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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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I've never used chalk except on some rare (very hot) occasions. One of the more interesting things to come out of that is that on putting up FAs when I've had young belayers help out. When it was their turn to come up the pitch each of them has essentially said the same thing:
I'm going to have to pay way more attention to what you are doing this next pitch because I had no idea where to put my hands and don't know if I've ever climbed anything without chalk on it before.
And that gets to my biggest objection to chalk - a climbing-by-the-dots mentality. It dumbs down climbs and climbing to a remarkable and never mentioned degree.
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Ihateplastic
Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
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You don't have to use chalk to climb hard.
And you don't have to climb hard to use chalk.
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Hard Rock
Trad climber
Montana
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I started with chalk in the early 70's at Devils Lake. It was Ok because I could give it up anytime I wanted. I thought I had solved the chalk problem in the mid 80's with an article in CLIMBING just seperating the use.
North Face - no chalk/South Face - chalk; AM-no chalk/PM - chalk; etc.
I took a vote but didn't really get much for results.
Maybe it was the $1.00 poll tax I charged. Oh well.
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Eric Beck
Sport climber
Bishop, California
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One time Lori looks at me and says "You're a chalk mess". I guess I had chalk all over me. I replied "I'm the Chalk Mess Monster".
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deschamps
Trad climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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You don't have to use chalk to climb hard.
True, if you want to wait a few days or months for good temps and conditions to come in. But false most of the time. 5.13 and up gets very difficult with sweaty hands.
For those that blame chalk on climbers' desire to climb harder grades than the next guy, I disagree. I love to push the grades. Not based on competition but based on seeing how far I can push my own abilities. Grades are a great way to measure my development. It's a personal thing, and I actually can't stand feelings of competition in climbing.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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This argument about chalk is just so, so old. I remember "purists" in Boulder complaining about the chalk mark in Eldo and on Flagstaff Mountain back in 1973 (?). Just don't think chalk is going to go away anytime soon. Besides, one good rain and it disappears.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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0ne good rain and it disappears.
If only. If ever there were a group think delusion of mythic proportions, this is it.
About the only place I'd possibly believe that is Devils Lake - nothing sticks to that sh#t.
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Paul Martzen
Trad climber
Fresno
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In the mid 1970's Larry Zulim and I would often go bouldering after work during the San Joaquin summer. With temperatures typically 100 degrees plus, we were sweating profusely on the drive as well as the hike. We could not climb in the sun without burning our hands, but even in the shade the boulders were very hot. They had been absorbing heat all day and needed half the night to cool off. The rock was hotter than the air.
There were some good hand jams, but inside the crack the heat was especially intense. At the base of a climb, we would cover each hand with a thick layer of chalk to momentarily dry the profuse sweat. Then we immediately climbed as fast as possible, inserting and retrieving our hands from the oven hot crack. Even a thick layer of chalk provided only a few seconds of dryness. Halfway up the crack but hopefully above the typical bulges, our hands would be dripping sweat again while the chalk was a slimy white mud. We could not stop to rechalk without sliming out of the cracks, so it was a one shot affair.
Now days, I generally don't use chalk, but might carry my bag more if I would use a chalk ball. If the weather is warm though, I will wish I had a chalk bag and then meekly beg to borrow one. I won't climb in 100 degree weather anymore. One of the nice side benefits of my brain transplant. The old brain overheated just too many times.
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wstmrnclmr
Trad climber
Bolinas, CA
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Warbler....I too am impressed to hear Grossman climbed without chalk (photo of him on GBG on Royal Arches Apron thread proves it). However, he did fall, as noted, on the climb. Would it have helped to have chock? Probably not as footwork seemed to be the issue. Rick A also fell there on FA but don't know if he had chalk or not. He, of course, had incredible footwork as well. Maybe modern rubber discussion for another day. You, yourself being a badass slab man may be able to comment.
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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You don't have to use chalk to climb hard.
Spoken like a slab climber who has never done anything harder than 5.11 on anything steeper than vertical. Which is fine... I don't have to use chalk on warm ups either.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Mechrist,
What a bunch of horsesh#t. I'm just a duffer these days, but your position doesn't hold water. I'd love to see the reaction if you said that to Berndt Arnold's face!
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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Awesome... you comparing everyone else to Bernd Arnold. Personally I consider him WAY WAY WAY out of everyone elses league.
Sharma did 5.14 in flip flops... you don't need climbing shoes to climb hard.
Fred Nicole did a one pinky pull-up... you don't need hands to do pull ups.
pfft!
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RP3
Big Wall climber
El Portal/Chapel Hill
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I bet that the more someone bitches about chalk on the internet, the more they actually are sublimating their desire to be outside rock climbing (...and probably using chalk).
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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What struck me in those early years of chalk use (1950s) was that the debate frequently was between those whose hands tended to sweat a lot and those whose hands didn't sweat all that much.
I never met a gymnast who did not use chalk. But perhaps there are a few out there. As Rich has said going up the climbing rope in the gym was virtually impossible without chalking.
This argument has now been going on intermittently for close to 60 years.
;>)
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KabalaArch
Trad climber
Starlite, California
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Harry Daley route on Monday Mornig Slab, I took umbrage
I took XTC, since umbrage is a gateway to Road Rage.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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I want post # 100. Did somebody bail? There it is.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Chalk is bad.
I use chalk.
I am bad.
My partners no use chalk.
They are good.
I am bad.
If I could do it all over again,
I'd do it chalkless.
I just wish my friggin' hands didn't sweat so much.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Eeyonkee, good one!!
Climbing 5.14 in sandals is a style issue. Doing one finger pull-ups is a style issue. Both are amazing, but have nothing to do with ethics. Chalk is an ethics issue because it has an environmental impact and a style issue because if you can do a given climb without it you have done it in better style than with it. Do what you want, but quit making sh#t up about it. Using chalk is still littering.
And, Berndt Arnold is still proof that you don't have to use chalk to climb hard.
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Byran
climber
Yosemite Valley, CA
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think chalk has much of an environmental impact. It's my understanding that the stuff is pretty benign, and it's used in relatively small quantities. What it has is a visual impact, as experienced by other human beings. Personally, I think a boulder field or crag covered in chalked holds looks great. It signifies that the routes are clean and well-traveled, not just a pile of choss and munge. Others obviously don't appreciate the aesthetics of chalked lines.
But I would say that it's a good idea to take it easy on the stuff in areas where there is a lot of non-climber traffic and it could possibly strain climber relations with land managers. I always cringe a little when I see the Yosemite Lower Falls Amphitheater caked with chalk in the fall.
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Chango
Trad climber
norcal
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All this chalk talk mock makin me knock back black bock
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