Industry Standard: Best Chalk Buckets of 2021

The chalk bucket is a rite of passage. While every climber purchases some form of chalk bag upon their entrance to the sport, the boulderers quickly weed themselves out from the endurance-sport that is route climbing and find themselves looking for a chalk bucket.

The chalk bucket has become a quintessentially boulder piece of training equipment that holds hundreds of grams of chalk all while reducing the chances of spillage. Buckets make it easy to chalk, attempt, and rechalk. If you spend great amounts of time bouldering, you need a chalk bucket. These are three of the best.

The DMM Edge Boulder Chalk Bag

You can see this loquaciously titled bouldering bucket in action under the hands of Alex Megos’s recent ascent of Royal Flush V14. The soft lining of the bucket’s interior catches the fine grains of your most dusty Friction Labs, theoretically helping the climber retain chalk. Sometimes, chalk bags have weird linings that catch on the sharply torn edges of your skin. The DMM Bucket does mess with your tips in this way. Instead, the lining feels good in hand.

Moving outside of the inside of the bucket, you will find a zipped pocket large enough to stuff several brushes, skin care materials, or other mid-session supplies. On the other side, you will also find a second pocket with a Velcro closure system that might be useful for things that you want easy access to. This might pair well with your skin file or perhaps a larger boar-hair brush or your phone.

For your session brushes, this bag has two easy access neck slips so that the climber might easily get at their favourite Sublime Climbing brush to brush the ticks off their project. Reasonably, it is difficult to think of how a person might use all of the space on this bucket, but it appears designed to eliminate the need to carry your bucket and supplies in a backpack. The handles make the bag easy to carry and the drawstring closure system appears to eliminate all chances of post-pack-up chalk spillage.

Ultimately, this bag is a full value alternative to the other two options and, at $22.5 Euros, not a bad deal. This bag makes the most sense for the Boulderer that wants all of the options. It comes in range of colours. Check it out here.

The Black Diamond Mondo Bucket

Named for its brother, the BD Mondo crash pad, the Mondo Bucket more closely resembles the term bucket than the DMM Edge. It appears to take after the Organic Lunch Bag, which we will get to in a minute, but with some modern twists to keep the bucket fun and young.

Fully fortified with a magnetic closure system, the BD Bucket appears constructed out of the same material as the crash pad making for a durable platform. Though the inside does not have the chalk catching lining of the DMM bucket, few boulderers will find this alarming. Bouldering uses a wacky amount of chalk and the dust particulates punching into the atmosphere when you throw the bag on the ground will seem infinitesimal when compared to your third round of pre-burn chalking.

It packs away in a classic roll-top fashion making it easily stored especially when chalk reserves run low. Although it only has one zipper pocket, one many boulderers will find that is enough to get through a session.

The $30 USD BD Mondo Bucket comes complete with two chalk brush holders, one for small brushes and another for larger. In addition, “The “repo” or “assorted” color is built from repurposed fabric scraps from [The Black Diamond] sewing factory and comes in assorted colors.” Check it out here.

The Organic Lunch Bag Chalk Bucket

Organic says it best. “Our time-tested iconic bucket design provides a secure warehouse for your chalk supply.” That about sums it up.

This $33 USD dollar chalk bucket solution has become the industry standard for chalk buckets. It has a long reputation as the professional favourite. The Lunch Bag can hold over 400 grams of chalk, you can design it yourself, and it became the first bucket made of repurposed materials.

It is a nylon bag. Naturally, it has a zipper, and a brush holder, a roll up closure system aided by Velcro, and a sealing clasp that would normally find itself on one of their crash pads. It rolls as small as you would like, and you can stuff your shoes under the strap if you want to. It will stand and stay open by itself due to the thick nylon material. For classic climbers no other bucket will do. Check it out here.