Is Print Dead? Has the Time for Magazine Tests Passed?

[ski otter 2]

I'm in the camp that likes both online and printed, hoping they both survive as long as possible, as prosperously as possible. I feel they compliment one another, that different perspectives on skis brings the pictures into sharper focus, for more understanding for me as a skier.

At this point, if I had to choose one or the other, it would be online - but that's because of only two websites, for now: Pugski.com and Blistergear.com. Different but very much complimentary. I'm rooting for the powerful well-being of both.

To me, the best online and printed ski review resources seem potentially endangered - especially with what happened to Epicski, seemingly out of the blue. Right now, the founder of Blistergear is recovering from a bad mountain hiking/climbing accident, which I strongly hope still allows him to continue his website, demos and reviews. And it's not as if he or the folks at Pugski are as yet bomber set up for life with their amazing websites. As yet. (In all fairness, I hope they are, very soon.)

I think that Reuters graphic above, on age related to media sources used, is a big deal. With lots of exceptions, the media we grew up adapting ourselves to often tend to be what we are best at navigating as a starting point or baseline, just as the types of skis and ski styles we got to use when young may well be the ones we have a tendency towards now, as a starting point again.

Skiing is a sport that currently skews older than many activities, so for a while yet, I'll bet print ski magazines will have their (probably diminishing) place, for many older folk especially. I know that's the case for me.

It was a real revelation how much more useful the Blistergear online site became, for me personally, once I had their annual gear issue in my hot little hands. In this case at least, the two media complimented one another wonderfully: I suddenly got more out of their website from the tangible access for reference to those pages of skis laid out so methodically in print, and picture.

 

[Andy Mink]

When I was young, back in the 70's and early 80's, I had every issue of Ski and Skiing. Like so many others I would memorize the numbers, the flex patterns, and generally drool over this year's new graphics. Back then, there were a relative few players. A magazine seemed to cover most of them, at least to my jumbled up teenage mind.

Fast forward through college and a long drought of no skiing. I come back into the game and the internet is full of ads, reviews, and sales for brands I've never heard of. I go into the ski shops and the shapes are foreign to me. A reverse camber ski? What the heck is that and why? The internet has the answer right here, right now. And the answer is explained in many ways. No need to try and find a magazine that may or may not exist. Magazines are limited as to content by their very nature. I would venture that, somewhere on the web, there is a review for nearly every current ski out there, beginner to racer.

What the internet lacks in the tactile enjoyment of holding a magazine it more than makes up in timeliness and the vast amount of information available. I'll go with ones and zeros.

 

[markojp]

For gear reviews, I'd agree. For 'culture' and historical content, publications like Ski Journal, Rouleur, etc... are lovely. Getting haptic still has a place in my cosmology.

 

[LewyM]

For gear reviews, I'd agree. For 'culture' and historical content, publications like Ski Journal, Rouleur, etc... are lovely. Getting haptic still has a place in my cosmology.

Agree with @markojp that there is still a place in the world for periodicals.

I love high quality feature writing and photography on paper. The problem with most mainstream ski mags is that they generally skip the high quality writing part - everything is short, either overly 'bro'd out or a real estate ad. And long-form is nonexistent. Even Bicycling (which gets bashed by all of the cool kids on the interwebs) regularly has sensible nutrition advice and compelling long-form features if you can get past the "torsionally stiff, vertically compliant" nonsense (i.e., just last month the "Hospice Racing" piece touched a nerve, but that might just reflect my current mindset as a "sandwich generation-er").

But print product reviews, which are fun but largely poppycock (and always have been) have been surpassed and most importantly "scooped" by what is available online, and believe it or not, what you can get from a true pro in a quality specialty shop.

That said, I still like the ski mags. But I also still like Slurpees.

 

[Philpug]

When I was young, back in the 70's and early 80's, I had every issue of Ski and Skiing. Like so many others I would memorize the numbers, the flex patterns, and generally drool over this year's new graphics. Back then, there were a relative few players. A magazine seemed to cover most of them, at least to my jumbled up teenage mind.

