Alex Honnold, Adam Ondra don’t use chalk … what’s doing on?
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It drys out their hands for an overall better grip.
Similar to Top Gear racing track clock times, wet aphalt on wet tyres produces slower track-times as your wheels had less grip and traction than they would on a dry, sunny day.
Chalk absorbs the moisture from sweat, and adds an abrasive layer that digs into both your skin and the imperfections in the surface, increasing traction. This in turn enhances the friction between the climber and the wall. It’s for the same reason you chalk the end of a pool cue to ‘grip’ the ball slightly better on a shot.
If you over-apply chalk, you run the risk of drying out your skin too much, which lowers its flexibility and makes you more prone to pain or tearing.
Genetics affects how much we sweat, especially from the tissue on our hands and feet. So some people need a copious amount of chalk, and others climb best with no chalk at all.
Chalk helps climbers by giving them a dry surface to grip onto. When climbers rub chalk onto their hands, it absorbs sweat and provides a temporary grip.
It’s not chalk; it’s rosin, a sticky tree sap derivative. It dries your skin and is slightly sticky in a dry sort of way.
Climbing makes you sweat, including your hands. Rosin is oil-soluble but not water-soluble. The same stuff is used for violin bows and (I think) pool cue tips. Bowlers use it too.
> Alex Honnold, Adam Ondra don’t use chalk
Where did you get that impression?
A superficial google shows Honnold using chalk for the [El Capitan](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/c6b7372c2f94793ed3279367e604ea7cd28273cb/0_0_5760_3456/master/5760.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=16a8201f77abe7089d5f8eb011384657) free solo. But maybe thats when he is solo’ing so needs peak performance and damn whatever other considerations, so heres him [roped climbing with a chalk bag in a puff piece about how he’s a vegetarian.](https://youtu.be/ncDFDz9k35o?t=168)
Here’s a (https://youtu.be/fxrvG5yFXk8?t=81) showing him climbing with a chalk bag and absolutely rubbing the stuff in.
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