News…
- Fresh off a successful trip to Hueco Tanks, Jimmy Webb had a pretty stellar day at HP40, AL. He did a new right variation to Ghetto Superstar that is likely V10, and he also pulled off the 2nd ascents of James Litz’s Genetic (V11, FA video here) and Lee Payne’s Illusions (V12). Back in November he added 2 V11s to HP40 in Stingray Low and Matchmaker. Be sure to check Webb’s blog for videos from his recent trips to Hueco, Arkansas and Little Rock City. Here’s one from his day at HP40:
Hp40 from Jimmy Webb on Vimeo.
- In the past month, Carrie Cooper has done 3 V10’s (Cosmic Tricycle Sit, The Black Hole and The Receptionist) at the Priest Draw outside Flagstaff, AZ.
- Charlie Barrett had a good holiday weekend, sending both Spectre (V13) and Mandala SDS (thinks V13 with tall guy beta) in Bishop, CA. Kevin Jorgeson also repeated Spectre, which was first done almost 9 years ago by Dave Graham. Here is an interview Barrett did with DPM back in November.
- The 2nd leg of the Dark Horse Bouldering Series was held on December 12th at MetroRock in Everett, MA with Francesca Metcalf and Rob D’Anastasio winning their respective Pro divisions. Here’s a brief video of the comp:
…And Notes
- If ice climbing is your thing there is a great event coming up the weekend of January 16th, 2010 at the Ice Pit near Green Bay here in WI. For $10 you can check out gear from several companies and climb until your arms are numb. Check this link for more info. Here are a few photos from my trip to the Ice Pit last year:
- Interview with Wolverine Publishing’s Dave Pegg
- 1981 Climbing Magazine article about climbing at Devil’s Lake – Lots of great old photos
- Tim Kemple sounds off on the state of the editorial world in outdoor publications:
More recently however, in an effort to save $ a lot of the niche magazines started getting rid of their photo editors orothers double time as PEs (NONE of the 5 national climbing publications have a photo editor). Also as a means to save money, magazines have been hiring ’staff’ or ‘contributing’ photographers and writers who often work below established freelance space rates or are paying up to a year late (yup even the big ones).
The images getting pulled these days aren’t the best ones that have been refined through months of experimentation; they are the ones that are cheap or they are run small to avoid paying higher page rates. I know this is a broad generalization, but it is entirely true in most of the outdoor publications AND ITS MAKING MOST THE MAGAZINES SUCK. The magazine that goes to print today isn’t the best magazine its the cheapest one that won’t piss off any advertisers. I know this first hand, when I was working as a contributing photographer for a publication last year I often had images that filled a request but I thought they stunk, so I would never submit them… that really pissed the publisher off.
- The blog ClimbingHouse recently had a nice 2 part story about an old school climber, Rusty. Part 1 can be found here:
By the end of his undergraduate program, Rusty was anxious to do some climbing. College in Pennsylvania doesn’t allow for much of that. Sure he’d been on summer trips, but aside from that, he had not been able to really summit anything substantial as of late. So when Alex Lowe called him about a new route in Yosemite, he jumped at the chance. As one of the best free climbers in the world, Rusty’s friend from the days as a Yosemite bum was eyeing a new route on El Cap called Jolly Roger. His friends always seemed to call him when it came time to do the stimulating routes.
- …and part 2 here:
“[Climbing] is not as important as it seems. Don’t overestimate it and if you don’t, you’ll probably enjoy it longer because you won’t make it play a role in your life that it can’t really play. It can’t be like religion. It’s a temptation to confuse the intense experience of climbing with something that’s more life fulfilling. I think the people who did that ended up unhappy.” This is undoubtedly the salient nugget of wisdom in this article. It was Rusty’s interpretation of what Dale Bard told him as a young climber. Climbing is one of those unusually addicting activities, which makes its participant susceptible to placing a higher worth on it than is appropriate. The climbers who have not fallen in this trap, it turns out, tend to enjoy their sport more in the long run.
- And finally, here is a nice video from Chuck Fryberger & Prana about a legend who needs no introduction:
Re: Kemple’s rant: What’s shocking to me is that I can get a year of Climbing for $10, with a gift subscription to a friend for free! I assume they make most of their money from advertisements? ce
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Presumably so. I think part of his rant has to do with this concept of basically giving away (cheap) content so that a publisher can say to an advertiser, “look how many eyeballs are going to see your ad”. Contrast this with a magazine like Alpinist that charges a lot more, but presumably can sell their advertisers on the quality of their readership (and theoretically pay their contributors more)
I should have linked to it, but here is the followup to his original post that I think is also quite interesting.
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About time those problems got repeated.
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It’s a little scary how dated that FA video looks….
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Hmm, yeah, the second post was interesting too, esp the comments under it. The price difference between Alpinist and Climbing ($35/4 issues or $10/20 issues with the me-too deal) is staggering, ~1:16 ratio. Or thereabouts. Interesting. I guess the truth is if all 3 cost ~$9/issue I would have to choose one, but as it is I get R&I, Climbing, and Alpinist. Kind of silly overlap but with those prices why not. ce
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As a veteran of the climbing-reated publishing world, I can’t resist jumping in on this thread. Before ripping on current climbing publications too badly I hope readers will consider a few important things:
1) Print publishing is a savagely difficult enterprise. National Geographic Adventure folded this year, despite having substantial advertising revenue. Every publishing company, from the LA Times to teeny-weeny niche pubs in the climbing world is being forced to cut editorial staff to the bones just to stay in business.
2) Alpinist follows a revenue model based on low ad pages and high subscription rates. The other climbing pubs rely on ad dollars and settle for token subscription prices (that revenue does not even cover mailing costs). The Alpinist model is great for readers because the pages are uncluttered … but it’s also proven to be a difficult route to take.
3) Ain’t nobody getting rich from climbing pubs — especially not the editors, writers or photographers. It’s tough out there, but many people still are doing good work.
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I would say that the future of specialty outdoor publications is tenuous right now and that with the mindset of the public about “free” content, it is unlikely to get much better.
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I guess I would say that I don’t understand the current common thought that the climbing mags suck. I enjoy them, think the writing is entertaining, and the photos are great. I don’t know where that comes from. Sure, history repeats itself and reporting the current rad sends sounds repetitive but it’s news. Not sure any other sports mag is much different in that regard. I don’t doubt for a second that the mags are on thin financial ice. And I have noticed, as has probably everyone else, that the new Alpinist costs a little less and has quite a few more ads than the old Alpinist. So they’re swinging that way too. ce
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did i detect a dab on the “first ascent” of Genetic?
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Yes, and a rather large one at that.
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