Climbing Narcissist » Dead Point Magazine

Combing Through DPM’s Stash

Narc — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 13:17:18 +0000

It’s been about three years now since Dead Point Magazine (DPM) launched under the banner of “free climbing media for the young and unruly.” One of the key components of DPM’s platform had been their exclusive videos, a mantle they more or less picked up as MomentumVM faded away. Whereas MVM offered exclusive video content for a monthly subscription, for much of the first three years of their existence DPM offered up a relatively steady selection of exclusive videos for free.

Earlier this year, however, the rate of exclusive videos offered at DPM began to trail off in anticipation of their launching a new pay area of the site called “The Stash.” For a yearly fee of $12 one can get each issue of DPM’s magazine¹ delivered to them and gain access to The Stash which is the new home for all their exclusive video content. Reading the DPM website it’s not clear² what you are actually getting when you sign up for The Stash with respect to the video offerings, but I’ve been told that they expect to release a new video each week. The Stash is also the home for all of the previously free videos that were exclusive to DPM.

The Stash has been up and running for about three months now with one video per week being featured. The videos are all generally longer than the average online climbing video while the quality varies depending on who filmed it, who edited it and what the subject of the video is.

Some of the videos being featured in The Stash

I’d like to say that The Stash is a must visit video destination, but the reality is that the online climbing video landscape has changed quite a bit in the last few years. Youtube and Vimeo are inundated with new climbing videos on a daily basis, and basically every single climbing media website, including the one you’re reading, has an area of their sites dedicated to sharing these videos. Many of these freely available videos are actually quite good, especially with companies like Black Diamond, Prana, Sterling and now Adidas commissioning top professional filmmakers to make videos for them to distribute for free as part of their marketing strategy.

Herein lies the main hurdle for The Stash in my mind. We live in a world where videos of groundbreaking ascents like Adam Ondra’s onsight of Mind Control and Sasha DiGiulian’s repeat of Pure Imagination or feature-length films like Tomorrow I Will Be Gone and The Swiss Account are available for free. Given this, how many people are going to pay money, even $1 per month, to watch what amounts to a random collection of longer videos, some good and some not as good, in a place like The Stash? I know I will because it’s what I do and I don’t have a problem doing a small part to help support these filmmakers, but I’m curious to hear from you if it’s something you’re going to be doing.

Let me know in the comments your thoughts on The Stash if you’ve checked it out or your reasons for not giving it a look if you haven’t yet done so.

Which is apparently shifting to a quarterly schedule from its previously bi-monthly schedule ↩
Still ↩

Combing Through DPM’s Stash from Climbing Narcissist

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What’s In The Mags: October 2010

Narc — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:05:43 +0000

Welcome back to a developing feature I’m calling What’s In The Mags. The idea is to give a brief recap of what’s happening with all the major climbing print publications in the U.S. You can check out September’s edition here and below you’ll find a brief recap of what was in the latest issues of Urban Climber, Climbing and Deadpoint Magazine.

Urban Climber #43 – October 2010

Urban Climber #43 - October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Angie Payne on The Automator (V13) in RMNP, CO – Photo by John Dickey

Other Notables:

Profile of the Chloé Graftiaux who tragically lost her life in a fall back in August
The Cerro Torre controversy
Profiles of Amanda Berezowski, Jason Kehl, Alex Savage and Jamie Emerson
Four steps to stronger sending
Mesa Rim gym in San Diego, CA

My Pick:

My favorite part about this issue of UC was not the content (although the Angie Payne story and other articles were well worth reading) but rather UC’s new, much cleaner layout. It’s clear they listened to reader feedback as the new layout shies away from the overly busy backgrounds that made previous issues actually difficult to read. If you haven’t checked out Urban Climber lately now might be a good time to give it another shot.

