Climbing Chalk Will Never Be The Same

The promise of Chalkless, a chalk-like substitute claims to revolutionize how we dry our hands. In this video, I review Chalkless to see how it performs while bouldering at my local rock climbing gym. I test out the Chalkless product and climb a bunch of boulders in a row and then try out regular climbing chalk.

I had a blast recording this review and I hope you will enjoy it. Please let me know if you have any questions about Chalkless and I will try my best to answer all of your questions.

While I reviewed Chalkless for rock climbing, it also claims to work well for racquet sports, weight lifting, gymnastics, and a bunch of other things!

Let me know what you thought of my review! If you enjoyed it, consider leaving a like and subscribe!

-Nate

00:00 Chalkless?
00:37 How Chalkless started
01:44 Putting it on for first time
03:16 Bouldering begins
06:48 Trying the hardest boulders
08:57 Is Regular Chalk Better?
11:15 You won't believe how it performs

[limeongd]

Someone should make edible chalk that tastes like chocolate and is named chalkolate

[nounta]

When you poured it onto your hand and I saw nothing. I thought of tale of "The Emperor's New Clothes", you buy a bottle of invisible chalk, rub it in mentally, and you climb better because you paid $25 for a small bottle. That would have been a great april fools video.

[dor_quendi]

Love the video, can see 3 big areas where this could be good:
1. Base layer - just use it in combination with chalk, so you get benefits of both, optimal performance with chalk and still good layer when it wears off during longer climb.
2. Competition ice climbing - yes, we ice climbers use liquid chalk inside our gloves! That makes it impossible to rechalk during a climb which can be up to 8 minutes. So this might be a good alternative.
3. Sandstone climbing - in the Czech and Saxon sandstone areas, chalk is forbidden in order to not leave a trace and also not damage the rock. If this stays on your hands and does not transfer to rock, this might be a great option compared to not using chalk at all.

[victorvieira]

If this is actually safe, using it as a first layer and adding chalk on top might be a game changer for me

[FishOnRock]

Silica effect on the respiratory system is very well documented, it’s only safe when applied in a way that won’t reach ur lungs— not sure of this product’s safety in the long term. That said, I’m curious how this would feel if you apply this with slightly moist hands lol

[craglevcarboncapture]

I've seen a few comments on safety concerns since this product contains a form of silica, but according to the MSDS of silica silylate, it's fine as long as you don't light it on fire. My bigger concern would be the long term effects of anything besides magnesium carbonate chalk on natural rock. Some companies sell chalk with a rosin additive and some climbers have in the past been certain that they discovered the new perfect climbing moisture absorber with rosin. For the most part, people who swear by rosin tout the same benefits as this product: consistent moisture absorption and grip enhancement without the chalky residue. The problem is, rosin builds up on the rock over time and makes it slick as hell. Not saying that silica silylate will have the same effect, I haven't used it, but studying the long-term effects on routes might be a good idea. Also, FWIW, generic silica silylate is waaay cheaper if you were to get it from makeup suppliers. Generic will run $6 for a 29g package vs $25/8g package for this stuff. Take that with a grain of salt though as I haven't looked into that at all beyond the price.

[coin]

0:15 Never? What if I want to have my hands slippery one day. is there an antidote?

[pierremilot]

Would love to see a higher end climber / climbing that relies on friction more with this product and how it compares.

[foox]

I thought from the thumbnail is was a gas and I was thinking “we have solid chalk and liquid chalk now we have gas chalk??”

[NourDjemhi]

I wish you would've tried this on more friction based boulders like some really bad slopers or tiny crimps.
Or maybe even just compare on a beastmaker and check if it helps to hold on the 45.

[gretabird]

Honestly, it scares me that people could start using this and I could be exposed to it unwittingly in climbing gyms. Its bad enough that there's extremely high levels of aerosolized rubber in indoor climbing gym air, now we're going to add a chemical with questionable safety studies and chemically similar to a known carcinogen??

The studies I read only tested aerosolized impacts 3 months out, with the longest test range being 24 months for reproducive effects in mice. This just seems woefully insufficient.

Additionally, I have very little faith in safety records of "new chemicals"... My mom's a nurse and she had plenty of patients - young men - dying of silicosis. She also told me about the link between baby powder and ovarian cancer 30 years before the big lawsuits. Anecdotal, I know, but this very much informs my opinion on these things; that often it takes many years before a safety warning is issued from goverment groups. Ex) just because aerosolized products like spray deodorants and febreeze, which we know are dangerous for our lungs, are still on shelves, doesn't mean they are safe. And you can still buy baby powder... people are just now getting concerned about phthalates, which weve known forever are dangerous... etc. etc.

A bit of a worried ramble, but in conclusion I just find it really concerning that this video promotes a possibly dangerous product and was published by someone who clearly has zero knowledge about the danger of silica (see comments).

[Darkolas]

Chalking up isn't just about friction and/or sweat... it's also a sort of ablative layer so you're not constantly losing skin layers.

[danielwolf]

Slightly skeptical about the silica part. It's deemed safe in most applications due to not being aerosolized. But this seems to be much easier to become airborne which could raise issues when being used by multiple people in a climbing gym. Excited to see something this game-changing come to the sport though!

[gashsoho]

maybe a good option for people that dont like to use chalk, or because the skin goes too dry, but really dont think is something that will replace normal chalk in any way.

[MrBoubource]

3:30 it's hard to hear your voice because of the loud music. Super weird looking product, I hope to try it once one day 😍

[dinoshark]

you should try this but with real skin tests like a timed sloper, timed hangboard and other things like that, i think the giant ball would be a great test as well

[PopeyeTheVRMan]

As a climber with sweaty fingers I am very interested in trying this stuff. I do really enjoy the feeling and effectiveness of chalk, but I'm fascinated by new technologies like this!

[v_in_my_crag]

I wonder how it would perform using both, this to decrease overall sweat levels but chalk to maximize performance

[PheenKnowsBest]

Would like to think about the long term use of this on real rock, especially sandstone and slate, would you think a build up on the holds would be an issue? also the use of brushing with this / the overall performance of an outdoor hold of this pre/post rain and wind.

[mixolt]

"Lets dehydrate", I like this phrase ;)