[Droyd]

Having worked my way through a pretty massive stockpile of Moon Dust I managed to get cheap a couple of years back, I'm staring down the barrel of finally having to restock and am looking for a better option than buying a 300g bag whenever I'm at the wall and remember I'm running low. Really it'd be nice to buy a good whack of the stuff for relatively cheap.

Metolius is awful, the Beta stuff feels like gravel to me, and I'm not really that big a fan of the plastic-free Moon packaging (great for the environment and all but my house is a bit damp). So, is there an alternative to Moon Dust in terms of a decent balance of quality and price? Has anyone tried the Simond stuff Decathlon sell in big plastic tubs? Is there some gymnastics chalk out there that just happens to be perfect?

[spidermonkey09]

I bought a monster 1kg bag of wild country chalk from Outside a while back. I am a Moon Dust fan and this seems equally good, although it still wasnt peanuts, from memory about 20 quid.

[JamieG]

Has anyone tried the Simond stuff Decathlon sell in big plastic tubs?

Not bought the the stuff in the plastic tubs, but do buy the stuff in the bags. This stuff. https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/climbing-chalk-200-grams/_/R-p-130423?mc=8183037

It seems fine to me. Nothing special, but not crap either and pretty cheap. Doesn't bring on any eczema either which other brands have done before. I'm not sure I buy into all the hype about different specialist chalks. It all mostly seems the same to me. Except that unicorn dust stuff which I find horrible. Feels like flour.

[Aussiegav]

What’s wrong with good old fashioned chalk balls & the packaged block chalk from decathlon?
I can come up with at least half dozen facts why I don’t get up problems and routes.

[dunnyg]

I bought a load of blocks in paper and store them in a tupperware type box. Can have whatever you like then. I like the gravrl chalk for some reason, so cant help you on the which chalk question

[remus]

Last few years I've gone with the big plastic tubs from decathlon. Reasonable value and pretty convenient if you have a decathlon nearby. The wild country 1kg bags look like great value, I might try those next time.

Just had a look at price per kg for a few different brands:

friction labs (10oz bags): £62.64 / kg
decathlon (600g tubs): £33.31 / kg
wild country (1kg bag): £22 / kg (maybe cheaper if you can find it in stock)

For me, I can't tell any real difference between most of the major chalk brands.

[Bradders]

Just had a look at price per kg for a few different brands:

friction labs (10oz bags): £62.64 / kg
decathlon (600g tubs): £33.31 / kg
wild country (1kg bag): £22 / kg (maybe cheaper if you can find it in stock)

For me, I can't tell any real difference between most of the major chalk brands.

Interesting comparison, thanks.

I definitely can see a big difference using Friction Labs versus, say, Metolius though. I recently bought a load of Metolius blocks and absolutely rinsed through them in no time whatsoever, whereas a bag of FL gorilla grip lasts ages. I can't really say why, but the Metolius stuff felt like it was disappearing into thin air almost. I'd chalk up, and then have to chalk up again before I'd even got on the rock.

So the real test is how much it actually costs over the course of a year rather than per kg.

[jwi]

For me, I can't tell any real difference between most of the major chalk brands.

The only difference I can tell between different brands (I have fairly sweaty hands) is that some are easier to pour into the chalkbag and some have chunks that are a bit to hard to crush between the fingers. I have never noticed any difference in how well they dry out the skin.

The cheapest I ever found was pure MgCO3 sold in bulk for laboratory use in chemistry. I bought about 5kg for next to nothing. I imagine that there are industry wholesalers online these days. The drawback is that you need a press if you want chunks, since it's sold as a very fine powder

[User deactivated.]

I recently found myself failing near the top of a boulder project partly due to sweaty tips, which usually aren't an issue for me. I can't chalk mid-problem either as i'm already maxing out my power endurance.

Obviously I decided to go straight in for the most extreme solution and bought antihydral off ebay to try and secure the send. I'm a heavy lump and burn through skin rapidly so i'm hoping it will help both issues. I've always used Metolius chalk and never really considered varying it, so perhaps I should, but I'm assuming the brand of chalk will matter less for antihydral users?

