Perfection. Just stop and think for a second how remarkable it is that we are advanced enough as a species to appreciate a concept like perfection. Human beings do things – pursue goals – and we have an innate, often shared sense of whether what we are doing is as good as it could be or not.
When you think about it like that, you get a sense for how lucky we are to be experiencing life through that lens. We have the opportunity not just to do things, but to do them well. Maybe, then, we owe it to ourselves to always strive for perfection.
That’s the spirit of a rock climber. That’s what drives us. In the moments we hang, holding our full body weight, with gravity wanting nothing but to hurl us to the ground, we have the opportunity both to push ourselves deeper into what we thought we couldn’t do, and to do it beautifully. We call this problem solving.
Despite this beauty, we at FrictionLabs believe that rock climbing is in its infancy. We have so much left to perfect. So far, there have been a small handful of major breakthroughs that have enhanced performance in our sport: sticky rubber and aggressive shoe shapes; safer, lighter, stronger gear; specialized training equipment like campus boards and software like Dartfish; breathable, stretchy fabrics for a full range of movement.
Thanks to these innovations, we’re constantly exceeding what we thought possible. A 5.10 is far from cutting edge as people push the 5.16 grade. V10, still a major milestone, is common and rarely reported in search of V16 and beyond.
Yet somehow, chalk has mostly avoided innovation and perfection. Chalk is the only thing between you and the hold, but might be the only part of climbing you take completely for granted. Maybe you have a favorite brand or type, but it’s not a big deal to use something else. As if something whose slightest variability could deny you maximum grip should be taken lightly.
At FrictionLabs, we don’t accept this. Here, chalk matters.
The single most important factor in climbing success is your grip. So instead of using the same imported stuff from the same factories in Asia that every other chalk company uses, we’ve turned to science to find the perfect magnesium carbonate, with no additives or drying agents.
In our testing, we knew we had something special when a few V10-V12 climbers told us they sent their lifetime projects, in the sun, with our chalk and begged us for more. We caught some of them pouring more into their chalk bags when we weren’t looking. We perfected the texture with more testing, and today have developed 3 unique blendssuited to different conditions. And we’re still constantly searching for better chalk, better blends, better grip.
We believe you’re cheating yourself if you accept anything less than perfect every time. For that reason, we offer our chalk both as a monthly subscription and as a single pack, so you never run out and never have to use anything else.
Put simply, we’re hunting for every way to improve your grip.
If you have the spirit of a rock climber, you know and crave that moment where your grip does just a little more than you thought it could. You hang that sloper, yard on the tiny crimp, or latch that dyno you thought you couldn’t. That split second is nirvana. Do everything you can for it.
Chalk Matters.