Climbing #289 – October 2010

Climbing #289 - October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell on their Dawn Wall project on El Cap – Photo by Corey Rich

Other Notables:

Hot Flashes interviews Angie Payne after her FFA of The Automator and chronicles the first free climb of a legendary wall in Norway
Off The Wall – Climbing in Iraq and rebuilding the Snowbird Hut in Alaska
Ten Things you didn’t know the 3rd Flatiron
Players Profile of Matt Maddaloni
Tech tips on coiling a rope, extending your rappel device and rodeo clipping
Classic Climbs – Snake Dike (5.7 R) on Half Dome in Yosemite, CA
Mileage – Bouldering in Tinos, Greece

My Pick:

It was hard for me not to enjoy the cover story on Kevin Jorgeson and Tommy Caldwell. I had the chance to meet them both when I was in Yosemite and to say they are psyched about what they are doing would be an understatement. The story does a good job of finding out right from the source what is driving them. Cool stuff.

Deadpoint Magazine 13 – Nov.-Dec. 2010

Deadpoint Magazine 13 - Nov.-Dec. 2010

Other Notables:

Report from the Hound Ears Triple Crown stop
Profile of Mike Foley
Holiday gift guide
Climbing personality quiz by Eric Horst

My Pick:

This issue was Deadpoint’s “Photo & Video Annual” and this is where their hybrid print/online format really works well for them. The article by Anthony Lapormardo about the bouldering near Sonora, CA was interesting to read and the addition of a free online companion video was a nice bonus.

What’s In The Mags: October 2010 from Climbing Narcissist

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What’s In The Mags: September 2010

Narc — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:58:15 +0000

Welcome to a new feature I’m calling What’s In The Mags. This is most definitely a work in progress, but my goal is to highlight each issue of the major U.S. climbing magazines. While the internet has become a great resource for reading and learning about climbing, I still think that magazines have a lot to offer. Without further ado, here is what is going on (in no particular order) in the latest issues of Climbing, Rock & Ice, Deadpoint and Urban Climber.

Climbing #288 – September 2010

Climbing #288 - September 2010

What’s on the cover:

Chris Sierzant climbing in Little River Canyon, AL – Photo by Tomas Donoso

Other Notables:

Editorial from new editor-in-chief Dougald McDonald outlining his vision for the future of the magazine which will include an “unwavering focus on the average American climber”.
Ten Things you didn’t know about knots
Sporting Life – Matt Samet’s look at his “four most appalling experiences” at climbing gyms
History of the access situation at Draper’s Bluff, IL
Hot Flashes – News from Alex Honnold and Mt. Foraker
Players – profile of guidebook author Harald Roker
Tech tips on falling and foot care
Classic Climbs – Skyline (5.8) – City Of Rocks, ID
Trad climbing and bouldering in Minnesota
Profile of Smith Rock “steward” Ryan Cafferky
Perspective – Timmy O’Neill

My Pick:

Of the featured articles I most enjoyed Andrew Burr’s piece about climbing remote towers in Utah while the “water scrambling” piece just made me more jealous of the amount of rock there is near Chattanooga, TN. With Dougald McDonald on board as the new editor-in-chief it will be very interesting to see where Climbing goes from here.

Rock & Ice # 189 – October 2010

Rock & Ice # 189 - October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Alex Chabot climbing on the amazing columns of Pixelization (5.12a) at Garni Gorge, Armenia – Photo by Sam Bie

Issue Theme:

“The Amazing Issue”

Other Notables:

Cliff Notes looking back on the 1963 ascent of The Diagonal (V 5.9 A5) in Colorado’s Black Canyon by Jimmy Dunn and Earl Wiggins
Spotlight on Chris Schulte
Tuesday Night Bouldering – Andrew Bisharat
What I’ve Learned – Beth Rodden talks about things she’s learned over her years as a professional climber
Ask Dr. J – Dr. J discusses hypermobility and tendinosis
Ask the Coach – Neil Gresham talks about “eccentric strength training”
Parting shot from Simon Carter

My Pick:

It’s hard not to be inspired by the “Armenia Amazing” & “Big Sky” articles, and the “What I’ve Learned” piece was a nice insight into the mind of Beth Rodden.

