max Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 I thumbed an issue of the magazine "Gripped" a few nights ago. I would recommend this magazine to anyone looking for a fresh prespective on the climbing media. This Canadian born publication chooses the diversity of the climbing experience as it centre. The topics, locations, people, and yes, even the advertisments vary more than your standard Boulder ass-wiping material or Brittish scribe records. But this is not just another outlet for wana-be journalism majors/climbing bums (the "wana-be" applies to both studies and non-occupation) expressing their "high climb". Each article has a well defined, well entertained, and interesting perspective. Most artcle come with an appropriate number of colorful photos. Limiting the number of photos increases the remainder's inpact and relavancy. Finally, the publication sells at a competitive rate of C$4.99/US$3.49. Quote
RURP Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 This is RURP: What! Are you on commission? Do you write for these guys? RURP has spoken. Quote
chucK Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Hey Max! They probably woulda given you more money if you wouldn't have stupidly forgotten to put the NAME of the magazine in the thread name. Sheesh! Chuck Quote
Dru Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Speaking as a Canadian, GRIPPED is a lame ass bitch rag of a magazine put out by Ontario sprt heads and exists only to glorify the latest V6 done by some wannabesponsored idiot in Halifax. GRIPPED SUCKS!!!!! If you think Gripped is what magazines should be like THINK AGAIN CAUSE GRIPPED SUCKS!!! Quote
philfort Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 Dru, I swear I remember you making posts in defense of GRIPPED.... ??? Anyway, I let my subscription lapse, because, as Dru just said now, GRIPPED sucks. Quote
Dru Posted January 21, 2002 Posted January 21, 2002 The first few issues of GRIPPED were OK but lately it has become a total toilet roll. On the up side at least I have something nasty to review for the CAJ! Quote
max Posted January 21, 2002 Author Posted January 21, 2002 I'm amazed at the negative responces, and I've no problem with those that disagree. But... I'm assuming the average of the "great"/"sucks" ratings for all the magazines out there must be near "neutral". So it seems that for most magazines out there, most ccc'ers would give ratings somewhere less than "neutral" ("R&I", "Climbing", that brittish-like Brittish magazine ("High"?, "Elevation", "V-something", etc...). Further, if the average rating is to be near "neutral", there must be some "great"'s out there. Any nominations? Quote
mattp Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 I think it boils down to a question about what you want. For me, the Canadian Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Club Journal hold more interest because they report climbs that I can really get excited about more often than do the glossy mags with the broader commercial appeal, and that commercial appeal is itself something that I can be disdainful of at times. However, those "other" magazines do present a nice, entertaining, fifteen-minute picture of a destination or a climb that can be almost as easy to digest as watching TV and sometimes that is exactly what I want. The editing and the production that goes into those magazines is not without its effect: when I read one of the "inspirational" articles, I will be inspired, and when I read the "tech tips" column, I will quickly get a picture of a technique that may or may not be useful -- but in five minutes I know what it is and I could probably go out and duplicate it tomorrow. Now, when it comes to "the 10 best packs for alpine climbs" or some such thing, I believe those magazines are totally worthless. Or, "this is how you should plan your trip to Red Rocks" – give me a break. More often than not, the reviewers base their opinion on carrying the damn packs for ONE DAY, and the guy telling you how to "do" Redrocks has never been there but his buddy has a guide business that teaches basic rock climbing or something. If you read a glossy ad-filled magazine for serious information about any topic you probably don't know a lot about the subject matter or you just aren't all that serious, but if you read it because you are interested in the subject matter, and the magazine might happen to be entertaining and occasionally informative – well, that's why we subscribe to magazines, isn't it? Quote
rat Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 "the polar circus" was kind of a cool canadian publication in its day but i think it went belly up or was folded into the caj. Quote
Dru Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 The CAJ and AAJ are the only Great Reads out there. Otherwise here is my rating of the various english language mags. High to low. No numbers just relative quality. On The Edge (UK)High mountain sports (UK)Climber (NZ)Climbing (USA)Rock (Oz)Rock And Ice (USA)Climber (UK)Gripped (CAN) Also notice that the Climbing to R&I spread is basically flat. I just rated Climbing higher cause they had the Steve House article last issue. The first 3 are the only ones I would rate as mostly good every issue. [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: Dru ] Quote
