to our student memberships, meaning that you can now visit any Touchstone Climbing location and simply swipe/scan (your membership card) as you would at DRG,” said the letter. This now allows student members to climb and work out for the same price at Touchstone Climbing gyms throughout California.

Touchstone Climbing has 12 gyms from Sacramento to San Francisco to Los Angeles with many more scattered between and around those cities. Besides DRG in Concord, there are two more locations near DVC: Berkeley Ironworks in Berkeley and Great Western Power Co. in Oakland. For more information and locations, visit Touchstone Climbing website.