Cascade Alpine Journal?

[Lowell_Skoog]

Would you be interested in publishing an annual review of Northwest climbing--an annual summary of significant developments in the region? The review could include photos and articles about new routes, access and conservation issues, and stories that capture the trends and spirit of Northwest climbing today. Economically it would be most practical to publish such a review on-line. The idea would be to create an annual record (sort of like the American or Canadian Alpine Journal or the old Mountaineer Annual) that takes a snapshot of climbing in the Northwest each year.

 

If this sounds interesting, how would you be willing to support such a publication? Would you read it? Would you submit articles or photos? Would you help the editor (or editors) collect material? Would you volunteer to be an editor yourself?

 

Ideally, such a publication would become a permanent part of the Northwest mountaineering record. If it were an on-line record, it would be good to partner with an organization or individual that is committed to keeping it available over the long haul. Who should play that role? CascadeClimbers.com? Fred Beckey? The University of Washington? The Mountaineers? The American Alpine Club? Somebody else?

 

This is just the germ of an idea. I haven't thought about half the issues involved. I'd like to hear what you think and would welcome any suggestions.

 

[Necronomicon]

Does this site serve the same function?

[erik]

for now, and i will put more thought into it this weekend!

 

[ryland_moore]

Excellent idea! I am actually suprosed this has not been done before. May be good to contact the regional chapter of the AAC to see about funding and support. I think this is an awesome idea.

 

 

[To_The_Top]

[layton]

Good idea. I know Jason Martin had the same idea. You should email him. I will help.

[Cpt.Caveman]

I submit my first photo now. Put it on the cover

 

 

[layton]

insert quote,...

 

"err ahh so Janey. I stuck my tongue in your ear 'round '78. Anyway, can I borrow some money and get a ride. Huge granite..can't say where...gotta go, think the lines being tapped by Kearney"

[Necronomicon]

Your picture captures the essence of climbing in the Pacific Northwest. Additionally, the composition is such as to suggest a true eye for the beauty of form. I'm caught aghast, not only from the power of the image, but also from the power of the emotions it releases within me.

[Dru]

not sure that an on line website journal is such a good idea for the following reasons:

 

1) financing. Jon and Tim pay for most of this site plus contributions. Nobody wants to pay you for banner ads much anymore. Bivouac.com had to start charging, memberships for money. For 20 bucks a year I'd rather get a physical journal than a website that could get turned off or crash at any time.

 

2) If you want long articles instead of bite sized spray it is easier and more pleasant to sit and read a book than scroll through an online article

 

3) website lifespan is short usually whereas once printed a journal is still there and can be read eg in 100 years time or whatever.

 

I would think your ideal model would be something like the BC Mountaineer, or CMC Journal in Alberta, rather than a national pub. like AAJ or CAJ (note conflicting initials in Cdn vs Cascade Alp Journal). Or like the Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal in the UK. A regional publication with regional distribution and regional flavour.

 

Gather submissions. Print up. sell for like 10 bucks a shot. Easy to self finance a journal this way rather than a website.

 

 

Also you can focus on content rather than appearance. Appearance and format (size, color photo or BW etc) can be what ever you can afford to fit the content.

 

You should focus on editorial policy and make it clear from the start what it is, as this has been divisive in the past eg. with Christian Beckwith as AAJ editor.

 

You should make sure your editor is a good editor first and a good climber or whatever second. The recent BC Mountaineers have been full of spelling mistakes and reversed photos cause their editor has little editorial skill and a lack of knowledge of many parts of the local mountains.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Excellent points you made Dru.

 

I'm sure you would have tons of people to contribute. A book or mag is best. I agree no online.

[specialed]

Kaskade Trad Klan Journal is a much better idea.

[Cpt.Caveman]

specialed said:

Kaskade Trad Klan Journal is a much better idea.

 

I noticed members were submitting in the recent CAJ and AAJ.

[cj001f]

With the advent of micropublishers it shouldn't be that hard to find a company willing to produce a hardbound edition - which would be the preferrable solution, IMHO. Otherwise a PDF file would be a reasonable substitute. The key to longevity is a committed group of publishers - not the choice of format.

[Crackbolter]

I am sure all of the local retailers and manufacturers are willing to contribute for either advertising or to join as elite (highest paying) members to help cover the cost of publishing.

 

I think the idea of having a local journal is great considering what little exposure F/A's recieve in the AAJ for the PNW.

[David_Parker]

Lowell_Skoog said:

The idea would be to create an annual record (sort of like the American or Canadian Alpine Journal or the old Mountaineer Annual) that takes a snapshot of climbing in the Northwest each year.

