↑ 187: Forrest Wall Hammer

• Made in USA [ca. 1970].
• 330x125 mm.
• Weight: 750 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 21x14 mm. (Grip: 33x25 mm.)
• Fixed Head with a horizontal carabiner hole for attaching a funkness.
• Hammer: 29(l)x29(w)x33(h) mm.
• Piton pick with a hook for piton removal.
• Pick: 25(l)x12(h)x15(t) mm.
• I don't like the cotter-pin sling attachment, but otherwise this is a very nice hammer.
• Precision forged, alloy steel head.
• The high-strength (vs. hickory) fiberglass handle is epoxied into the head. The head should never loosen, let along fly off.

Bill Forrest designed the Forrest Mjollnir (or Mjöllnir) system in 1974. It was the first hammer system with interchangeable picks. Forrest offered six pick types under changing and sometimes confusing names. These included a Nut Pick, a stubby Wall Pick that I do not have, a curved alpine Ice Pick (a.k.a. Vector I pick), a waterfall ice "Alpine pick," a waterfall ice Skye Pick that extends above the hammer head, and a Tube Pick produced under a license from Lowe Alpine Systems. These picks fit all versions of the Mjollnir hammer but do NOT fit the Forrest Lifetime ice axes and hammers. The Mjollnirs were available with a choice of a traditional hammer-style handle (for rock climbers) or a curved hatchet-style handle (for ice climbers). Some later Mjollnir handles were green, but the original handles were blue.

Nut, Ice, Alpine and Tube Picks.

Reviewing the Forrest catalogs and advertisements that I can find did not tell me the difference between the original Mjollnir and the Mjollnir III; nor have I found any references to a Mjollnir II. Marty Karabin told me that the hammer was originally called the Mjollnir III because three picks were available when it was introduced, but the name was changed to simply Mjollnir when more picks were added. So in defiance of arithmetical consistency, the Mjolnir III came before the Mjollnir and there never was a Mjollnir II.

I bought my #047 around 1977 and know for certain that I purchased a Mjollnir III. My #265 is still retains a "Mjöllnir" sticker with now III. Comparing the handles and heads side-by-side, the only difference that I can see is that #265 has a darker head than #047. This may indicate a change in head alloy and/or heat treatment.

My #181 still retains a "Mjöllnir III" sticker. Although darkened by rust, it has the lighter head matching #047.

I bought #048 on eBay. It has a lighter head matching #047, so I am calling it a Mjollnir III.

I bought #132 with the hatchet handle on eBay. The seller described it as an "Original Mjollnir" (not Original Mjollnir III) and it has a darker head matching #265, so I am accepting it as one.

As for the spelling, the stickers on the hammers spell Mjöllnir with an umlaut while the catalogs do not use the umlaut.

Rather than separating the Mjöllnirs from the Mjöllnir IIIs, I'm ordering these by the type of picks that I currently have installed on them.

↑ 265: Forrest Mjollnir

• Made in USA [1974].
• 350x175 mm.
• Weight: 665 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 21x14 mm. (Grip: 32x23 mm.)
• Semi-modular head.
• Hammer: 29(l)x25(w)x32(h) mm.
• Modular nut pick.
• Pick: 95(l)x15(h)x4(t) mm.
• This one has the nut pick.

↑ 181: Forrest Mjollnir III

• Made in USA [ca. 1977].
• 350x195 mm.
• Weight: 705 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 21x14 mm. (Grip: 32x23 mm.)
• Semi-modular head.
• Hammer: 29(l)x25(w)x32(h) mm.
• Modular alpine pick with a negative-clearance chisel tip and with four small ventral teeth near tip andthen two larger ones.
• Pick: 115(l)x29(h)x4(t) mm.
• This one has the alpine-style Ice Pick.

↑ 047: Forrest Mjollnir III

• Made in USA [ca. 1977].
• 350x155 mm.
• Weight: 710 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 21x14 mm. (Grip: 32x23 mm.)
• Semi-modular head.
• Hammer: 29(l)x25(w)x32(h) mm.
• Modular waterfall ice pick with a neutral-clearance chisel tip and with four small ventral teeth near tip and one larger one midpick.
• Pick: 82(l)x25(h)x4(t) mm.
• One webbing loop tied through hole in pick and another hand sewn through hole in handle.
• This Mjollnir has a waterfall ice Alpine Pick that I sharpened fo a fine edge.
• This hammer and setup is what I used for my caving ice climbs back in the old days.

↑ 132: Forrest Mjollnir

• Made in USA [1974].
• 360x165 mm.
• Weight: 655 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 23x11 mm. (Grip: 28x21 mm.)
• Semi-modular head.
• Hammer: 30(l)x26(w)x23(h) mm.
• Modular waterfall ice pick with a negative-clearance chisel tip and with 9 ventral teeth.
• Pick: 105(l)x27(h)x5(t) mm.
• Webbing loop tied through hole in handle.
• Mjollnir III with hatchet-style handle and a Skye pick.

↑ 048: Forrest Mjollnir III

• Made in USA [ca. 1977].
• 350x175 mm.
• Weight: 725 g.
• Fiberglass Shaft with Rubber Grip.
• Shaft: 21x14 mm. (Grip: 32x23 mm.)
• Semi-modular head.
• Hammer: 29(l)x25(w)x32(h) mm.
• Modular tubular pick with a tubular, internally beveled tip and with 3 teeth on each side of the ventral ice clearance slot.
• Pick: 90(l)x14(d) mm.
• Accessory cord loop tied through hole in handle.
• I have a Tube Pick for hard waterfall-ice attached to this one.
• The Tube Pick was produced under a license from Lowe Alpine Systems