Below, Bjørn-Eivind Årtun photo looking up at the head wall of "Dracula".
Proven on Foraker's Dracula and host of Cascade and Canadian climbs over the last 4 winter seasons.
Update 12/3/10
At Bjørn-Eivind Årtun's suggestion from his successful '10 Alaskan season we have redesigned the C-T Nomic hammer to make it even lighter instead of the original 7mm face. The new hammer will also fit the newest Petzl Nomic, Quark or Ero tool heads and picks cut for a hammer or adze as well as the old with no modification to heads or the newest Petzl picks.
I had preferred a one hammer set up with the 7mm hammer. The newest hammers have changed that. Two hammers offer great balance with or without the pick weights. Makes an even more fun pure ice tool. with an extra 38g of weight. A technical tool like the Nomic will never be ideal for pounding pins (that won't change) because of their large clearance of the handle shape, but our smaller profile hammers certainly make it a lot easier and save the head of the tools, hammering or camming the head of the tool on mixed. They are easy to attach with perfect fit and finish.
For long committing alpine climbs they are a minimalistic option that works. For banging in the occasional pin on your ice climbs they work. Using them to protect your tool head while cleaning or camming the head on mixed ground...they work.
Our current hammers easily fit the newest picks from Petzl. They are CNC machined from bar stock chromoly steel and then heat treated to hammer hardness and hand finished in our shop.
There haev been slight changed for the better compared to what is pictured below. The C-T hammer will fit all the new Petzl tools and the old Nomic as well, That includes the new Nomic, the new Quark and the new Ergo.
A pair of C-T hammers on the newest Quark gives you one really SSSwwweeeeet alpine technical tool with the option of the very best production picks currently available!
Jon Griffith entering the first ice field after the Hinterstoisser traverse, with first gen, hammers. We are now on 3rd gen hamemrs. © Will Sim
I choose to have the best climbing tool and have a just manageable hammer. If you anticipate the need to pound a lot of pins bring a alpine hammer as a third tool. If that is the case most will be a lot happier with an alpine hammer than any one's Nomic hammer, including the C-T hammer.
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/947206/Re_New_Nomic
Not all Petzl heads are created equally. Our hammers are. We have found a few tools that require very minor (1 in 20 maybe)hand fitting the pick and hammer with a file. It won't take much and is easy to do. If you can sharpen a pick any fitting required will be easy.
There is a 1 in 20 or less, issue. If you have difficulties fitting the hammers once you have the picks and hammer in hand check the depth of the cut on the head and the amount of clearance. As I mentioned the Petzl quality control in this area isn't always the best.
You need the slot in the head to be cut deep and close to the shaft or you will need to cut the bottom of the hammer to mate the bolt holes. These are factory heads that did not need to be modified. But you can easily see the difference in where the hammer and picks fit into the shaft.
This is a head and shaft that will need the CT hammer modified. Easiest way to do that is cut a bit off the bottom of the hammer so the bolts line up in the head. Better imo is cut the head in the shaft with a small file...but much harder to do. Either way it won't change the strength of the hammer pick interface..
Hammer are $60 ea. (will fit the current production picks and is now even lighter with a 4mm hammer face...38g per hammer and much easier to fit than the earlier Petzl offering )
Photo courtesy of Alastair Swinton soloing the Chere route, N. Face of the Midi, Chamonix.
They are done, they are shipping and they are one genration better! No dicking around on the fit. Simply bolt them on with the current Petzl picks. A new stronger and more durable design. Designed to fit perfectly on the old or new tools.
Please NOTE! Feb 3, 2013..... We are now shipping hammers again. The stock won't last for ever. I have sold out every production run in the last 3 years in just weeks. No additional shipping charges for International orders! Just ignore the add ons if you are ordering.