Deadpoint Magazine 12 – Sept.-Oct 2010

What’s on the cover:

Bouldering at Bishop’s Sad Boulders – Photo by Damon Corso

Other Notables:

Responses to the Women’s issue
Outdoor Retailer humor
Profile of Young Chu, shoe designer and the creator of the Mad Rock brand
Interview with Tommy Caldwell’s severed finger
Interviews with hold shaper Tony Reynaldo and the Bikini Boulderers Facebook group
10 Does and Don’ts For Sending Your Project by Eric Hörst

My Pick:

After a an excellent Women’s Issue this issue of DPM left me a bit flat. The piece on bouldering at the Sads was good albeit a bit brief. Otherwise the Us Magazine inspired Outdoor Retailer piece is always good for a laugh.

Urban Climber #41 – August 2010

Urban Climber #41 - August 2010

What’s on the cover:

Lauren Lee working Breaking The Law (5.14b) in St. George, UT – Photo by Keith Ladzinski

Other Notables:

Comparison of Battle in the Bubble & Vail World Cup by Jackie Hueftle
Profiles of Jill Church, Nicky Dyal, Jenn Flemming, Jimmy Webb, Stefan Glowacz and the Gravity Vault climbing gym
Photo spread on Utah’s Black and Tan Wall by Keith Ladzinski
Tips and techniques for projecting
The Myths and Truths about Chalk

My Pick:

The discussion about first female ascents was really well done and is well worth the read if you’re interested in that discussion (I am). The Climbing Alamanac was a bit hit or miss but it did have some good stuff in it.

What’s In The Mags: September 2010 from Climbing Narcissist

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Ad Blackout

Narc — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:05:44 +0000

The excellent blog ClimbingHouse.com recently took a look at the ad content in 3 of the major U.S. climbing magazines (Climbing, Rock & Ice and Dead Point Magazine). While not a new topic per se, they were able to put a cool twist on the subject by going through a recent issue of DPM and blacking out all the ads:

Blackout from Climbing House on Vimeo.

In a followup post, ClimbingHouse compared the percentage of ads (based on their criteria) in each of the 3 magazines with somewhat surprising results. Obviously ads are a necessary part of the magazine publication process, but I thought these were two interesting looks at the subject.

On a related note, alpinist Kelly Cordes recently posted some thoughts while reviewing latest issue of Alpinist that I thought were quite interesting:

…there must be something intrinsic to commitment that lends itself to great storytelling, which might explain why, unfortunately, virtually zero good literature exists about sport climbing/bouldering/cragging – not trying to rip on those crafts, fun as they are, utterly mind-blowing athletically at the high end, and much as I enjoy them. It seems it should create some good lit, though – unless I’m just missing it (along with the longtime climbing historians and literature buffs, and the book festival jurors) – surely similar attributes and drive exist among the dedicated. Hell, people live in their cars, make huge sacrifices, get maniacally obsessed with a little chunk of obscure stone, all in order to clip bolts and do boulder problems. Why the lack of great writing? Surely they’re not all illiterate. Hell, brain-damaged alpinists manage to write historically great mountain literature.

Despite the fact that I enjoy reading (and writing) about the latest and greatest high end rock climbing news, quality literature (as Cordes puts it) on the subject does seem to be lacking of late in the magazines. I can’t remember the last time I read an issue of DPM, Climbing, Urban Climber or R&I more than once, and lately I’ve been mostly skimming the articles whenever the mags come in the mail. Contrast that with a magazine like Alpinist that it takes literally weeks to read with all the excellent articles. In the year I’ve been a subscriber to Alpinist I’ve already gone back and re-read parts of all the issues. Then again, Alpinist costs almost twice as much to get half the issues of the other mags.

