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javaguy
Sep 23, 2003, 8:31 PM
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I have been climbing for little over a year and I don't use chalk. I don't even own a chalk bag. And I have newer really missed it. Except for on really hot summerdays on steep climbs with small holds.
I think it would be interesting to hear other peoples use/misuse of chalk.
Do you use chalk? And if you do, do you use it on every climb or only when you really need it?
Do chalk make the climb much easier..and how much easier? a whole grade? Is the use of chalk bad style?
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crankenstein
Sep 23, 2003, 8:36 PM
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Chalkbag = Little bag of powdered white courage.
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ninjaslut
Sep 23, 2003, 8:37 PM
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In reply to: Chalkbag = Little bag of powdered white courage.
I've heard similar things about concaine.
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joeschmoe
Sep 23, 2003, 8:46 PM
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chalk use is great style. I mean nothing looks cooler and says i've been climbing more than overly chalked hands.
bu seriously I use chalk anytime i start bouldering tougher problems, but thats because i have an issue where my hands sweat to no end. so if there's a slopey hold anywhere on the climb, i've gotta chalk up.
plus anymore i think its just habit. i dont really feel like i'm seriously climbing till i'm chalking up.
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arak42
Sep 23, 2003, 8:46 PM
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I do use chalk, but I think it is unconscience on my part. I don't think it really allows me to climb better. I think it gives me that (false) sence of security that I can send that move that I just fall on. "I fell because my hand slipped... yeah, that's what happened... "
I do not use chalk a lot when I climb, but I am told that I am sexy with a smug of chalk on my face and in my hair... oh baby! :wink: :) :wink:
Oh, and I have to add that I have the coolest chalk bag i have ever seen (Yes, I am humble!) I put a lining in a Crown Royal bag. Eh... one of my better ideas if I do say so myself! Really, I looked at prices of real chalk bags. I did not want to spend $10! But for some reason I could justify spending $15 on wiskey. heehee
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rwaltermyer
Sep 23, 2003, 9:00 PM
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I HAVE to use chalk. My hands would be so slimey after 6 or 7 moves that you could forget it. My hands even sweat when I boulder in November (and its 40 degrees!)
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alpinerock
Sep 23, 2003, 9:34 PM
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I'm lucky i've never had to use it, even though most of my climbing was in american fork this summer during the afternoon. my hands just don't sweat.
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lilcapntravis
Sep 23, 2003, 9:40 PM
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chalk is so psychological.
i was using chalk the other day when it was PERFECTLY dry outside, no humidity, no sweat on my palms, but i'd chalk up at rests. i didn't even realize i was doing it at first.
i'd say 60% of the time i don't even need chalk when i use it.
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xblacklungx
Sep 23, 2003, 9:42 PM
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i do, i have the same problem as rwaltermyer, someone once said that it looked like i had been fisting a cow because my hands sweat loads!
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pinkamy
Sep 23, 2003, 9:45 PM
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Chalk gives me the willies... kinda like fingernails on a chalk board. I use it anyway, but with apprehension. :lol:
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karmaklimber
Sep 23, 2003, 9:45 PM
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I suffer from sweaty hands syndrome, so chalk is imperative for me on long hard climbing days. When bouldering, I try my hardest to keep it inside my chalk pot and be clean about it. Chalking up before climbing a route has become part of my pre-climb ritual to help me mentally prepare for the climb ahead; approach wall and touch/feel it, put on harness, tie in, check belayer and have belayer check me, 1st read of route to see where it ends, 2nd read to spot holds, 3rd read for hand sequence while miming, put on shoes, roll up sleeves, chalk up, 4th read for body positioning/feet, chalk up again, 5th read to spot possible crux(es?), 6th read to piece it all together, and go.
It sometimes serves as "artificial confidence" if I'm unsure about making the next move, giving me time to gather myself when in a comfortable rest position.
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climbhigh2005
Sep 23, 2003, 10:01 PM
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yes!
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duckwalk
Sep 23, 2003, 10:01 PM
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i've also been climbing for over a year and I don't own a chalk bag. I will however, put some on at the beginning of the climb when its hot out. Because face it, on hot days, chalk is nice to have
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ouflyboy9
Sep 23, 2003, 10:34 PM
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i have really sweaty hands...so i've got to use it...but i try not to use it in excess
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allan_thomson
Sep 23, 2003, 10:40 PM
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Yes, but only infrequently. Only if I feel my hands slipping. Now I've got a new grippy thing as well though, which doesn't leave nasty smears over the rock face.
