[Sasquatch]

Disclaimer: I'm not sponsored by anyone in anyway except my wife. 

Short answer:  This stuff is a bit like cheating.  I think it's as big or bigger of a difference than antihydral.  Yes it seems to be worth the cost on this side of the pond as I use FAR less of it, so I'm going through about 1/3 to 1/2 as much chalk as I otherwise would, which offsets the 50% higher cost. 

Long Answer:  I'm generally a sceptic of most things, but after hearing about this stuff non-stop, I decided to give it a whirl.  After all, a bag was about $10, so worst case was a tenner loss.  I got my first bag in Macrh just as I was transitioning off of a campus cycle and into a PE cycle.  I don't do alot of PE, so it was hard for me to judge at the time how much of a difference it made.  It seemed like it worked better, and lasted longer, but I just wasn't really sure. 

In late April I was back on the FB and the difference was obvious.  I wouldn't credit it with making me stronger, but I wasn't having to fuss with a fan or with the humidity or with fighting to keep the skin nice and dry.  Just chalk and go.  Same thing bouldering.  Warming up, I could chalk up once and do about 8-10 problems before even thinking about chalking up. 

In June I've been on the campus board and outside for just a couple of days, and it's been pretty clear that there's a difference.  How much?  Well, there's the rub.  It's chalk.  it won't make you stronger or give you better technique.  What it will do is widen the range of good conditions meaning higher chance of success of less than perfect days.  Better training consistancy meaning it's easier to track progression effectively.  etc. 

I remember when the original metolius superchalk came out, and what a difference it made at the time.  Since then, I feel like the metolius chalk has gotten progressively less and less different from all the rest.  This reminds me of when the superchalk first arrived.  It was distinctly different, and so it this. 

Let me know if you've got any questions.

Modified to add website: http://frictionlabs.com/

[tomtom]

Nice overview Sasq - is this the shizz with a tiny bit of poff in it?

[Sasquatch]

I don't think so, and I really I hope not.  I think that was what they did to make the superchalk so sticky, which I'd guess is no longer part of it and hence why it's no longer any good

[Boredboy]

Super chalk: AKA the Devils dandruff

[petejh]

Nice one Sasq, the perfect unbiased advert - got me interested enough to buy some. You should ask for some freebies!

[a dense loner]

It's fantastic

[cheque]

Nice overview Sasq - is this the shizz with a tiny bit of poff in it?

Their website claims it's "The purest chalk out there" so I'd assume not. Apparently it has more magnesium carbonate than calcium carbonate in it and calcium carbonate is bad. I know fuck all about science so won't even try to assess whether this is bullshit or not. Reassuring that it sounds not to have pof in it though.

[fried]

It's fantastic

Better be at 50p a tick mark.

[petejh]

It's fantastic

I imagined you as a member of the Clean Hand Gang, (Eastern Youth League)

[Sasquatch]

Nice one Sasq, the perfect unbiased advert - got me interested enough to buy some. You should ask for some freebies!

Nah.  you'd have to give me quite a bit more than a bag of chalk to sell my soul

[tomtom]

It's fantastic

Better be at 50p a tick mark.

I'll have to take a separate bag of cheap chalk for ticking..

[Sasquatch]

Colored chalk crayons work well for this.  That way you know which ones are yours. 

[a dense loner]

Good god Pete it wouldn't be the youth league!

[tomtom]

Colored chalk crayons work well for this.  That way you know which ones are yours.

:D

[Sasquatch]

Colored chalk crayons work well for this.  That way you know which ones are yours.

They come in a nice little box too for easy carrying.  I'm quite surprised they haven't taken off. 

Seriously though, I know someone who did this at the RRG.  He stirred up a hell of a shit storm. 

[Three Nine]

Where's selling in the uk please?

[petejh]

Good god Pete it wouldn't be the youth league!

Younger than Ken Wilson qualifies.

Does this chalk remain on the rock as well as it stays on sweaty hands?   

[Sasquatch]

I bought some of that friction labs chalk recently, and figured I'd do a little blind test with some people and do a review, then it turned out that Mountain Boot Co (Scarpa & Edelweiss importer) are importing it, so a review seems like a waste of time as I wouldn't trust it if it were someone else doing it and their sponsor was the importer..

Looks like its available through http://trade.mountainboot.co.uk/ , or will be soon.

Also, this is part of why I did a quick review.  Seemed like there may be interest, and since I'm objective and free of ethical constraints...

[Sasquatch]

Good god Pete it wouldn't be the youth league!

Younger than Ken Wilson qualifies.

Does this chalk remain on the rock as well as it stays on sweaty hands?   

I don't know.  As I live in a generally wet climate, I'm not too fussed, but that is a very good question. 

[sjw]

Where's selling in the uk please?

Climb Newcastle sell it, although it's not on their site yet

[TheTwig]

Which 'size' did you try Sas? Seems it comes in 3 though I imagine it's all the same stuff. I might have to get some, my 'local' wall is insanely hot anytime outside of winter, training is hard enough work without the increased sweat 

[Richie Crouch]

I've been using the finer grade unicorn dust for the last 3 months and the difference it makes in summer is great. A marked difference in how long your hands stay dry/cling on to holds without sliding about.

As Sasquatch said, the amount of chalk needed is cut right down, which will help offset the financial blow!

The way to go is warming up/brushing/cleaning with cheap block chalk and saving the good shit for redpointing.

[tomtom]

I'm wondering if the impact of the magic chalk depends from person to person?

I'm lucky having hands that don't sweat up much - so I don't need to use that much chalk. However, I know there are folk out there who have to slather layers of liquid chalk before regular chalk to keep things under control - so perhaps it has a greater effect on those with sweatier hands?

For me chalk is generally a choice of what irritates my skin the least... The metoleous and moon chalk used to make my cuticles shrivel and eventually bleed - also seemed to help me get joint splits/problems. So I've settled on the cheapo Simond chalk from Decathlon - as it seems to work fine - and I don't need to hose down my hands immediately after a session to prevent a dermatological Armageddon.

But hey - if this shizz works then great...

[abarro81]

I've been using this recently. Unlike Mr Crouch (and one of the American reviews that I read), I don't particularly notice my hands actually being drier than normal, but they do feel less slippy if that makes sense. Stu briefly tried some of it and I think had a similar response.
Disclaimer: whilst I bought the chalk that I'm using, and would continue to buy it for use on hard attempts (I now take 2 chalk bags to the crag) I then found out that it's imported by mountain boot company who I get free stuff from. Feel free to thus disregard my opinions.

[a dense loner]

I'm not going to disregard your opinion because you'll get it free, that has nothing to do with me disregarding it