Alpinist Magazine: The Return

January 21, 2009

Alpinist Magazine was abruptly shut down a couple of months ago due to financial issues. The magazine has been looked upon as a high-class climbing icon over the couse of the last few years. It seems many people were reading it, but not a lot were buying. You can attribute this to libraries, friends passing it around, etc. The magazine carried a premium cost, but for that price you got a magazine that had very little in the way of advertising. They were supported solely on subscriptions and financial backing.

With the advent of Alpinist Magazine closing, it soon became apparent that things weren’t going to get better. The assets were soon put up for auction. Luckily, a publisher has stepped in and bought all the rights to the Alpinist name, magazine, website, and film festival, and is promising to try to keep things as normal as possible. Does this mean that it will still be published without the advertising and still represent the finest in outdoor photography and articles? Onl;y time will tell, but at least Alpinist will be around for awhile longer.

Dougald MacDonald recently published the Press Release concerning the future of Alpinist magazine.

Jeffersonville, Vermont—January 16, 2009—Height of Land Publications (HOL), owners of Backcountry and Telemark Skier Magazines, closed on a deal today that lays the groundwork for the resurrection of Alpinist Magazine.

Alpinist, a premium quarterly celebrating mountaineering and the climbing life, closed its doors this fall, just prior to the release of Issue 26. The new owners, HOL, plan to release Issue 26 on March 1, and will honor all current subscriptions.

“Alpinist fits perfectly into our family,” says HOL president and publisher Jon Howard. “We feel climbers, mountaineers, and backcountry and freeheel skiers all share the same DNA. It’s, at times, about being bold; at times about being cautious. Kind of like how we do business.”

And at HOL, they feel it’s a great time to be bold.

Jon and HOL partner and Backcountry editor Adam “Howie” Howard are currently in negotiations with the editorial staff at Alpinist to determine who will be at the helm.

“We’ve asked Christian Beckwith to stay on as Editor,” Adam says. “I reached him in Mexico where he’s doing some non-profit work. After seven years of grinding, he’s enjoying some relative downtime. But he’s genuinely excited that we’re carrying his creation forward. We’ll be meeting in person in the next few weeks. Should he not come on full time, Alpinist readers can be assured that someone of comparable skills and pedigree will fill his shoes.”

Readers can also look forward to the same quality of paper and a large format size.

“We want to honor what the Alpinist team has done,” Jon says. “It’s a piece of art. And we plan keep it that way.”

Stay tuned to Backcountrymagazine.com and Alpinist.com for more information.

I think this will be some good news for any of you that have come to enjoy the style and art of Alpinist magazine. I am hoping that the quality won’t suffer and things will go better financially the second time around. The latest Alpinist Magazine issue will be released on March 1st. So far not much is known as far as what will be included, but I am betting it will be great. They are trying to keep the full editorial staff on hand, which should help with the transition to a new company. We wish them all the best and look forward to reading the latest from Alpinist.

Sources: The Mountain World, Climbing Narc via Facebook, Alpinist magazine

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