This brings me to something I’ve given major thought to of late. I currently have subscriptions to Alpinist, R&I, Urban Climber and Climbing with 1 of the 4 seemingly up for renewal every couple of months. For years I’ve just blindly renewed them, but that may be changing very soon.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the climbing magazine industry? Is there one magazine you feel has quality articles that I might be missing? If you could only subscribe to one magazine, which one would it be? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Cool Spectre Video

Narc — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:08:44 +0000

Check out this excellent clip on DPM that Carlo Traversi put together of Kevin Jorgeson repeating Dave Graham’s Spectre (V13) at the Pollen Grains in Bishop, CA.

Cool Spectre Video from Climbing Narcissist

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Paul Robinson On Red Rocks Bouldering

Narc — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:30:47 +0000

Red Rocks is well-known for its amazing sport and trad climbing with towering walls of red sandstone stretching for miles across the Nevada desert. Fortunately for those of us that enjoy climbing smaller rocks, the basins and gullies of Red Rocks are littered with boulders perfect for bouldering.

While bouldering has been going on in Red Rocks for some time, recent years have seen its popularity as a destination for hard bouldering increase quite a bit. The efforts of locals and visiting climbers alike have yielded several new classics up to V13 and a bouldering guidebook was released in 2008.

This new development has lured many of America’s strongest climbers to Red Rocks with the likes of Jon Cardwell and Daniel Woods stopping by in early 2009 and Paul Robinson making his first trip as 2010 began. Over the course of his 2 week stay in Vegas Paul managed to sample some of the existing problems in Red Rocks while also adding 2 new V13s of his own. I caught up with Paul to get his take on the bouldering in Red Rocks as well as his impressions of the problem Lost In The Hood (V14) from his stop in Arkansas:

As for Lost In The Hood, an amazing line! The wall itself is an extremely long cliff band and nearly all of the wall is completely blank with one section of holds at the far left and lost in the hood maybe 40 feet to the right. It is a pure line and starts on a jug and a crimp that is not to good but the only logical starting left hand. From that hand position it is one extremely difficult deadpoint to a sloping lip type hold. Once on it, it feels decent, but getting the distance and being able to hold on going so fast is what makes the move so difficult. After that initial move, it is a very technical v10 to the top!

As for the FA’s, the first (The Grand Hustle) was a right exit to an already established v10 (Vigilante). The exit adds in around 6 moves and the crux is very reminiscent of the crux move of Terre De Sienne in Hueco, though slightly easier. The other line (Meadowlark Lemon) is much cooler and is on a beautiful tiger striped boulder deep in the Kraft Wash. It was thought to have been impossible, however Pete Lowe and I decided it totally went and had figured all the moves out in a matter of a few days. I managed the stand start and thought it to be about v13. The sit though is the prize! I am heading back there in Feb to try and finish the line up! The climb itself is an amazing arete that is both technical and powerful.

The guidebook to Red Rocks is pretty basic and stops at v12. However, there is so much potential there for grades way beyond v12. The book gives a very nice description to different areas with hardly any developed climbs and projects galore which was a great addition to people coming to Red Rocks looking to put up tons of great first ascents.

You can see footage of Paul sending Lost in the Hood and Meadowlark Lemon at DPM. Here are a few pictures Paul sent along of him on Meadowlark Lemon and Atlas Shrugged (click to expand):

And finally, here is a nice profile piece Chuck Fryberger put together about Paul that features him sending Big Worm (V14) at Mt. Evans and Terremer (V15) in Hueco Tanks.

Paul Robinson On Red Rocks Bouldering from Climbing Narcissist

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Deadpoint Magazine 2009 Photo & Video Annual Now Online

Narc — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:01:49 +0000

Deadpoint Magazine launched their first annual Photo & Video edition with a slew of new online videos and a new edition of their free magazine. The magazine, which you can view by clicking here, has the usual slate of interviews, stories and of course pictures. For being billed as a photo annual, I was a bit disappointed with how the pictures come across in the online reader. Zooming in on the pictures to get a better look at what was happening seems to result in the image getting blurry which was not good in my opinion.

