The Shape of Your Chalk Bag
Your bag's shape will determine your bag's comfort level and how it hangs against your body.
Cylindrical Bags: A cylindrical bag is typically larger and is attached to your harness. They are great for climbers with larger hands or if you do your climbing in the gym for sport climbs or to keep them on the ground when you're bouldering.
Tapered Bags: These bags are perfect for sport climbing or on your favorite trad routes. They are soft, compact, and lightweight so that they won't add any extra weight to your harness or waist belt.
Additional Things to Consider
Your chalk bag features can range from just holding chalk to having plenty of pockets, loops, and extra accessories. Some of the typical tactical features include:
A Stiffened Rim: There's nothing worse than not being able to access your chalk while you're in the middle of a climb. Make sure that your chalk bag includes a stiff, reinforced rim so it can stay upright while you reach into it for some chalk.
Accessory Pockets and Loops: A pocket with zippers or Velcro is perfect for stashing small valuables without worrying they'll get lost. You can easily store things like keys, lip balm, or even your phone. Loops are another nice feature where you can store a small brush used to clean off dirty holds.
Photography by Chadwick Tyler
Closure Styles: The tighter the seal on your chalk bag, the less likely your chalk will spill out while in storage or when you're climbing. Make sure your climbing bag has a high-quality toggle or drawstring closure system, and if it doesn't, you can use a Ziploc bag in a pinch to store your chalk bag and prevent any spillage.
Bag’s Lining: A fleece lining keeps the chalk dust to a minimum as it prevents the chalk from puffing and exploding in a white cloud everywhere. Fleece liners ensure that you get an even distribution of chalk covering your hands.
Attachment Style: You can either wear your chalk bag on your belt or on a harness. Wearing it on a belt allows you to easily slide your bag from side to side while climbing for easy access. This is especially useful when you’re bouldering since you're not already wearing a harness, as you would be when sport climbing or while on belay. The other option is to attach your chalk bag to a climbing harness with a carabiner. By clipping the bag to your harness, you can forgo the chalk bag belt, which gives you an additional carabiner.
The 11 Best Chalk Bags & Buckets for Climbing
Our newest brand collaboration, the ultra limited-edition Greater Goods x Field Mag climbing collection features a range of chalk bags and chalk buckets for all types of climbing. Each chalk bucket and chalk bag has been cut and sewn in London by Greater Goods founder Jaimus Tailor using discarded Gore-Tex outerwear, Cordura and nylon material from decommissioned Petzl climbing harnesses, and fleece from vintage fleece jackets. Each piece is 100% upcycled, saved from the landfill and repurposed for new use.
Price: $75 - $99
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Black Diamond Hot Forge Heated Chalk Bag
The best part about climbing in cooler temps is the fantastic friction on rock. The worst part is however the cold hands and toes that comes with it. Warming up your hands in the pockets of your puffy between burns only goes so far, so Black Diamond came up with the Hot Forge chalk bag, a heated chalk bag with three settings to return a little bit of warmth to your digits every time you chalk up.
Price: $60
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Arc'teryx Ion Chalk Bag
Stand up dead bird brand stans! We know it can be hard to remember sometimes that Arc’teryx actually makes things for alpine adventures. The Ion Chalk Bag packs staple features we look for in a chalk bag like a little zippered pocket and a webbing belt that’s easily adjustable, but the stiff brim is a practical inclusion makes dipping your fingers into your favorite chalk quick and easy.
Price: $45
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Edelrid Herkules Chalk Bocket
There’s something funny about a climbing rope company that makes a chalk bucket for bouldering. But, I guess sport climbers like to boulder too, right? Irony aside, the opening of the Herkules bag is just massive and awesome for getting a nice coating of chalk. The large base also makes it incredibly stable so that you avoid the dreaded chalk spill at the gym.
Price: $35
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Friction Labs Chalk Bucket
This bucket is actually produced by climber-owned Organic Climbing for Friction Labs, but it happens to be our own chalk brand of choice at Field Mag. The rugged cordura bag has a wide roll-top style closure and fits a whopping 30oz of Friction Labs chalk ONLY! No but seriously, please do not put other brands of chalk in this bag.
