Outside has Gutted Climbing Mag

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2022/05/outside-inc-ends-print-run-of-backpacker-climbing-and-more-amid-layoffs/

It's not a good business model anymore, is it? I wouldn't accept those mags if they were free. I'm just one person but I know I'm not alone.

Bummer. I really like the print. It’s why i have a subscription to the online version, even though i don’t utilize the online features

Climbing might have to return to a more 'local' format.......versus being the hopes for fat revenue by venture capital

Good time to support stuff like the Adventure Journal and Alpinist and Climbing Zine and others that look way better in print anyway. Honestly surprised this didn't happen sooner.

edit: my initial response to this felt also a little insensitive once I came back to this thread, particularly as someone who works in the industry. also want to send my regards to those that were laid off, the mag was really doing their best with what commercialization would let them have, and I cannot f'n believe they laid off Matt. Even if print eventually fades away, good storytelling will never die.

Climbing has not been very good since Michael Kennedy left in the late 90's.  

Rock & Ice was decent for a while.

Alpinist is the only climbing magazine I subscribe to currently, but its quality has dropped off too.  Will not renew when my current subscription runs out.  

Matt D wrote:

Too bad. Comparing a copy of the magazine circa 2000 to now, it's almost like a different publication.

For someone who wasn't around, could you describe what it was like?

Lane Mathiswrote:

For someone who wasn't around, could you describe what it was like?

Less commercialization, more in depth trip reports, analysis of gear and systems, less "hot takes" blog style writing....did I miss anything?

I'm very sorry to hear this. I know I'm old-fashioned, but I prefer 'hard copies' to digital--whether magazines, guidebooks, regular books, whatever. I much prefer reading print on a page to scrolling on a computer. As far as the quality of the publications, I have been reading both Climbing and R and I since they started and haven't really noticed a deterioration in content over those years, sure there have been changes in focus over time but that has been reflective of the changes in climbing that have been occurring. Having said the above, nothing has ever equalled, in terms of impact, the early years of Mountain Magazine, especially under Ken Wilson's editorship. While I occasionally (maybe more than occasionally) disagreed with his editorial positions, but in terms of visuals and content those issues represented a giant step for the climbing media of the day.

Lane Mathiswrote:

For someone who wasn't around, could you describe what it was like?

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

I subscribed to Powder to the end, it's gone. Rock and Ice, now Climbing, gone. I know if the case of the ski mag, the VC guys had offers and chose not to sell because it's worth more as a write off than a sale. Probably the case with Climbing too. I think it's sad, words on paper are cool and the photography has just gotten better and better. For anyone else who likes print media, Gripped is worth a look despite (or because of) its Canadian focus. Typos have been reduced lately and the content has been really good and probably even more local, making it more enjoyable.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2022/05/thoughts-on-outsides-layoffs-outdoor-media-and-adventure-journal/

Gives some more specifics on the situation. 

^^^ a line from the article stuck out for me

 Outside is the biggest outdoor media company by orders of magnitude, and its success is good for the industry and potentially for the outdoor culture.

In hindsight I don't agree at all. I don't think Outside Media is or was good for "the industry" and it is especially not good for our culture. Their P&L is a leading indicator this is true. For so long, Outside Mag itself was dedicated to outing special places to a consumer public, for profit. That was their core business hook - read our mag to find out what the cool kids are doing. I tell you what the cool kids are not doing - consuming Outside Media's subscription products.

Lane Mathis wrote:
For someone who wasn't around, could you describe what it was like?

Tradibanwrote:

Less commercialization, more in depth trip reports, analysis of gear and systems, less "hot takes" blog style writing....did I miss anything?

Here is a good apples to apples:
Climbing Issue 151 March- 1995. 192 pages
Climbing Issue 321 Dec- 2014. 64 pages.
When I last got Climbing Magazine (circa 2018 @ 79 pages) it had morphed into just a husk of what it once was. I know it claims to be reborn (every few years) when a new editor flies in and promises to bring it back, but it seems the time or printed mags is just ending... but who knows, Vinyl is back... so the future is always uncertain. : -) 

Laying off Matt Samet is an epic failure.

Side note but has anyone else noticed that for the past few years Alpinist (which is basically just the passion project of one dedicated person) seems like the journal of social justice activism not of climbing accomplishments/lifestyle?

If the story isn't highlighting the interseciontal bonafides and burdens of this or that otherwise obscure person or indigenous group, the only other subject is a repeating theme of having an article titled something like "out of the darkness" or "suffering into the light" etc...

From someone who began climbing in 1953 my observation is relative to my generation and massively simplistic, but perhaps has a tad of merit these days: There is simply too much of everything.

ClimberRunnerwrote:

Side note but has anyone else noticed that for the past few years Alpinist (which is basically just the passion project of one dedicated person) seems like the journal of social justice activism not of climbing accomplishments/lifestyle?

If the story isn't highlighting the interseciontal bonafides and burdens of this or that otherwise ibscure person or indigenous group, the only other subject is a repeating theme of having an article titled something like "out of the darkness" or "suffering into the light" etc...

Yep.  

The lead article from the latest issue:

"Rematriating Our Lives: Indigeneity and What it Means to Climb"

Also, the tedious litany in their articles about which indigenous tribes the various climbing areas were stolen from gets old.  (As does their insistance on using obscure indigenous names for well known peaks with decades of climbing history.)

the early years of Mountain Magazine, especially under Ken Wilson's editorship

True. First 50 issues or so. Climbing and Rock and Ice have never been close to that quality.

Started climbing in a small NYU gym in ‘98.  Back then climbing mags which I did not subscribe to were a precious big spend item I dropped a few scarce dollars on while passing through Grand Central.  As years passed, I got more into climbing and loved seeing the wild places.  Started buying Alpinist before a few books before the X book.  Then subscribed.  Every book with a Mountain Profile was a gateway out of an NYC or New Rochelle gym into an amazing history and dream.  Every book without a profile was a major let down.

At some point drawings started replacing photos.   And the last straw was a drawn out description of the lead up to a suicide.  Being exhausted by working long hours, I said F it.  Why try to find a place for mags I don’t even want to read once.

@FirstPersonBeta, topfreeclimb.tv, the Enormocast and even the stupidity of Bad Beta Podcast filled the void.  

I am not limited to gym climbing now.  I don’t really care about the Honnold, Caldwell and...

Climbing mags RIP, you won’t be missed long. 

djkyotewrote:

Laying off Matt Samet is an epic failure.

Can you imagine a worse decision. It means they have no grasp on what climbing is about.