philfort Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 quote: Originally posted by max: I'm assuming the average of the "great"/"sucks" ratings for all the magazines out there must be near "neutral". I don't know about rating scales, all I know is I kept getting issues, and they kept sucking. They sent me a thing saying "This is your second to last issue", and I was like, well, this isn't very good, it had better get better next issue. Last chance. And then the next issue came, with a note that said "renew now! This is your last issue!!" and basically had a blurb dissing Rock & Ice and Climbing, those 'fancy US' magazines, and saying how Gripped was where climbing was really at. And I was like, huh, I don't think so. Climbing and Rock & Ice are much better reads. Don't know about the European stuff, it's hard to get that here. So I guess I don't know of any really good climbing mags. [ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: philfort ] Quote
max Posted January 22, 2002 Author Posted January 22, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: The CAJ and AAJ are the only Great Reads out there. On The Edge (UK)High mountain sports (UK)Climber (NZ)Climbing (USA)Rock (Oz)Rock And Ice (USA)Climber (UK)Gripped (CAN) Are the CAJ and AAJ those thick bookish things that come out once per year? Or are there more frequent publications? Where the hell are you seeing these magazines? I feel like I've seen a good sampling of the mags out there, and I'm not seeing many of these. Well, I should say I'm not seeing them enough to make much of a judgement on their quality. So maybe you've got subscriptions? I'm interested in hearing other's opinion on this. Quote
Dru Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 AAJ is a phone book, CAJ is more Magazine sized and 160 pgs (NO ADS!!) and both come out 1x year. I find all mags listed at either MEC or Chapters bookstore with the exception of NZ Climber which comes out 4x/year and is only available by subscription from NZ, or you get it free if you join the NZAC. or get a buddy in nz to send you his old ones. Quote
max Posted January 22, 2002 Author Posted January 22, 2002 quote: Originally posted by mattp: Now, when it comes to "the 10 best packs for alpine climbs" or some such thing, I believe those magazines are totally worthless. Or, "this is how you should plan your trip to Red Rocks" – give me a break. ...If you read a glossy ad-filled magazine for serious information about any topic you probably don't know a lot about the subject matter or you just aren't all that serious, but if you read it because you are interested in the subject matter, and the magazine might happen to be entertaining and occasionally informative – well, that's why we subscribe to magazines, isn't it? Nice. Good call. Quote
Terry Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 Hey while cleaning the garage two weeks ago I found my box of old "On Belays." There's no doubt in my mind that a second read of these guys is preferrable to anything on the market. Some of Mr Smutek's ego shows through a bit, but it's nothing compared to the angst-ridden, self-promoting drivel that comes out of Twight and his type. Yeah, I still have my orginal MSR belay link, circa 1976, as well. Small and incredibly effective. On another topic. I hope you guys keep crazyjg from partying his pants off tonight. That's a scary thought with is girlfriend out of the country.TerryTerry Quote
Dr.E Posted January 22, 2002 Posted January 22, 2002 Wow, I would have kept quiet until Terry started dissing Dr. Doom. Twight's stuff is some of the best reading in climbing. Although I don't want to live my life the way he does, I am very entertained by his stories. I think you need to take it with a grain of salt. Sure the angst is there, but he isn't that bad a guy and he has done a ton of cool stuff that doesn't even get in print. Live in Chamonix, climbed with lots of cool people over there I've met and they are impressed. And euros don't impress that easily. For my money, Sherman, Child, Roberts, and Long are the only climbing authors consistently in the 'good read' category with Mark. That's not to say others aren't good but these guys always put out something you want to finish reading. And be honest, do you NOT read Twight? Or do you read the whole story and then diss on his attitude? If the latter, you've helped him (and his publishers) achieve his purpose. Quote
Dru Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 Twight kicks ass. Child kicks ass. Long and Sherman have been riding the same joke too long. Matt samet is pretty funny. I wish the Annoying Arron Gulley, R&I editor, would dry up and blow away. The editor of Polar Circus ( 2 issues 86 & 87)is Geoff Powter, editor of CAJ since 94 and a nice guy who lets me submit my article 3 weeks afte rdeadline... I hope Quote
genepires Posted January 23, 2002 Posted January 23, 2002 Off the main thread but along the new trend for good authors. Geoff Childs has a great book called Stone Palaces. Funny and introspective. It is the library system. I am sure to get slammed for liking this guy's book. Go ahead and slam me. Quote
max Posted January 23, 2002 Author Posted January 23, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Dru: Long and Sherman have been riding the same joke too long. Amen. Quote
Dr.E Posted January 24, 2002 Posted January 24, 2002 Okay, maybe Long has been dragging it out a bit (too long?). But I think Sherman is funny everytime. Some old material but classic. I don't get tired of climbing Outerspace even though it is a repeat and well below hardest grade--embrace the classics dude. And we owe verm some measure of respect for coming up with the V system. Quote
Dr.E Posted January 24, 2002 Posted January 24, 2002 I stand corrected on Long. Just read lastest piece in Climbing and he is right on. Check it out. Pagel's piece in same issue is also worth considering if you care about more than yourself. Quote
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