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General Climbing Discussion

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To Chalk or not to Chalk 1-Apr-2005 At 9:50:07 AM itchyfingers

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i am new to the site, but have been climbing for many years. i used to use chalk frequently, but since the start of the year and brendan stemps article in rock have not touched the 'addictive substance'. since stopping i have not fallen off anything that i would fall off anyway. i have been leading grade 19's and had no issues without it. I agree with brendan when he says that it is a mental thing, because other people i climb with have stopped more recently, and although having sworn they would never be able to climb without it, have had no issuse stopping.

Three main issues i have with chalk
1- the damage to the rock. it doesn't matter if you are on slabby climbs, it will NOT come off in the rain. the northern jawbones are slabby, and on a gentle angle, exposed to the weather, yet on some of the biggest buckets around there are chalk stains. not really noticable, but still there. (when you 'quit' you become much more attuned to chalk on the cliff and used by others.)

2- it wastes energy. how many times have you got on a climb that is medium to your level and hung around chalking up, wasting energy reserves. when you stop using chalk you get less pumped out (in general).

3- it is unnecessary. people who use chalk often do it even before getting on the climb, not knowing if the moves are big, small, hard or easy, as soon as they tie in they reach for the chalk. secondly, people don't stop in the middle of a crux move to chalk up that's stupid, they do it after. so if you can do a sequence of hard moves and not fall off, why do you feel the need to chalk up -after- that section when it gets easier?

i have used chalk before so i can't let rip as much as i would like (less moral high ground i guess ; ) but it would be good if you take the challenge to leave your chalk bag at home next day trip and see if you get up any easier or less so.

one last thing: because i see it as a mental thing, if you try not to focus on the sweaty palms, or the lack of chalk, it will be easier. now that i've got that off my chest i'll just go dream about the next trip to araps... mmmn...tannin...