A 1987 Rock hammer head on a blue handle from the 1984 generation. Pieces like this come from the changeover between Chouinard’s second and third modular hammers, before production settled on black handles.
Identifying Marks
- 1987 head: no notch under the hammer face
- Blue composite handle from the 1984 generation, with “CHOUINARD MADE IN USA” and the diamond-C logo embossed into the handle
- Bolt-on pick held by three fasteners, here the short, blunt big wall pick
- Leash threaded through a hole at the bottom of the handle and held by a Phillips screw
About the Transition
When the new 1987 head arrived, Chouinard likely used up its remaining blue handles before switching to black. That makes these hammers neither a standard production run nor a one-off: they were probably made in a short stretch while old stock ran out.
The blue handle makes one of these easy to mistake for a 1984 hammer. The head settles it: the 1984 head has a notch under the hammer face, and the 1987 head doesn’t.
The earlier change, from the 1981 first generation to the 1984 second, wouldn’t have left an obvious transition piece. As far as the collection shows, the head stayed the same and only the handle color changed, from black to blue, so a mixed hammer from that changeover would be hard to tell apart from either year.
For the standard hammers on either side of the changeover, see the 1984 Chouinard Rock and Alpine Hammers and the 1987 Chouinard Rock and Alpine Hammers.
Sources: handle colors and dates from the Karabin Climbing Museum‘s Chouinard Equipment display; the notch change from the Vertical Museum’s Chouinard hammer collection. Transition notes from the collection. Have something to add? Let me know.
