An Italian blacksmith called Nicola Codega started making equipment for mountaineering back in 1889, he called his company CAMP, Construzione Articola Montagna Premana, which loosely translated means the making of items for mountaineering in the town of Premana. Nicola’s company was, and still is in 2025, very successful – making a vast array of mountain gear of their own, and for others under licence.

The ice climbing revolution of the 1960s saw a vast array of ‘tools’ appear on the market, the Baltoro hammer was one of them. Named after the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram Range of Pakistan the hammer looked very similar to loads of others around at the time, none of which were much use. Hamish MacInnes’s Terrordactyl reigned supreme, in Scotland at least, Chouinard Zero was the connoisseur’s choice, all were superseded by more futuristic designs, allowing ice climbers to float up climbs without hardly touching them!

The Interalp logo on this and many other CAMP items relates to an Italian distribution company that dealt with CAMP from 1968 to 1980.