Everybody carried pitons when they went climbing in the good old days before we had fancy camming devices, hexcentrics, stoppers, wire and the like. Find a good crack, a suitable piton to fit and whack it in with your piton hammer. It follows that everyone had a piton hammer and they did. Stubai were the most common with Salewa not far behind. Some folk made their own and we have a very fine example here made by Brian Fuller in the 1960’s. It’s beautifully made and seems to be based on the design of a Salewa ( see picture opposite) though this one is chunkier and heavier. Brian made the hammer for mountain guide, Dave Cheesmond, who eventually passed it on to us – thanks Dave and Brian