About a week ago when the last issue of Climber was released, the one with a shit picture of A-nother sports climber of A piece of rock in the sun. To me it had little going for it in terms of the iconic image, please see an earlier blog on the covers of climbing magazines past, for a series of iconic climbing covers(Also see the crags and moutnain review parts of the gallery). Anyway if the cover wasn’t bad enough, then the contents page really took the biscuit. I know magazines need to watch the financial bottom line, but simply using a picture of the consultant editors wife’s arse on yet A-nother sports climb seemed totally unimaginative.
I can’t say that visually Kate’s last climber was a swan song, but more an ear bleeding cacophony. She even taunted me with after I made an issue with the over use of photos of Seamstress slab, when a few months back they used about 5 photos of the same route, and then again this month there was yet another photo of seamstress. Please Andy McCue for the love of God give it a few months before you use a shot of Seamstress, and whilst you might be saving money using Bernard’s photos, please ask if he can take some good ones!
Anyway I hope that Climber takes off again it used to be a good mag. If my googling is correct then Andy McCue has made a name for himself on online journalism, although I didn’t dig too deeply. The report on UKC says that he climbs up to VS competently, but is pushing HVS. Which got me thinking in my industry it is far easier to turn a climber into an instructor, than turn an instructor into a climber. By that I mean you need to be a climber to do the job I do, guiding and instructing on a multi-pitched routes the qualification I have only insists on climbing VS, which in this day and age is ridiculously easy.
My question is whether the same is true of climbing magazine editors, is it easier to turn a climber into and editor or an editor into a climber? As VS is an extremely, well lets just say modest grade! I don’t wish to be elitist but I really do feel that some who climbs VS pushing HVS and fancies a crack at big walling in Yosemite is heading for a bit of rapid a realisation! Anyway it is good to hear that they have found someone to replace Kate after she cut and run from the climbing journalism business.
However maybe, just maybe Andy with his internet background might have something to offer us, maybe an alternate UKC? I look forward to seeing his first crack of the whip, when is the next mag out?