Tufa Climbing Chalk Bag

I know, a review on a chalk bag?! Damn Straight! I came across something about Tufa Climbing's chalk bags roaming around the forum one night and had a look at their site. I guess this all really starts with the fact that I've spent the spring climbing in fear of the wispy loop that holds my windshirt to my harness breaking right before it gets cloudy, cool and windy (I've been snowed on on Lumpy and Castleton tower) leaving me to shiver (even more) at belays. Enter Tufa Climbing's Houdini bag, it has a waterproof zip compartment at the bottom that fits a windshirt. I noticed they do custom work too so I inquired about a Houdini with an additional zip pocket for a phone. In anticipation of upgrading to an iPhone6 after I completely annihilate my current phone (I can still kinda read the screen) I asked for a pocket that would accommodate said phone. I just got it the other day and am super stoked about it! It is a little bit long with the bottom compartment and longer upper pocket but it sure beats the hell out of a pack or living in fear of losing my windshirt at an inoppurtune moment. It's still pretty light too, I have a hand held hang scale that weighed it in at 3.84 oz (110 grams) including the waist strap. While I'm not a seamster it appears to have bomber stitching and is a nice clean design. The phone pocket is wider than a phone as its half the curcumference of the bag so there is no problem slapping an extra bar, keys or whatever else in there. It also has a loop by the zipper where you could attach it to a harness with a biner. While it's certainly not the cheapest chalk bag out there it's also not the most expensive and it is the most versatile and well thought out I've seen. Awesome design and awesome craftsmanship by the good folks at Tufa Climbing in Missoula Mt. Check it out at tufaclimbing.com

What the... daaaaaaaaamn!

Edit: Can you feel all the crap when you reach inside to chalk up?

I wonder when we'll see 5.hard climbers using these so they can put their beanie in storage before shit gets serious.

Maybe Alex Honlove will start climbing with one of these so he can climb with a post-send banana to enjoy after a long day of soloing big walls.

Yeah, I mean you can kinda feel the stuff but it's more like it forms a wall rather than an obstruction, there is still plenty of room, I definitely don't feel like I'm in any way fighting to get past the keys phone bar to get to the chalk. The pocket is actually a self contained pocket, not just an opening to the bag on the other side of the fleece where the chalk is held, also keeps the chalk off your phone bar keys whatever... I just realized I could put some mini liquor bottles in there! Descents have never been so exciting! Could probably fit a good five or six in there if you want to make things really interesting.

having a large pocket enough for headlamps and keys is pretty useful for multi thats not long enough to warrant a pack, but short or easy enough to bring a precautionary gear ....

it saves having to carry up a pack ... and if u keep a headlamp in yr chalkbag youll always have one, getting stuck in the dark without a headlamp is not all that uncommon around here

i use a BD mojo personally ...

;)