In conjunction with the magazine, there were a bunch of new videos added to the DPM HDTV area as well. The main offering is the premier of Colorado Glow, a climbing video that actually tries to have a plot of all things. While there are obvious jokes to be made about a (climbing) porn trying to have a plot, the end result is still pretty cool.

Here is the full rundown of videos:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Deadpoint Magazine Photo & Video Annual

Deadpoint Magazine 2009 Photo & Video Annual Now Online from Climbing Narcissist

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Issue 6 OF Deadpoint Magazine Now Available

Narc — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:45:26 +0000

Issue 6 of Deadpoint Magazine is now online and it looks like they have been listening to your feedback. The online reader has been revamped for a much better reading experience in my opinion. You can now zoom in and out much more easily, and you can also download a PDF copy of the magazine for offline enjoyment.

As for the content, here are some of what you can read about in this edition:

Interview with Andy Chasteen about 24 Hours of Horseshoe Hell
A tribute to John Bachar from ODub & Misty Murphy
Interview with Mikey Williams, unheralded New River Gorge local
Red Rocks photo essay
Fontainebleau story by Chris Schulte

Issue 6 Of Deadpoint Magazine

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Be sure to also check out the footage of Nalle Hukkataival hiking Jade (V15) on DPM HDTV as well.

Issue 6 OF Deadpoint Magazine Now Available from Climbing Narcissist

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Issue 5 Of Deadpoint Magazine Now Available

Narc — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:20:32 +0000

Yesterday was June 15th which can mean only one thing: the latest issue of Deadpoint Magazine is now online. Here are a few highlights from Issue 5:

Video of Joe Kinder climbing his new 5.14d at The Cathedral The Re-Up
Video of Daniel Woods on Chinese Arithmetic (V13 or 14)
A story about the bouldering at Red Feather Lakes near Fort Collins, CO
A comprehensive climbing hold review
An interesting article on the state of the indoor climbing comp scene that includes this quote:

With the current government bodies of climbing pushing toward the Olympics, competitions are less about producing a good show and more about big business. To spectate or compete in a national level competition now costs the same as a nosebleed seat at a Neil Young concert. The increased costs, lack of transparency, strict rules, predictable route setting, faulty format, and multiple-way ties are leaving competitors disappointed and feeling cheated.

Issue 5 Of Deadpoint Magazine Now Available from Climbing Narcissist

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New Videos From Utah Added To DPM HDTV

Narc — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:54:08 +0000

Deadpoint Magazine has added video of Alex Puccio, Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson and Jon Cardwell bouldering in Moe’s Valley as well as footage of Joe Kinder on his new 5.14d The Re-Up at the Cathedral to their DPM HDTV section.

New Videos From Utah Added To DPM HDTV from Climbing Narcissist

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Climbing Narcissist » Dead Point Magazine

Combing Through DPM’s Stash

What’s In The Mags: October 2010

Urban Climber #43 – October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Climbing #289 – October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Deadpoint Magazine 13 – Nov.-Dec. 2010

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

What’s In The Mags: September 2010

Climbing #288 – September 2010

What’s on the cover:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Rock & Ice # 189 – October 2010

What’s on the cover:

Issue Theme:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Deadpoint Magazine 12 – Sept.-Oct 2010

What’s on the cover:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Urban Climber #41 – August 2010

What’s on the cover:

Featured Articles:

Other Notables:

My Pick:

Ad Blackout

Cool Spectre Video

Paul Robinson On Red Rocks Bouldering

Deadpoint Magazine 2009 Photo & Video Annual Now Online

Issue 6 OF Deadpoint Magazine Now Available

Issue 5 Of Deadpoint Magazine Now Available

New Videos From Utah Added To DPM HDTV