[remus]

The drawback is that you need a press if you want chunks, since it's sold as a very fine powder

Have you had any luck pressing the super fine powder in to something that's usable for climbing? Any tips on a workable setup?

[mrjonathanr]

Why not try liquid chalk Liam? Hate it myself, but sticks on skin.

[jwi]

The drawback is that you need a press if you want chunks, since it's sold as a very fine powder

Have you had any luck pressing the super fine powder in to something that's usable for climbing? Any tips on a workable setup?

I just talked with friend who said that the easiest is to mix the powder with water and let it dry for a few weeks (depending on heat and humidity). No pressing is needed apparently. There are even youtube tutorials, e.g.

[galpinos]

Why not try liquid chalk Liam? Hate it myself, but sticks on skin.

As a larger gent with fingers like last nights chip wrapper a combo of Rhino Tip Juice, Performance and Recover have turned my tips into something I'm not embarrassed to touch holds with.

I'm also a fan of liquid chalk (Friction Labs for "the send", any old stuff for general).

[User deactivated.]

Why not try liquid chalk Liam? Hate it myself, but sticks on skin.

Interesting. I'll see where this antihydral gets me first and will consider liquid chalk if i'm still struggling. I think I have an old bottle somewhere from a DWS trip!

[SA Chris]

I wonder if I'm missing something with liquid chalk. I end up with a thin dry layer that crumbles off and feels slippery first time I climb with it, and then just leaves fine powdery layer that last for about 2 moves.

[Nigel]

I wonder if I'm missing something with liquid chalk. I end up with a thin dry layer that crumbles off and feels slippery first time I climb with it, and then just leaves fine powdery layer that last for about 2 moves.

Depends what your skin is like to begin with I guess. When I read things like Liam saying he's never had greasy tips before (!), or that people "glass off" things due to dry skin...well, let's just say that's not everyone's experience! I and many others I know could antihydral / rhino skin non-stop and still be sweaty. I find liquid chalk really helpful, used as a base for normal chalk. Maybe your skin is not that sweaty so you don't notice it helping and it just feels weird?

Also could be the brand. Think the simond one felt like that to me. Rock Technologies is good. Anything with resin is generally ("ssshhh" emoji).

[SA Chris]

 It's the simond stuff (has resin?) but only used it indoors. have some more that i won in a comp, cant remember brand.

I don't have massively sweaty skin, maybe harm outweighs benefits.

[Nigel]

It's the simond stuff (has resin?) but only used it indoors.

Does it? Must just be shit then! In my opinion at least. Remember it feeling really slippy as you say.

I don't have massively sweaty skin, maybe harm outweighs benefits.

If you're not looking for marginal anti-sweat gains then well not be needed then I suppose. I would guess you may still see a benefit using as a base on long power endurance things to reduce chalking up, or on very slopey things for the skin cooling effect.

[SA Chris]

Does it? Must just be shit then!

Pretty sure, need to check ingredients again.

[JamieG]

Does it? Must just be shit then!

Pretty sure, need to check ingredients again.

I was under the impression (maybe wrong) that all liquid chalk has resin in it. I only use it on my woody and fingerboard and mostly just to keep the mess down. But then I don't struggle with sweaty tips too badly. In fact I often have the opposite problem of my skin getting too dry and glassy.

[webbo]

Mega grip liquid chalk doesn’t have resin in it.

[MischaHY]

I use the Wild Country 1kg bags because it's decent quality and cheap.

That being said for me skin conditioning is far more important than chalk. If I didn't use antihydral and rhino regularly I'd have pathetic baby tips that are perma-damp. It used to be the case that I would get 2 good goes on a crimpy route and then need a rest day!

Friction labs definitely good but silly expensive and doesn't make a difference if you're already getting the skin conditioning right IMO.

[remus]

Anyone got good recommendations for big bags of chalk these days? Decathlon don't seem to do the tubs any more, and the wild country 1kg bags seem to be out of stock everywhere I've looked. Not too bothered about brand, as long as it's not that weird super fine stuff you can bulk buy for lab work.