RESIN BUILD UP

Resin and it’s use in liquid chalk

Picture this, you’re down at your local climbing gym, warmed up and ready to crush. You pull on to your project, a few holds up... *TWANG*

You fire off of the hold... it’s big enough, looks a doable move, definitely not the crux but damn where is the friction? 

You reach for a brush, crank away for a minute or two but to your surprise, it’s still as glassy, smooth and frictionless as a freshly polished car. 

This is an all too common scene occurring across many climbing venues during covid times and one which we saw first hand in our local gyms; City Bloc, Red Goat, Freeklime and RockCity.

Nope you’re not weak and unfit (although it’s a possibility with this many lockdowns), it’s most likely down to a single nasty ingredient in nearly ALL liquid chalks. And it’s one of the two reasons we started Gekco.

RESIN (also known as Rosin, Colophony, Colophonia, Styrax Benzoin and even the intentionally ambiguous “Scent”)

This stuff is usually harvested from pine trees and in most environments is a glassy, hard solid. Remember those amber blocks back in your biology class, with insects frozen in time? Solid, glass like blocks? That is fossilised tree resin. Not what you’d associate with climbing then…

It’s used for its ability to dissolve in alcohol and hold the chalk in suspension with all the other ingredients and thickeners other brands add. 

The addition of this sticky chappy into most liquid chalks is a bit sneaky if you ask us. Not many people expect to go from using powdered chalk which in most cases is just Magnesium Carbonate (worth a whole other blog post on claimed purity levels) to using liquid chalk containing a whole host of thickeners, binding agents, fillers and RESIN.

Especially in an industry where Leave No Trace and crag ethics perpetuate through the climbing and outdoor sports community. Sadly the inclusion of resin goes against all of these ethics which we hold dear. But this ethics question has been raised before...

Also heard of POF? Dried pine resin! 

Fontainebleau  

The world-famous bouldering mecca. Notorious for its glassy, slippy holds and sandbag(way harder than grade) climbs. Yup, Fontainebleau is the original case study of resins' horrendous compounded impact on rock/holds and our ability to climb surfaces it’s used on. It’s a clear example of the self-fulfilling prophecy resin use creates, the only way to get good friction on resin-covered surfaces is… you guessed it, to use more resin. 

Let’s dig into resin a bit further then…

Why is resin bad?

Resins are sticky. Once on your hands, they get transferred to the surfaces you touch throughout your climb. Over time repeated deposits lead to a significant build-up and before you know it the pores and unique micro-features of the rock/holds which aid friction have been filled in, leaving the perfect slip and slide surface. Sadly resin will always transfer from hands to holds as the warmth of our hands keeps it sticky. Upon contact with a cold surface like rock or holds the resin then cools and sets solid on the surface. The resin issue has really compounded recently with gyms moving to liquid chalk only. This resulting gunk and residue buildup is extremely hard to remove using conventional caretaking methods such as brushing as essentially the resin has become the ‘surface’ you’re brushing. It’s solid, bonded to the surface below and can now only be removed through the use of hot water pressure washing or chemical solvents. 

Allergies? Rosin allergies exist and if you’ve found in the past your hands are itchy after using some liquid chalks this could well be why!

Resins effect on your climbing?

Both natural rock and indoor holds become noticeably "glassier" and slippier meaning you’ll struggle to maintain friction. In a real-world scenario, this can lead to climbs becoming absolute sandbags. We’ve had setters tell us in as little as 1-2 weeks, fb5+ blocs have become fb6b/6c climbs just because of the lack of friction as a result of resin deposits. Think of a rough, grooved sloper vs the slick side of a dual texture sloper, horrible!

It’s pretty insane to think that some of the biggest names in climbing have been using this stuff for years.

Resins effect on your local wall?

From an indoor wall owners perspective, the effects of resins are profound. Holds can become unusable in a matter of weeks then there's the frustrating increase in hold cleaning time/difficulty. It often necessitates more frequent stripping of sets for cleaning and the use of steam cleaning systems or chemicals. 

