Outside has Gutted Climbing Mag

Wow, love it or hate it, this is the end of an era.

Some 35 years age I starting call Outside Magazine, Outhouse Magazine. You know the magazine one leaves in the outhouse and uses to wipe their bum. 

Climbing mags have been dead for 20+ years… where have all you guys been?

Russ Wallingwrote:

Climbing mags have been dead for 20+ years… where have all you guys been?

Climbing mags aren’t dead. Read the Climbing Zine.

The transition to online media has been going on a long time.  I see print as a waste of paper at this point.  

Climbing.com seems to have improved over the past few years from an immature blog sideshow into a more legitamate commercial quality site. 

I will probably pay for Outside+ at some point and I like that it will cover numerous common interests rather than getting nickle-dimed by each for a total sum of way more money than reading shit on the net could possibly be worth to anyone. 

A 15-20% layoff isn’t necessarily a sign of trouble - normal %’s for restructuring and weeding.  

Lastly - where is this information coming from that Matt Samet lost his job?

Cory Nwrote:

Climbing mags aren’t dead. Read the Climbing Zine.

I just ordered all the issues they have left in print. I've got some catching up to do. 

Using paper for a valid purpose isn’t wasting it. Obviously we can disagree whether publications in general or specific ones are valid or not, but I strongly disagree with dismissing all “print” as a waste of paper ( much of which is recycled anyway). Without getting too deeply into the various cost comparisons, there is an argument that the electricity and various materials used in computers makes digital communication also quite ‘wasteful’.

Your dismissal of the human impact of 15-20% layoffs ( also wasteful) is also quite callous.

Its not them, its me. I changed. Another old guy here with boxes of old mags in the garage. Mountain, R&I and Climbing. They were born in a different era, when magazines were part of daily living. My parents loved their periodicals and I grew up loving them too - Look, Life, Readers fucking Digest, Natl Geo, etc. It was natural for us to thumb a magazine on a routine basis. But by the 90s big changes were afoot and we the people began to eschew magazines. Losing readership the mags converted to glossy advertising rigs, providing just enough content to prop up the ad revenue. By the mid-90s I was done. Its been over now for almost 30 years. They have lost all relevance to me now. I've had magazines given to me and I could not bring myself to get interested enough to read them.

Like I said, its me, not them. I changed. So too, however, did millions of others. We've moved on. We don't use horse and buggy anymore either.

I'd love to hear George Bracksiecks opinion. I agree that the rags started getting so bad that I haven't even picked one up for a few years. I think they all rely too much on low paid/no paid interns. 

Pinklebear wrote:

I was laid off on Wednesday, along with Climbing's art director and many other people at Outside, Inc. It appears that Climbing, in its print form—what I worked on primarily—will no longer be published, or at least not at its former frequency of five times a year, but I didn't get many details.  —Matt Samet aka "Pinklebear"

Matt - I've always appreciated your voice in climbing publishing. In recent years, as skeptical as I have been of the way the magazines had gone, I figured that if Samet was still at Climbing, it was still legit. No longer.

Looking forward to seeing what you do next. Whatever you write, I'll buy it.

M Mwrote:

I'd love to hear George Bracksiecks opinion. I agree that the rags started getting so bad that I haven't even picked one up for a few years. I think they all rely too much on low paid/no paid interns. 

This is what I get for lurking — another opportunity to get entangled in a web of threads. After R&I was sold for the second time (2002), I think the quality of writing and editing fell, although that’s been generally happening in all print and online media.

Reducing the demand for paper is a good thing. While printing on recycled paper reduces the demand for cutting down forests and toxically milling paper, the recycling process is noxious, and the manufacture and distribution of magazines has a polluting footprint. Servers use huge amounts of electricity, so no medium is ideal. 

Chris Hatzaiwrote:

… and in their absence grew the entire podcasting industry. 

Thanks to the folks chiming in with kind words on The Climbing Zine! Like vinyl (and even tapes) coming back and having high demand, I'm seeing a smaller, scale but similar trend with The Zine. Anywho, here's our KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE discount code for 15% off if anyone wants to pick up some copies/ or subscribe. Our costs have gone up a ton this year, but the reader support has really stepped up and we're in good shape and not going anywhere anytime soon. 

https://shop.climbingzine.com/discount/KEEPTHEZINEALIVE

P.S. Sorry to hear Matt Samet got laid off, he was always great to work with when I used to freelance. 

Luke Mehallwrote:

Thanks to the folks chiming in with kind words on The Climbing Zine! Like vinyl (and even tapes) coming back and having high demand, I'm seeing a smaller, scale but similar trend with The Zine. Anywho, here's our KEEP THE ZINE ALIVE discount code for 15% off if anyone wants to pick up some copies/ or subscribe. Our costs have gone up a ton this year, but the reader support has really stepped up and we're in good shape and not going anywhere anytime soon. 

https://shop.climbingzine.com/discount/KEEPTHEZINEALIVE

How can I look at a sample issue? All I see on the site are things I can buy without being able to evaluate them.

Marc801 Cwrote:

How can I look at a sample issue? All I see on the site are things I can buy without being able to evaluate them.

Hey Marc - check out our site and free some articles, should give you a feel for our style: www.climbingzine.com 

On purpose our print publication is our crown jewel. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

How can I look at a sample issue? All I see on the site are things I can buy without being able to evaluate them.

I'm finished with issue #21 (the latest one), I can mail it to you if you want to check it out

Marc801 Cwrote:

How can I look at a sample issue? All I see on the site are things I can buy without being able to evaluate them.

$10 - major purchase there bud, better read the reviews and check the return policy.

I'd be happy to support a magazine that had excellent photography and didn't constantly bash on Christians and republicans.  That's something R&I editorials did frequently, and other print publications have picked up on and run with.

Charlie Swrote:

I'd be happy to support a magazine that had excellent photography and didn't constantly bash on Christians and republicans.  That's something R&I editorials did frequently, and other print publications have picked up on and run with.

Interesting. Not that I have ever seen this bashing of Christians&republicans in the rags I certainly can say that blasphemy and shit talking politics in general is pretty common around campfires and the climbing community.