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coldclimb
Sep 23, 2003, 10:42 PM
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I have really unsweaty hands. I use a chalkball, because I never need a whole lot. Just a bit rubbed on the fingertips during frenzied efforts, and nothing more. My friends use the majority of my chalk, cause their hands sweat more. :)
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curt
Sep 23, 2003, 10:47 PM
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I am addicted to chalk. I personally can't see how anyone can climb anything without it. Although I did notice that the original poster here is from Norway and I live in Arizona--where it is still 107 degrees in late September.
Curt
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wv5ten
Sep 23, 2003, 11:04 PM
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I am cursed with sweaty sweaty hands. Pair that with the chalk eating sandstone at Cooper's Rock where i climb the most, and you got one guy thats addicted to chalk.
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bluelip
Sep 23, 2003, 11:53 PM
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My hand sweat very badly. BUT, I _DO_NOT_ use chalk.
I got a pair of those c4 gloves.
:lol:
j/k folks
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calamity_chk
Sep 23, 2003, 11:56 PM
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what? you can use the little blue cube that you use in pool to climb?? wow. how does that work?
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helmut
Sep 24, 2003, 12:00 AM
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Yes
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zorg
Sep 24, 2003, 12:03 AM
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yes.
God this is going to be a boring thread.
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turockgirl
Sep 24, 2003, 12:10 AM
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yep
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vegastradguy
Sep 24, 2003, 12:27 AM
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Chalk bag = think stick.
I generally chalk before starting a pitch, and perhaps right before the crux if I need to think about it...otherwise I usually get to the top of the pitch with no chalk left.
One chalkbag lasts approximately 6-8 months. woo!
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psychopsilocybin
Sep 24, 2003, 12:45 AM
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Give me Chalk....or Give me Death :P
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juju
Sep 24, 2003, 1:47 AM
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Yea, I'm a chalk-o-holic. It's partly because my hands sweat a lot, but I'd say 75% of the time I use it is because for some reason I feel I can climb better with it on. Even though I know it's mostly psychological, it makes me feel more comfortable climbing, and if that's what I need to do to climb harder, then so be it.
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madcowrockclimber
Sep 24, 2003, 1:57 AM
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Oh yes I use chalk. it helps absorb the sweat on my hands therfore giving a better grip. i have a bag on my harness one for bouldering on a long lenght of accesory cord to tie around my waist and i have a big ol chalk pot as well. forget the use of "climbing gloves". :idea: I keep a bolt from a climbing hold as a "fuel gauge" in all of my bags. if i go to chalk up and grab more bolt than chal it is time to get more chalk. :idea: I got a free "ecoball" at a bouldering comp a while back...THEY SUCK!!!
:idea: I use the "ecoball" in my truck console for when my hands get sweaty when i go on road trips. :idea:
8)
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bouldersdothebodygood
Sep 24, 2003, 2:20 AM
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ya i use chalk i need to sweaty hands. but like some other people who have replied it has also become part of my pre-climb routine. it just feels weird getting on the rock or plastic withought chalking up. also some people believe that they have the most stylish, amazing, or the coolest ect... looking chalk bag i have reason to believe they are all lying. i am the one with the coolest chalk bag. i got it in japan so that makes it cooler than any of yours already unless you got it in japan but along with that mine is chekered so you see therefore, mine is the coolest. just as a side note, in japan they sell them in bag shops in the differents city's and men and women use them around the city to hold money and call phones, probubly not ever knowing what they truely are.
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karmaklimber
Sep 24, 2003, 2:27 AM
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The coolest chalkbag I've seen was my friend's boyfriend's chalk bucket. He uses a big Kentucy Fried Chicken bag..thing.. Its like a big chicken bucket, but made from the same material as most gym bags, and it has a big zipper opening at the top. Has the KFC logo with Colonel Sanders and all. Its really big too. By far, it has to be the coolest one I've ever seen.
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olympicmtnboy
Sep 24, 2003, 2:33 AM
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I know I'm in the minority but I've been climbing for 7 years and never use chalk. The only time I have ever felt any desire or need for chalk was in a gym on a hot summer day towards the top of the route where it got a lot hotter and the holds were dripping from other people. I don't climb anywhere too hot and my hands just don't sweat (unless I'm mountaineering and wearing gloves which always get soaked). I often find that I get plenty of chalk just from holds where other people have way over chalked.
But if you need chalk, powder away. :-)
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legless
Sep 24, 2003, 3:24 AM
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so when i first started climbing a few years back i was stuck in boston for a winter and this dorm at harvard had a tiny woody that was built into the side of an old, drained, indoor pool. anyway, i didnt have chalk so i stole pieces of chalk from my philosophic logic class, crushed it and put it to use thinking that chalk=chalk. logical? yes. smart? no.