Price: $45
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Tufa Climbing Houdini Chalk Bag
This American-made bag’s name comes from one of the most popular packable wind jackets bearing the same name. Nearly every chalk bag listed here places their accessory pocket along the tall side of the bag to make cell phone storage easier, but the Houdini places that compartment at the base. The result is a pocket that you can stuff to the gills that without bulging into the chalk-storing compartment, pretty smart! Color options are limited, but it’s available in four different technical lightweight fabrics to pick from.
Price: $44
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Mammut Stitch Chalk Bag
The perforated outer fabric of this bag may seem odd, until you find that it comes packaged with a needle and a few colors of thread, encouraging some good old DIY art. Otherwise, it's a pretty straight forward, minimalist chalk bag and we're thankful for it. The Bucket version is pretty slick.
Price: $30
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Cotopaxi Halcon Chalk Bag
There’s a little more to this chalk bag than meets the eye: each one is completely unique as they’re sewn from 100% repurposed, leftover fabric sourced from other companies’ larger production runs, saving fabric otherwise destined for the landfill. As a chalk bag, it ticks all of our boxes like a structured rim opening and a handy accessory pocket. Take your pick of an exact unique colorway from the Cotopaxi’s site or roll the dice and see what shows up at your door.
Price: $30
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So iLL On The Roam Chalk Bag
Funny to think one of the coolest climbing collections out now was designed in collaboration with Aquaman, but hey, nothing makes much sense these days anymore now does it. Available in both all-black and all-pink, this minimalist chalk bag is made with a TPU material for durability and water resistance and features a cinch top closure and zippered pocket for storage. The rolltop Chalk Bucket iteration is worth shouting out too.
Price: $29
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La Sportiva Otaki Chalk Bag
We love our La Sportiva shoes, so why not up the ante and go for a matching chalk bag?! Functionally, there’s nothing too special going on here but the design motif is just too good to ignore. It’s also available in Skwama and Solution styles.
Price: $14
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Organic Climbing Deluxe Chalk Bucket
Made in USA and infinitely customizable, you're likely to see this bucket in dozens of iterations at practically every bouldering gym. Two pockets hold your phone and small necessities plus a couple of brush holders. Gotta salute the OG.
Price: $48
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What Kind Of Chalk Should I Use?
Chalk isn't just for gymnasts. It is also one of the essential items in any climber's kit. Chalk helps climber's combat moisture (i.e. sweat) and improves grip. It's best to use as little chalk as necessary while climbing, as over-chalking can cause you to lose friction and lose your grip on holds. Where chalk is concerned, a little goes a long way. There are several kinds of chalk you can use, depending on their feel and form and your preference. Here's a primer:
Block Chalk: This is pure chalk without any additional drying agents. Block chalk is, as the name implies, a solid block of chalk, which you can crush in your hands until it becomes your preferred consistency. It is also easier to transport since the powder is compacted and won't blow everywhere, or spill all over if your bag is tipped. Buying gymnast chalk blocks in bulk is a cost saving method that works as well as shelling out for fancy name brand stuff.
Loose Chalk: Loose chalk is a combination of pure chalk and chalk with drying agents mixed in. It is pretty convenient since it is already ground to a powdery consistency and easy to apply. You can find some brands of loose chalk that offer a finer or coarser grind, depending on your desired texture. Pair with a chalk ball or just dump the loose chalk into your chalk bag and you're ready to climb.
Liquid chalk: This specialty chalk is a mixture of chalk and alcohol. The alcohol in liquid chalk dries quickly after you rub it on your hands, leaving a chalky residue that won't rub right off. The benefit of using liquid chalk is it keeps chalk dust and hold marks to a minimum and won't easily come off on your clothing. The downside is the goey feeling and plastic packaging waste. Either way, you'll want to store liquid chalk in an airtight container so it doesn't spill out while you're hiking to your favorite climbing route.
Hygienic Liquid Chalk: A new concept developed during the COVID-19 pandemic by Friction Labs, hygienic liquid chalk uses pure magnesium carbonate and 80% alcohol–the concentration that is the recommended by WHO, CDC, and the FDA for alcohol-based sanitizers—to keep your hands grippy and clean. Plays nicely with conventional climbing chalk but functions fine all by itself, too.
