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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 22, 2014 - 07:15pm PT
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I started climbing in the early 90's. I was and still am obsessed. I saved every climbing magazine I bought and could not get enough. There were great articles, pertinent photos, and good paper. They averaged over 160 pages per issue and showed a variety of climbing. I know the industry has changed and the decline has happened in other types of magazines as well. I know some of the people that work in the industry and think they do great work, but the overall package has diminished greatly in my opinion. So many more ads, so much more lame content like how to pull on a hold or buy a pack. The overall writing seems to have taken the biggest hit. Magazines these days seem to be written by the interns that do not have the overall experience of some of the authors in the past. What do you think?
Edit:I really think Alpinist is great, but can no longer afford to pay $13/issue.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Aug 22, 2014 - 07:17pm PT
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yeah, back when Mountain published British writers, Ascent existed, and we couldn't get almost all the photos we wanted on the internet.
Alpinist still seems great sometimes for the writing.
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Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
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Aug 22, 2014 - 07:23pm PT
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I think Alpinist is superb. Yes, there are a few weak pieces, but every magazine has some. The writing often reminds me of the old-style Ascent mags. I know $13 is steep but, knowing something about the publishing industry, that is what they must charge to cover their costs. Printing and good paper are not cheap. For me, it is worth it.
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Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
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Aug 22, 2014 - 07:30pm PT
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They have declined for the same reasons other print media have declined.
People can get news and almost the same material if not more for free (and sooner) on
the internet, so people stopped their subscriptions.
So magazines/newspapers can't afford to pay their writers much,
and they may increase the use of ads in the death spiral.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 07:34pm PT
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comparison of 12 issues from the early 90's and 12 from the last few years. The quality of paper is amazingly different.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Aug 22, 2014 - 07:38pm PT
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Edit:I really think Alpinist is great, but can no longer afford to pay $13/issue.
If Alpinist cut its price to match the magazines you dislike, what do you think it would look/read like?
Climbing has been commoditized just like everything else. How do you think the people who were totally committed to the surfing lifestyle way back when (or the mountain biking, or skateboarding, or skiing, or whatever lifestyle) feel about the magazines covering their passion now?
If you love climbing, go climbing.
If you need non-commercial magazines about your favorite activity, give up climbing and go cave-diving. Or, read the TRs here on Supertoprope.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 07:41pm PT
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Gear issues suck. Photo issues suck(even though I love photos and many of the photographers) as you can be done with the issues in an hour or so. News flashes suck. How to articles suck. Ads suck. I want to read about suffering in the Ruth Gorge. I want to hear about the bolting wars and the pioneers. I want to hear about great new places with more than a couple of paragraphs and a bunch of photos on crappy paper. Epics issues are awesome.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 07:44pm PT
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Ghost I know why it happened just missing the old days. With the number of ads and poor quality of paper and printing in today's rags they should give them away which occasionally they do on e versions. They might make more money if they did give them away.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 07:51pm PT
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At least with the new ones you can get dual use recycling after dropping the kids off at the pool. The paper is so thin the wrinkles won't chafe you too bad.
Seen gripped online a couple of times it looks cool. So does the rest of Canada. Love Terry Fox.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:03pm PT
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I just donated about 10 years of Climbing (1990-2000) to my local library. Given how many threads you see here about others trying to sell or pass them off, I hoped that the local burgeoning climbers in this community would get some benefit from them.
The writing & content in those years was so much more superior that today's rags (Alpinist excepted).
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 08:09pm PT
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Nice apogee I have talked to the university library where I work and they were not too interested. My kid loves them too much anyway.
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WBraun
climber
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:14pm PT
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Remember when climbing magazines were great.
What's in in them anyways?
I never read em nor have I ever bought one .....
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:24pm PT
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:25pm PT
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my climbing gym has old copies of Climbing. It's startling how good the content was as late as the early 1990s
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limpingcrab
Trad climber
the middle of CA
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:32pm PT
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You need an attention span for real magazines, nobody has time for that anymore!
I can't even read ST posts that go more than 4 or 5 lines.
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Aug 22, 2014 - 08:45pm PT
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I remember BITD, coming home to find Climbing in the mailbox. Everything stopped for 2 hours and I devoured the contents.
I just finished a one years subscription to Climbing, after a 13 year hiatus. It was nice to get it in the mail, but tedious to read. Looks like Surfer Magazine, loaded with superfluous fashion ads. An occasional good training article. Only 20 bucks to renew, and you get Ski Magazine for free. I could only imagine what Ski looks like now. I will pass on both
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Aug 22, 2014 - 09:03pm PT
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This one was so great I had it framed on my shop wall in Berkeley, right behind the counter next to the business license.For example:
Is this historic first issue's cover a butt shot?
It's at Tremadoc in Wales.
Butt who is The Dude Up There?
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Aug 22, 2014 - 10:07pm PT
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I ran into former editor of both Rock and Ice and Climbing, Dougald McDonald, while climbing in Boulder Canyon a month ago. He said one big reason why magazines are in decline is that advertisers are putting a lot of their money into videos as a way of spreading their message and building their brand.
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bhilden
Trad climber
Mountain View, CA/Boulder, CO
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Aug 22, 2014 - 10:14pm PT
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Along the lines about what Clint said about the magazines not being able to pay for good writers, I remember reading in Steve House's book about how after he did the first alpine ascent of the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat he got numerous requests from climbing magazines for an article on the climb, most of which asked him to provide the article for free!
It should be noted that the 2006 ascent was so noteworthy that it won the Piolet d'Or that year. That is a huge statement on the state of climbing magazines that they would ask for a free article on such a groundbreaking climb.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 22, 2014 - 10:22pm PT
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I think there are good articles but there are one or two instead of 10. There just seems to be so much how to do yoga, gear reviews, or stuff besides actual writing about climbing.
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