 

It seems, at least the American Alpine Journal, is more about the raddest accomplishments or new routes all over the world by a significant amount of non-americans. I would like to see both what significant climbs were done in the NorthWest as well as what Northwest Climbers did around the world. I'll define NW by Oregon, Washington and southern British Columbia. Would that include the Waddington Range?

[jordop]

BC is well served by the CAj IMO, though I agree that a lot happens in WA that doesn't make it into the AAJ, but which I would like to know about

[lI1|1!]

if it were a hardcopy journal i think it would have a much smaller readership and might get a little esoteric. that might not be a bad thing, of course. but anyway i think more people would read it if it were online. you could call it PNWAJ to avoid confusing canadians.

[Beck]

Lowell,

I will PM you or we should talk about this. I have the ability to desktop publish tabloid type papers or bound copies on a short press run capability, including true dot matrix photo reproduction quality, so b&W photos reproduce fully in print...and indesign lets you create pages for the web with the same format quite easily...

 

additionally, a 15,000 newsprint weight press run of a paper like OffPiste in 16page format should only cost about 1,200 dollars and we could definetly make that from one ad. a glossy pub, a bit more, but still able to cover cost thru advertising...

 

I am editor in chief of a community newspaper here in Seattle, and lend my whole hearted support behind publishing an annual CAJ.

[cj001f]

lI1|1! said:

if it were a hardcopy journal i think it would have a much smaller readership and might get a little esoteric. that might not be a bad thing, of course. but anyway i think more people would read it if it were online. you could call it PNWAJ to avoid confusing canadians.

It shouldn't be that hard to make the journal exist in both spheres - a hardcopy for archiving, and a downloadable copy for broad readership. The problem would be finding some way to earn reader support for the downloadable version. I'd probably be willing to spend ~$20 for a PNW journal, depending on length.

[jon]

Finding advertisers is a pain in the ass. I spent a lot of time working out a good advertising model and emailed every local retailer in Washington and Oregon and got maybe 6 responses. For what we were offering retailers it was an amazing deal and they bawked at the price.

 

I think a printed version would be great, but someone will have to front the money and take the risk of it not going over that well. I think a PDF format would be a good start because it still looks good and then you could move to a print format, and there is nothing keeping you from printing the back one.

[Beck]

actually, Jon, I disagree. My newspaper pulls in almost 4,000 dollars a month from many small businessmen, not a corporate ad in the entire paper, and it still grosses 4K.

 

print it up, make it available as a rag and on the web, and give it away free. don't charge for climbers beta , leave that up to the AAJ.

 

Plus, Lowell, I am confident the CAJ would garner significant support if it was spun in the right direction to the right people with the corect spin...and funding that would be the EASIEST side of the project, not the tough part...

[klenke]

Lowell, interesting that your thread and query should come up as I was just thinking about this in the last two days. Since Harry Majors mentioned to me how today's climbers are doing such fantastic things as compared to 20 or 30 years ago, it is hard to keep up with who is doing what (first ascents, first winter ascents, enchainments, etc.). If there were a Northwest-specific journal, it could be used to document these FA's, etc. for future reference and to settle any future arguments on what had or hadn't already been done.

 

This website does well to capture a lot of these (such as Martin's recent FA on Little Big Chief Mountain) but they tend to get lost in the search box, if you get my meaning. If this site had a read-only TR Forum that was used as a depository for trip reports after replies/posts in their respective threads had run their course, this would be a way for them to be catalogued without losing sight of them. But, then, if that forum got filled, you'd have to start indexing within it.

 

The non-CC.com journal would work as a paper copy, if you will, for the same trip reports.

 

Let me know if you will take your idea anywhere as it jives a lot with what I was thinking recently. I'd be willing to help with it (collecting the info, storing, editing, etc.)

 

I guess the only other comment I have right now is that CAJ ("Cascade Alpine Journal") sounds too phonetically and looks too visually close to AAJ ("American Alpine Journal"). In this way, people might confuse the two. NWAJ ("Northwest Alpine Journal") would be another possibility that is visually and verbally distinct from AAJ. CAJ is also close to Beckey's CAG ("Cascade Alpine Guide").

 

===Paul

[Cpt.Caveman]

I think 16 pages is lame. There's a lot going on and it doesnt have to be new climbs for it to be interesting.

 

Maybe at least 40 would be a better number.

[erik]

i dont think page count would be an issue. tho would it be jounalistic based? can one sumbit stories, short fiction or other climbing related works?