The long term effects of resin on outdoor natural rock are catastrophic and are evidenced by the issues at Fontainebleau. 

Why are resins used?

Simply put, they make producing liquid chalk easier and cheaper. This means there is a big difference between liquid chalk and ‘good’ liquid chalk. Resins, thickeners and fillers allow a brand to produce a product that visually passes as chalk in a liquid format but contains less magnesium carbonate(the good stuff) than you’d expect. The very presence of these additional ingredients demonstrates the product has been engineered to be produced as cheaply as possible without considering the implications on performance. These other ingredients are detrimental to chalk's function of isolating sweat from the friction equation leaving only you and the rock. Making high-performance liquid chalk without these ingredients is damn hard, but when did anything great, ever come easy?

Gecko’s approach - Zero Resins

From the dissatisfaction with what was available and the desire for a better product, Gekco was born. 

The product of two lifelong adventure sports enthusiasts, friction freaks and all-round we can do it better’ers. It’s become our passion alongside climbing to design environmentally-safe and sustainable products perfectly suited to the needs of fellow sports lovers.

Months of experimenting later we launched Gekco Liquid Chalk. A NEW high-performance liquid chalk brand aiming to disrupt the industry whilst doing our bit for the environment at the same time. Gekco liquid chalk contains absolutely zero thickeners and resins. Prioritising people, performance and the environment over profit.

Aiming to combat this runaway resin issue by eliminating its use, we’ve worked hard to produce liquid chalk which offers maximum friction whilst doing away with the nasty thickeners and resins. 

Pure & Simple - High purity Magnesium Carbonate and alcohol. A custom formula engineered for all the grip, with none of the gunk.

The future…

Many climbing gyms have asked their climbers to make the switch to liquid chalk. The alcohol content of liquid chalk has played a big part in this move. However, before covid(a long ass time ago…) there was already a movement spreading towards liquid chalk only.

The drastic dust and particulate matter level reduction, as evidenced by the reduction in settled dust within venues that switch to our liquid chalk only, delivers pretty convincing results. It’s a popular opinion in the industry that we expect the levels of dust created from the use of loose chalk, to be in no way good for us and we only await some scientific proof. At Gekco we have tried to balance the powdered chalk feel while also keeping the beneficial dust reduction in mind.

High performance, good quality liquid chalk has its advantages:

– Less wasted chalk
– Less chalk dust in the air
– Reduced hold cleaning time from no resins
– Reduced centre cleaning & better air quality
– Great as a base layer
– Fast drying 

When restrictions ease, centres may look at whether to continue a liquid chalk only stance, there’s certainly an argument for it, and with better performing products on the market there no longer has to be a compromise on friction or product satisfaction.

Seeing first hand the horrendous resin issues City Bloc, Red Goat, Freeklime and RockCity experienced at the beginning of the pandemic, the improvement they’ve seen since stocking Gekco is astounding. We’re proud to have developed an option that is not only more ethical, environmental and honest but one that also allows climbers to reap the benefits of high-performance liquid chalk going forward. Improving air and hold quality for wall owners, the teams who work in them and the passionate climbers that call these walls their second home. 

Since launching we’ve also welcomed on board The Climbing Hub in Bradford, Vauxwall in London and our friends over at Eleos Gym and the Shoe Shed to the incredible group of Gekco stockists supporting the resin-free way forward.

We don’t know what the future holds, but so far the community seems to have welcomed Gekco Liquid Chalk into its arsenal of sending tools with open and less sweaty hands. We’re thrilled by peoples response and we’re excited for what the future holds for Gekco and the new products we have in development.

Watch this space, avoid resins and send hard!

(note: CoSiRoc, a French party who maintains areas of the forest still suggests the use of POF over chalk. It remains a controversial issue and is disputed between groups worldwide. The use of POF outside of this area is highly frowned upon by communities. Fontainebleau’s POF issue is a difficult one; it’s no longer as simple as halting its use as the rock is so sticky, chalk hangs around and isn’t easily removed. Chalk marks are unsightly and also go against Leave No Trace ethics. Let us know your thoughts below, its an opinion driver for sure.)