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Fellow climber here. First, congrats on launching your products, and also congrats on chasing innovation in this area. After reading through parts of your web

Fellow climber here. First, congrats on launching your products, and also congrats on chasing innovation in this area. After reading through parts of your website and product descriptions, I have a few comments and questions. "use less chalk" <- this is good. It certainly gets my attention. One of my reasons to pay the premium of Friction Labs chalk is exactly that, and the extra friction I get from it compared with other chalks. As for your revolutionary crystal chalk, I am less convinced. First, it looks like it replaces magnesium with silica. I'm inferring this from comparing the ingredients lists on your 2 chalk creams. Not ideal. Second, you say it doesn't leave residue on the holds. How is that so? Is there zero dust/powder? Third, have you performed tests to know the real impact your product will have on skin, lungs (we breath it, after all), and holds, especially on the many different kinds of rocks, but also on plastic indoor holds? Will it react with the rock or plastic, perhaps altering its qualities, or eroding it? Perhaps it will make it more polished, which could render entire routes unclimbable - remember pof? How does it compare with normal chalk? Fourth, does your regular white chalk cream also hold the promises of using less, preserving holds, better friction, etc? Finally, is the clear cream really chalk [0]? If not (it doesn't seem to have any actual chalk in the formulation), then I feel lied to and that erodes my confidence in your company and product. Please don't take any of this as blunt criticism. I hope it gives you insight into how to communicate better and wish you success! [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalk

c1sc0 5y ago
Thanks for the criticism! We approached using silica from a different angle: we took a product sold over-the-counter in pharmacies & adapted it to climbing. This means we’re all good in terms of human product safety. The trick essentially is to use an aggregate of silica that has been tested before. We think the trick to using less chalk is 1) switching to liquid chalk 2) using less chalk powder ... generally speaking liquid chalk uses far less chalk and last longer. Our crystal chalk is an improvement on traditional liquid chalk for those who want to use even less. UPDATE: check the video I posted on our blog to see the diff between crystal and white chalk. Link in comment replying to OP.

c1sc0 5y ago

Thanks for the criticism! We approached using silica from a different angle: we took a product sold over-the-counter in pharmacies & adapted it to climbing. This means we’re all good in terms of human product safety. The trick essentially is to use an aggregate of silica that has been tested before. We think the trick to using less chalk is 1) switching to liquid chalk 2) using less chalk powder ... generally speaking liquid chalk uses far less chalk and last longer. Our crystal chalk is an improvement on traditional liquid chalk for those who want to use even less. UPDATE: check the video I posted on our blog to see the diff between crystal and white chalk. Link in comment replying to OP.