Fast forward through college and a long drought of no skiing. I come back into the game and the internet is full of ads, reviews, and sales for brands I've never heard of. I go into the ski shops and the shapes are foreign to me. A reverse camber ski? What the heck is that and why? The internet has the answer right here, right now. And the answer is explained in many ways. No need to try and find a magazine that may or may not exist. Magazines are limited as to content by their very nature. I would venture that, somewhere on the web, there is a review for nearly every current ski out there, beginner to racer.

What the internet lacks in the tactile enjoyment of holding a magazine it more than makes up in timeliness and the vast amount of information available. I'll go with ones and zeros.

Actually, same but different with the amount of brands. Gone (from the US) are brands like Authier, Swallow, Yamaha, Pre, Spalding, Lange, Kneissl, Hart (mostly), Dynamic, Olin, Hexcel, Lacroix, Pure Gold, The Ski, Kazama, RD, Wolf, and the list goes on..replaced by Armada, Line, Faction, 4FRNT, Jay, Liberty, DPS, and the lust goes on. Boots and bindings, not as much, more gone and or with new names. I do miss some of the technical articles like fron Carl Ettlinger and the ski cut aways. I am sure you saw the "library" of 30 years of magazines I recently acquired but we could have a nice couple of nights of reading and drinking.

 

[Andy Mink]

Actually, same but different with the amount of brands. Gone (from the US) are brands like Authier, Swallow, Yamaha, Pre, Spalding, Lange, Kneissl, Hart (mostly), Dynamic, Olin, Hexcel, Lacroix, Pure Gold, The Ski, Kazama, RD, Wolf, and the list goes on..replaced by Armada, Line, Faction, 4FRNT, Jay, Liberty, DPS, and the lust goes on. Boots and bindings, not as much, more gone and or with new names. I do miss some of the technical articles like fron Carl Ettlinger and the ski cut aways. I am sure you saw the "library" of 30 years of magazines I recently acquired but we could have a nice couple of nights of reading and drinking.

I guess I need to go study my art project! Would you say there a more indy players now than then? Small locals like Moment and Shaggys? Or were there those small companies back in the day and we just didn't hear of them outside of their local area because, let's face it, it was a slower paced world without the internet.

 

[Brian Likes Pow]

As someone that is keen on buying models of gear that are often a few years old or even used I can appreciate the online model. I could be at a ski swap, see a smoking hot deal on a lightly used pair of skis and have info at my fingertips...and that is just awesome. No more fishing through stacks of past issues for that info. This is the evolution of print and the mags probably could/should have capitalized on this years ago but chose not to.

I do still however still like to flip through a mag and read or just look at pretty pictures

 

[Philpug]

I recently informed that one of the "major" publications is going to just four issues for next season...four.

 

[cantunamunch]

I recently informed that one of the "major" publications is going to just four issues for next season...four.

You know, if there were 4 early-90s size ski mag books per season, I would welcome that as a very positive change.

By analogy, BQ already has more truly readable content in their 4 issues per year than Bicycling.

 

[LKLA]

I recently informed that one of the "major" publications is going to just four issues for next season...four.

Yes, four issue for $19.97.

 

[James]

The most absurd thing about any if them is the lead time. Now at 4 per year, October's issue will be done by the previous May.

 

[LKLA]

The most absurd thing about any if them is the lead time. Now at 4 per year, October's issue will be done by the previous May.

As long as you get four issues within 12 months (hopefully one per quarter) it does not much matter how long the lead time is. It is not time sensitive information - most articles could be a year old and still be relevant/interesting.

 

[ski otter 2]

Of necessity for the gear issue at least, the publishers have to sit on that latest gear info until most folks are ready for it.
For me, this is both good timing, and frustrating, by turns - especially if I can't get my hands on the new skis to demo earlier.

 

[Noodler]

Maybe there's a better thread for this, but I'd like to discuss the ski review content and how reviews are provided.

