Death of backpacking related to xc?

I note an editorial at the Mountain Gazette website that's commenting
on the (recent I think) big change in direction at Backpacker
magazine. Apparently it's not going to be about backpacking anymore.
Quite a trick! I guess it's heading more toward an Outside mag style.
I like diversity myself rather than a one-trick pony. A big reason for
the change is that backpacking is history, passe, totally stalled out.
Whoever is doing it is already doing it. Ain't no way to run a market.
So they're changing so they can chase fads like everyone else. Like
Outside mag. Now, OYB also covers a lot more than just one sport but
we don't chase no steenking fads. Anyway I suppose it all relates to
why XC mags have had a hard time lately. Just a thought in midst of
bleery scanning for new OYB issue. Scanning all done! Time for
everything else... JP

I think backpacking is not exactly dead but growth is slow. Every
summer I see people backpacking in Glacier National Park with all new
equipment. When I talk to these folks it is often clear that they are
out there for the first time. Could be that Backpacker is missing the
real market. I'm not sure. Cross country skiing may be in a similar
boat. That is growth is small but with the right marketing tools aimed
at the right audience cross country skiing might attract many more
participants. After all it is fun.

What we need is a cross country ski video game that has a sub liminal
(sp) message embedded in it. The game would end without a conclusion
and the particpant would have this strong inner desire to go out, buy
gear and learn to ski. Ralph

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In article ,
Jeff Potter wrote:
I note an editorial at the Mountain Gazette website that's commenting
on the (recent I think) big change in direction at Backpacker
magazine. Apparently it's not going to be about backpacking anymore.
Quite a trick! I guess it's heading more toward an Outside mag style.
I like diversity myself rather than a one-trick pony. A big reason for
the change is that backpacking is history, passe, totally stalled out.
Whoever is doing it is already doing it. Ain't no way to run a market.

_ If they didn't publish exactly the same magazine every month,
maybe I'd buy more than once a year. I think all these
"picture/gear" magazines are ultimately doomed by the internet.
Since they are mostly funded by ads rather than subscriptions,
they are generally nothing more than expanded marketing pamplets.
But you can get the marketing stuff for essentially free on
the internet. The one advantage that a magazine has is
readablity, but they don't put anything worth reading in them.
Backpacker seems to be focused on getting you motivated to
go to REI, not into the actual woods.

_ Magazines that attempt to be "portable web pages" are doomed.

_ Booker C. Bense

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I think Booker nailed the current situation with outdoor recreation
mags. Why buy a periodical that is often 70 % ads and 30% outdated
articles ... when you can get info for free and from different
viewpoints from the Internet. At sites like R.S.N. !!

About backpacking ... I thought, though maybe wrongly, that there was a
resurgence in backpacking these days due to all the new
super-ultralight gear. Now you can go on 2 nighter trips with 10 lbs
on your back. That appeals to fit people that like to cover a lot of
distance and not-so-fit people that don't want to carry much. Maybe
this resurgence isn't what the mags hype it up to be? Anyway - I'm
sure enjoying some of the ultra-lightweight outdoor products that have
come out the last few years. A lot of this ultra light hiking and
climbing gear is really well designed and good stuff that has been
needed.

What we really need is snow!!!!!

I cannot imagine playing a cross country skiing video game


"Ralph's Nordic Web" wrote in message
m...
I think backpacking is not exactly dead but growth is slow. Every
summer I see people backpacking in Glacier National Park with all new
equipment. When I talk to these folks it is often clear that they are
out there for the first time. Could be that Backpacker is missing the
real market. I'm not sure. Cross country skiing may be in a similar
boat. That is growth is small but with the right marketing tools aimed
at the right audience cross country skiing might attract many more
participants. After all it is fun.

What we need is a cross country ski video game that has a sub liminal
(sp) message embedded in it. The game would end without a conclusion
and the particpant would have this strong inner desire to go out, buy
gear and learn to ski. Ralph

I agree, why buy a magazine for the ads? Especially when you can see
the marketing in so many other places. Way too much marketing hype in
every one. Another commonality as far as marketing is concerned is the
need for "where to go" articles. These are also marketing tools for
those places listed. On the other hand magazine like Outside, while
still containing all the ads, tries to get readers with the extreme
aspects of outdoor sports. I don't need this either. So perhaps it's
just the mags that are dying to be replaced by other info sources.

(Ralph's Nordic Web) wrote in message . com...

On the other hand magazine like Outside, while
still containing all the ads, tries to get readers with the extreme
aspects of outdoor sports. I don't need this either. So perhaps it's
just the mags that are dying to be replaced by other info sources.

I agree with Ralph on this one... Outside Magazine used to be very
good back in the early '80s. After that, they got preachy and started
to do too many articles about places the vast majority of the readers
will never go. i.e., "jungle cruising the Amazon", "skydiving
Antartica", "spelunking the Karakorum", "gourmet recipes of the yak
herders"... If they concentrated on North America and Western Europe,
where most of the readers live and would likely go, maybe throw in
something on the Sahara and Nepal once in a while, then they wouldn't
keep sending me $1 per issue offers. Also, stop trying to make heroes
out of people who do obscure sports which make cross country skiing
look like Soccer/Football in popularity. I mean, do most people really
care about someone who rides their mountain bike off the side of a
mountain, free dives to 700 feet below the surface or tracks the
yellow toed tree sloth in Uzbekistan? I've got a ton of good ideas for
a revamped Outside Magazine. They can contact me via this newsgroup if
they want my ideas... Story ideas like "Jay Tegeder's Worldloppet
Adventures", "Hiking the Superior Trail with Jay Tegeder", "Jay
Tegeder's Epic Cyclocross Rides". I mean, that would be some
interesting reading...

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT

Another idea for you:

"Jay interrogates elite skiers at Birkie press conference so they don't
feel bad that nobody from the press showed up to see them..."

-Nathan
www.nsavage.com


"Jay Tegeder" wrote in message
m...
(Ralph's Nordic Web) wrote in message
. com...

On the other hand magazine like Outside, while
still containing all the ads, tries to get readers with the extreme
aspects of outdoor sports. I don't need this either. So perhaps it's
just the mags that are dying to be replaced by other info sources.

I agree with Ralph on this one... Outside Magazine used to be very
good back in the early '80s. After that, they got preachy and started
to do too many articles about places the vast majority of the readers
will never go. i.e., "jungle cruising the Amazon", "skydiving
Antartica", "spelunking the Karakorum", "gourmet recipes of the yak
herders"... If they concentrated on North America and Western Europe,
where most of the readers live and would likely go, maybe throw in
something on the Sahara and Nepal once in a while, then they wouldn't
keep sending me $1 per issue offers. Also, stop trying to make heroes
out of people who do obscure sports which make cross country skiing
look like Soccer/Football in popularity. I mean, do most people really
care about someone who rides their mountain bike off the side of a
mountain, free dives to 700 feet below the surface or tracks the
yellow toed tree sloth in Uzbekistan? I've got a ton of good ideas for
a revamped Outside Magazine. They can contact me via this newsgroup if
they want my ideas... Story ideas like "Jay Tegeder's Worldloppet
Adventures", "Hiking the Superior Trail with Jay Tegeder", "Jay
Tegeder's Epic Cyclocross Rides". I mean, that would be some
interesting reading...

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT