This is where it all started: a Forrest Mjöllnir on a blue hatchet handle, picked up for $6 at a Mountaineers gear sale. It wasn’t my first hammer. I was already using a Black Diamond wall hammer and a Grivel Thor third tool. But this Mjöllnir started the dream of building a collection, and I consider it the first hammer in it. Everything else on this site followed from it.
Identifying Marks
- Square steel head with a separate, bolt-on pick held by two hex socket bolts
- Curved hatchet-style handle in solid fiberglass, the version intended for ice
- Blue handle color, the original Mjöllnir color (some later handles were green)
- Foil “Mjöllnir” sticker on the handle, spelled with the umlaut, although Forrest’s catalogs printed it as “Mjollnir”
About the Model
Bill Forrest designed the Mjöllnir in 1974, and it’s generally credited as the first climbing hammer built around interchangeable picks. One head could carry a nut pick, a stubby wall pick or several ice picks, depending on the climb. Two handles were offered: a straight hammer-style handle for rock, and the curved hatchet handle seen here for ice. The name comes from Thor’s hammer in Norse mythology, a fitting choice for a Colorado company building tools for steep ice.
Early Mjöllnirs are sometimes called the Mjöllnir III. According to Marty Karabin, as cited by the Vertical Museum, the “III” referred to the three picks available at launch, and the name was shortened as more picks were added.
About This Piece
The exact year this hammer was made can’t be pinned down, but the design dates to 1974. This one shows its working life. It has a toothed ice pick, a ribbed black rubber grip, a round “Forrest Five Year Warranty” foil sticker above the Mjöllnir sticker, a band of old climbing tape around the shaft, and a blue webbing leash tied on above the grip. It isn’t the rarest hammer in the collection, but it’s the one that matters most.
Sources: design date, pick and handle options, handle colors, sticker spelling and Mjöllnir III naming from the Vertical Museum’s Forrest hammer collection; interchangeable-pick claim and handle uses from Vertical Archaeology’s “Forrest Mjollnir Hammer System”, which quotes the 1983 Forrest catalog. Have something to add? Let me know.
