Riccardo Cassin (1909-2009) was a famous Italian mountaineer with a glittering career in the mountains of Europe and the Himalayas. Having trained as a blacksmith in his youth he began making his own mountaineering gear in the little Italian town of Lecco in 1947. The Cassin brand was a success, though it was taken over by another Italian company, CAMP, in 1967, keeping the Cassin trademark in the process.

The 1960s/70s saw a period of great change in the world of ice climbing, with a vast array of ice climbing tools arriving on the market on an almost monthly regularity. Cassin/CAMP were very much in the forefront of this ice axe/hammer evolution.

The Antares Hammer we have here in the collection fitted in ‘somewhere’ along the evolutionary trail (circa 1980) along with Cassin Extremes, Glace Hammers, Icefall Axes and several others. This particular one once belonged to Mick Tighe’s mountain guiding company, Nevis Guides.