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thinksinpictures
Sep 24, 2003, 3:35 AM
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I use chalk, sometimes even because I need it.
Seriously, there are times (tonight at the gym) where I get all sweaty and nasty-tastic and there's no way I'd be able to pull of the ground without my friendly white powder :twisted:
Just as frequently though, I just reach back for my chalkbag like a security blanket. I've been known to chalk before tying in, before putting my shoes on, and I even chalked once before taking a leak. Don't think about that too hard.
Finally, I have to advocate chalk as a white powdery placebo. This weekend I was leading at Rumney - don't recall which route - and I reached up, felt the next hold, and thought, "no way." So I reached back in my happy magic bag, chalked up, grabbed the hold, and went for it (and yes, I sent). Did the chalk help, from a physics point of view? Almost certainly not. My hands were dry and the rock was good. But in the moment I sure convinced myself that a little fairy dust would help, and lo and behold, it did. Or I thought it did at the time.
Whatever gets you to the top.
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timmah
Sep 24, 2003, 4:16 AM
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hell yeah - I've even caught myself chalking up watching someone else go for
a hard move! Anyway, where would you stick your bolt plates if you didn't have a
chalk-bag? :roll:
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whitefingers
Sep 25, 2003, 6:46 PM
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Hi everyone, my name is Eric and Im a chalk user. Sometimes I chalk up before I tie in. Sometimes I chalk up after I chalked up. Sometimes I chalk up while Im watching someone else chalk up. Sometimes I eat chalk so I can bite the rock more effectively. I have the urge to hit the chalk right now!
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norskagent
Sep 25, 2003, 6:57 PM
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unabashedly. tickmarks4lyfe. I have seen people on routes who chalked up after practically every move, then fell because they got too pumped.
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bighigaz
Sep 25, 2003, 7:31 PM
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Let's see...
I use shampoo so my hair is cleaner...
I use shaving cream so my face is smoother...
I use deoderant so my pits smell nicer...
I use socks so my shoes don't get mustier...
I use CHALK because without it, I wouldn't get up half the walls I climb!
But as a side note, it is quite liberating to finishing a challenging climb (or moderate one for that matter) without it...
I wonder if it's the same with shampoo, shaving cream, deoderant, and socks? I'm going to try climbing without any of those things to start my day and see if I notice any changes... :shock:
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josephine
Sep 27, 2003, 8:31 AM
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I use chalk only when i need it...
Well,if you have sweaty hands it really chalk makes you climb easier,without the fear of slipping...
I use it only indoors.
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climbsomething
Sep 27, 2003, 9:54 AM
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In reply to: someone once said that it looked like i had been fisting a cow because my hands sweat loads! |
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dc
Sep 27, 2003, 12:11 PM
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my hands sweat loads... and even though ive been climbing for over 4 years, i still dont even own a chalkbag... i really need one though.. cos sometimes my hands just slip right off the wall.. especially in bouldering problems... i often just have to use a friend's chalk so i can complete a route... so yeah.. i would definately use chalk if i had any....
im gonna go and get a chalkbag right now...
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organic
Sep 27, 2003, 4:08 PM
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So I was bouldering and these guys were trying to 'scend this problem, I step up and chalk up heavily because there is this nasty sloper like the second move, they were like "Thats a lot of chalk" so then I 'scent it and they didn't, end of story.
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telemarkist
Sep 27, 2003, 4:44 PM
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can't stick without it, always end up chalking my earhole somehow?
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corpse
Sep 27, 2003, 11:45 PM
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I use a chalkbag, because I have to put my digital camera in there.
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revdeuno
Sep 28, 2003, 12:20 AM
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i use chalk every time i climb. my hands get sweaty just thinking about climbing.
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erbolache
Sep 28, 2003, 12:50 AM
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That happens to me also, if I'm looking a climbing video, reading a climbing book or magazine, or just remember some moves I have made, I start to sweat a lot, so imagine how much I sweat when I'm climbing, I not only use chalk, I produce it, so i can use large amount of chalk, without worry about expending money.
Robo
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jipstyle
Sep 28, 2003, 4:15 AM
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I chalk up while posting on rc.com.
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dynoguy
Sep 28, 2003, 4:34 AM
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I produce it, so i can use large amount of chalk, without worry about expending money.
how do you make your own chalk?
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redpoint73
Sep 28, 2003, 2:07 PM
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In reply to: i use chalk every time i climb. my hands get sweaty just thinking about climbing.
Yep. Me too!
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stanagesi
Sep 29, 2003, 1:58 PM
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:shock: YES
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joshj
Sep 29, 2003, 2:17 PM
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I use it on most climbs. I agree that it's pretty much a psychological need, but it does seem to help when going for small holds.
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