For me, I don't even bother reading a review from someone who I have no clue about what kind of skiing skills they possess. That's one of the advantages of a place like PugSki where we do have some opportunities to ski with and get to know the reviewers. What would be even more helpful would be to add full video reviews. Now I know that's really "putting yourself out there", but I think it's only fair to better understand not only the reviewer, but also how the ski was skied. @dawgcatching started doing video reviews years ago, but I see that has kind of died out. Having skied with Scott, I know I can trust his take on skis and I'm always looking forward to seeing his reviews. I have seen some snippets on YouTube from the PugSki crew, but those videos only show the last half of the last turn as the reviewers skied up to the camera. There really wasn't much content provided though, but I'm hoping there's some consideration to expanding on the video possibilities.

BTW - Print is dying and dead in many cases. They're trying to reinvent themselves as digital media and make it more interactive. The challenge becomes a socioeconomic concern that is wrapped in equal access issues and possible class warfare.

 

[Philpug]

Maybe there's a better thread for this, but I'd like to discuss the ski review content and how reviews are provided.

For me, I don't even bother reading a review from someone who I have no clue about what kind of skiing skills they possess. That's one of the advantages of a place like PugSki where we do have some opportunities to ski with and get to know the reviewers. What would be even more helpful would be to add full video reviews. Now I know that's really "putting yourself out there", but I think it's only fair to better understand not only the reviewer, but also how the ski was skied. @dawgcatching started doing video reviews years ago, but I see that has kind of died out. Having skied with Scott, I know I can trust his take on skis and I'm always looking forward to seeing his reviews. I have seen some snippets on YouTube from the PugSki crew, but those videos only show the last half of the last turn as the reviewers skied up to the camera. There really wasn't much content provided though, but I'm hoping there's some consideration to expanding on the video possibilities.

BTW - Print is dying and dead in many cases. They're trying to reinvent themselves as digital media and make it more interactive. The challenge becomes a socioeconomic concern that is wrapped in equal access issues and possible class warfare.

We would like to have view of everyone and ideally it would be the dame day in the same conditions on the same tril with a mix of groomers, steeps and bumps. This is something that I have had in my mind from day one. It is on the list of things to do. Maybe we can pop a bunch while we are in Colorado this year.

 

[Andy Mink]

Maybe there's a better thread for this, but I'd like to discuss the ski review content and how reviews are provided.

For me, I don't even bother reading a review from someone who I have no clue about what kind of skiing skills they possess. That's one of the advantages of a place like PugSki where we do have some opportunities to ski with and get to know the reviewers. What would be even more helpful would be to add full video reviews. Now I know that's really "putting yourself out there", but I think it's only fair to better understand not only the reviewer, but also how the ski was skied. @dawgcatching started doing video reviews years ago, but I see that has kind of died out. Having skied with Scott, I know I can trust his take on skis and I'm always looking forward to seeing his reviews. I have seen some snippets on YouTube from the PugSki crew, but those videos only show the last half of the last turn as the reviewers skied up to the camera. There really wasn't much content provided though, but I'm hoping there's some consideration to expanding on the video possibilities.

BTW - Print is dying and dead in many cases. They're trying to reinvent themselves as digital media and make it more interactive. The challenge becomes a socioeconomic concern that is wrapped in equal access issues and possible class warfare.

The other nice thing about Pugski is readers can reach out directly with questions to the testers on tested equipment.

 

[James]

Video reviews I've never been all that interested in. I suppose it helps to see how people ski. It certainly would help someone to sell the right ski to a skier.

But skiing skis, it's all sensations and compensations. Someone could really dislike the way a ski skis and yet visually it doesn't look any different.

 

[François Pugh]

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I find after reading a few reviews from a particular reviewer on skis I've skied, I pretty much know how they ski and what their reviews mean, just by comparing what they say about the skis and what I would say about same.

 

[Philpug]

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I find after reading a few reviews from a particular reviewer on skis I've skied, I pretty much know how they ski and what their reviews mean, just by comparing what they say about the skis and what I would say about same.

Yeah, true, but you know the players. Think about the average Joe or Jane Skier that is coming here for the first time looking for information.

 

[François Pugh]

The good thing about reviews here on Pugski is that the only bias is personal and based on the skier's skiing. A lot of magazine reviews I've read, seem to be sugar coated, and require reading between the lines, and some magazine or official retailer websites (o.k. only a few) are even false imho.