Liquid Chalk With Resin/Rosin

These 2 brands* use resin in their liquid chalk formula, but they disguise it using a name most of us wouldn’t know to mean resin: Colophonium or Colophony. Colophon was an ancient Ionic city that produced it’s own resin called: colophonia resina, according to Wikipedia.

As I’ve mentioned previously, most dedicated outside climbers are against the use of resin because it’s semi-permanent and will fill in the texture reducing friction. The only place I know of that a niche group of climbers is still using resin is at Fontainebleau. In Font, if you attempt to climb on the stone right after someone has used Pof, the French term for resin, the rock will feel slicker than normal. This lends itself, the Pof, to being continuously used in order to maintain good friction.

I’m unfamiliar with the long term impact of liquid chalk resin on rock, but the fact remains there are more climbers today resulting in more outside climbing, and the resin is designed to stick to stuff. I recommend to play it safe and avoid such products. When holds aren’t brushed by climbers, the chalk can build up to the point that it creates a solid/hard paste of oils, dirt and chalk on the rock that can’t be removed easily. With resin, it seems like it would be worse. This paste means you are not actually in contact with the rock, so friction is usually worse. Fontainebleau has a fair number of popular lines with this condition.

Look for the word Colophonium or Colophony. It means resin.

*I wrote the draft of this in September of last year and forgot to state the brand. Ugh, lame. Anyways, the point is still valid to look for the key words in the ingredients.

~ by r. mulligan on 2019/04/19.