I sat down tonight at the computer to work on some projects, and just came across the horrible news that Alpinist magazine is closing up shop. As a subscriber and designer/photographer/climber, there wasn’t anything better than checking the mail and seeing the latest issue nestled in under the bills and junk mail. I’m missing a few issues (0, 1, 2, 3, 5 - get in touch if you’d like to part with yours), but the rest are sitting on my bookshelf, in order, and all of them are well-loved. The photography, the passion, the inspiration - all very much a defining part of the Armchair Mountaineer experience and will be sorely missed.

The editor, Christian Beckwith, had started up a similar low-fidelity version of the magazine back in 1994 when I was a student at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. The Mountain Yodel was a newspaper format climbing publication that shared prose, poetry, photography, and passion for the mountains in a way that existing climbing rags just couldn’t touch. The philosophy of the whole thing was that climbing was something that transcended grades and routes and numbers and gear. That there was an experience out there in the mountains and the climbing thereof, that we all shared in the same way - yet differently. The earnest and heartfelt passion for the mountains and all they entailed was something in danger of being lost to a commercialized, diluted, pale version of what is really there. The Wayward Mountaineers was the banner under which the whole thing got started, and that same spirit drives a good portion of this website today. It was a deep respect for the history of the sport, and an appreciation for the personal growth and community it provides.

The ‘zine didn’t last too long in Jackson, but reading through the copies I have you can see where the passion that was so evidently and beautifully displayed in Alpinist had its roots. Here’s to hoping that someone out there with deep pockets and a similar passion can cross paths with these guys up in Jackson and good things happen soon.

Wayward Mountaineer: Defender of the deeper motives, skeptic of the popular movements, champion of the individual’s quest for What Is Right and the necessity of arriving there alone. Eats dessert first.

A few real gems inside this issue from the mid-seventies… The hot pink cover is a real keeper.

I picked this 1963 issue of LIFE magazine up at Cameron’s books here in downtown Portland with the intention of maybe framing the cover at some point, but until i get around to that these scans should do just fine. The story of this expedition is pretty interesting, with a great narrative by expedition photographer Barry Bishop, as well as the story of the first American summiteer, Jim Whittaker. Reading about the conditions these guys were in is pretty impressive, and even more so when you consider the kinds of gear they used. Tough guys, all around.

Having lived in the Pacific Northwest for the last 20 years or so, I’ve always had a deep interest and respect for these original climbing gangsters who rocked the low REI numbers and the wooden ice axes. With names like Lute and Willi, you know these guys were hardmen. I think a comparison with the climbers on the Discovery Channel’s Everest series could be really interesting sometime - gear, technology, styles, etc… A good post for another day.

A bit of a cross-post from Altitude Slickness, but consider this the first of hopefully many future posts about the world of outdoor literature, photography, and design. Expect bits and pieces of climbing ephemera, book reviews, scans of odd or historical advertising, and a healthy dose of love for the written word as it pertains to the great outdoors.

Stay tuned.