The Mjöllnir came with a choice of two handles. Forrest’s 1983 catalog recommended the straight handle “for use where many pitons will be driven” and the curved hatchet handle for ice. The hatchet-handled Mjöllnir was the first hammer in this collection. This post covers the straight-handled version, which the collection has three of: one complete in its original box with three picks, and two others set up for different jobs.
Identifying Marks
- Square steel head with a separate, bolt-on pick held by two hex socket bolts
- Straight solid fiberglass handle, in the original blue
- Black rubber grip with a dotted texture and a hole through the lower grip for a leash
- Black rubber collar where the handle meets the head
The Picks
The point of the Mjöllnir was that one head could take different picks. Forrest’s names for them changed over the years and can be confusing, so this site uses the plain terms from the 1983 catalog, which offered “a curved, drooped, or nut pick”:
- Curved pick: a toothed, all-round pick for alpine ice, sold as the “Ice Pick” and also called the Vector I.
- Drooped pick: a steeper toothed pick for waterfall ice. Confusingly, Forrest sold this one as the “Alpine Pick.”
- Nut pick: a flat, hooked pick for cleaning stuck nuts, with a carabiner hole.
- Tube pick: a tubular pick for waterfall ice, made under license from Lowe Alpine Systems.
The collection has all four, shown below. Forrest also offered a stubby wall pick and the Skye Pick for waterfall ice over the system’s life.
The Boxed Set
One of the three came complete in its Forrest Mountaineering, Ltd. box from Denver, with the hammer, three picks (curved, drooped and nut), a hex key for changing them and a webbing leash. The shaft has bands of blue and white tape.
The first Mjöllnirs were sold as the Mjöllnir III. According to Marty Karabin of the Karabin Climbing Museum, as reported by the Vertical Museum, the name referred to the three picks available at launch. This set’s three picks match the three the 1983 catalog names, but which three picks launched the system hasn’t been confirmed, so whether this set reflects the original Mjöllnir III is an open question.
Two Working Set-Ups
The other two straight-handled pieces show the hammer as climbers left it. One carries the nut pick, with a cord loop through the grip as a leash. The other carries the drooped pick.
Sources: handle options, pick terms and catalog quotes from the 1983 Forrest Mountaineering catalog, as quoted in Vertical Archaeology’s “Forrest Mjollnir Hammer System”; Forrest’s pick names and the full range of picks from the Vertical Museum’s Forrest hammer collection; the Mjöllnir III naming from Marty Karabin of the Karabin Climbing Museum, as reported by the Vertical Museum. Have something to add? Let me know.
