Another nail in the coffin of magazines. Powder was mostly a rag for tragically hip Valdez wannabes, but their annual photo issue was always excellent. Sad about this in that these magazines fueled my desire to get further into skiing, for which I am grateful....what will take their place for the next gen? VR? No thanks.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
This is really sad - IMO Powder was the best ski mag of the lot. Not sure how many UK readers there were, but I had a subscription here in Austria for quite a while.
They recently dropped from 6 magazines a year to 4, and I have to say I found the quality of the content to have diminished, but there is still something special about it and seeing the photo spreads.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Gutted
Subscriber since 1993, digital only the past 7 seasons.
Been instrumental in my skiing experiences.
The first issue each year signaled the start of winter.
Never got a photo in there but was in an advert for Big Mountain, Montana once.
First exposure to Niseko, Hokkaido and long-time great mate Ian Mackenzie was in this article
Made me want to go. Got the chance in 2006 and been going back every year since (missed the 09/10 winter looking after my folks back in Wales).
And Ian and I appeared in piece written by Porter Fox about Daisetsuzan National Park, Hokkaido back in 2012 which was accompanied by excellent images from Jordan Manley.
This makes it all that much more important to support the quality resources of information that we appreciate.
SnowHeads has a "support button"
I'm just getting back on SnowHeads after losing touch because of some of my own ski industry work efforts, so I've got a bit of searching to see how much SnowHeads has evolved in the past few years, I know from running my own site, these support buttons are vital to keep the stream of information open.
I have it on good authority that there are a couple more leading media sources that are holding on by a thread.
It doesn't make me happy to see them go, but I'm not surprised.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@TriciaPug, I don't know if you are aware of the ski magazine Fall-Line, but in my opinion it is the best of the UK based magazines. It has equipment reviews, ski touring stories and some great WTF? photos. Worldwide subscriptions are available, as well as a cheaper online digital subscription. https://www.fall-linemedia.co.uk/product-category/fall-line_ski/fall_line_ski_subscriptions/
After all it is free
After all it is free
Got an email from Powder late last night:
Quote:
The Future of POWDER Magazine
Effective November 20, 2020, operations of the magazine, our website, and our social channels will be paused indefinitely. We do not know if or when this hiatus will end. We do know, however, that in the coming days, we still have work to do.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
From TGR Forum
Grant Gunderson, Pro-photogrpaher and Powder contributor
"From what I’ve been told it’s not for sake (sp sale) and offers are not being entertained. The current owner is Trumps best friend and he has a history of buying entities like this to only close them up to claim the loss on his taxes. If he sells it he looses that tax credit. It’s cowdoo but the action sports group was only bought in order to get the more profitable mags... ie Men’s Jourbal (sp Journal) or whatever"
Reply to that post
"Trump's best friend? Interesting. And Surfer came out with an endorsement of Biden the day before the closure announcement. Coincidence? Perhaps not..
I've been a Powder subscriber since 2009, the best ski magazine on the planet and addictive reading. this is a real tragedy.
I'm pissed off!!!!!!
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Alastair Pink wrote:
It seems that the US ski magazine Powder (along with Snowboarder and several other sport activity titles) is to be shut down ... as it is US based I don't think there are many UK readers?
Yeah I was an avid reader from the 1980s, when as a citizen of nowhere came across it in airports across Europe and beyond. It wasn't on the shelf in WH Smiths, and you couldn't get it in UK airports either: it was a "coming home" read.
Powder completely changed my perspective, which had until then been governed by UK holiday skiers and magazines aimed almost exclusively
at consumers, beginners and those still learning to ski.
Powder was a revelation. Their sport was not about consumerism or clocking up motorway miles in massive artificial networks.
It was about riding powder.
They didn't tell me how to snow plough; they wrote about pirating lines from Wiegele in Lempriere.
I found it such astrong influence that I ended up riding with many of those people in those places.
Over time the mainstream moved closer to Powder, and Powder became more moderate in it's approach,
but in the 1980s it was a massive blast of spin-drift in the face.
Internet publishing generally ended my magazine buying habits years ago, and it's hardly a surprise that
it's no longer a sustainable business model.
But yeah, Powder changed my life.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
It's going to be missed for sure. Let's hope Fall Line can keep going. I quite like 'Snow' magazine, alhtough I think they only publish once a year
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
And yet still quite a few cycling mags are surviving though a much larger consumer base as opposed to Powder's.
OH has been in magazines all her career at a high level though in her twilight years more as a consultant, she is Editorial Director of Air Madagascars In flight Magazine (favour to a client) and payment was trips to the Big Isle and 1st class etc
But with Covid Air Mada has not been flying and now they've more or less gone down the swanny, but it also raises the question of Inflight Magazines as you can't exactly have people reading the same magazine?
Air Madagascar's Mag is also digital but that will not pay the bills for long.
Last edited by So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much on Tue 6-10-20 13:34; edited 1 time in total
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
What are the alternatives now that still remain in print and do more than one print a season?
- Fall line
- Ski Journal
- Ski
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Well this sucks... I was doing my paper round when I was about 14 and watched Aspen Extreme which featured a writer trying to get in to Powder.
I asked the lady that ran our paper shop if it was a real magazine and she did some digging, three weeks later she presented me with a copy and took almost half my wages for it
That was 29 years ago and I'm still a subscriber.
The first issue landing in September (even the naked guy on this years 1st) signals a start to winter for me and sends me into thoughts of where, when and for how long as well as what can I ask Santa for to make me ski faster.
This year it fell a little flat on the mat what with CV etc and I'm not entirely sure I'll see the mountains this season as I've come to appreciate them over the last 30+ years but that won't stop me reading it cover to cover... Twice.
RIP Powder Magazine, I'll miss you.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Alastair Pink wrote:
@TriciaPug, I don't know if you are aware of the ski magazine Fall-Line, but in my opinion it is the best of the UK based magazines. It has equipment reviews, ski touring stories and some great WTF? photos. Worldwide subscriptions are available, as well as a cheaper online digital subscription. https://www.fall-linemedia.co.uk/product-category/fall-line_ski/fall_line_ski_subscriptions/
Thanks for pointing that out. I had heard of them but forgot.
Most days I feel like I'm sipping from a firehose.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Mike Pow wrote:
From TGR Forum
Grant Gunderson, Pro-photogrpaher and Powder contributor
"From what I’ve been told it’s not for sake (sp sale) and offers are not being entertained. The current owner is Trumps best friend and he has a history of buying entities like this to only close them up to claim the loss on his taxes. If he sells it he looses that tax credit. It’s cowdoo but the action sports group was only bought in order to get the more profitable mags... ie Men’s Jourbal (sp Journal) or whatever"
Reply to that post
"Trump's best friend? Interesting. And Surfer came out with an endorsement of Biden the day before the closure announcement. Coincidence? Perhaps not..
We had a phone conversation with Grant the day of the announcement. Lots of good insights from him as someone who's been a renowned photographer for magazines like Powder and Freeskier.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Seems that the team at Powder are still going to get another two issues out:)
From unofficialnetworks:
Quote:
Powder Magazine Statement on October 5th, 2020:
As we are all painfully aware, COVID-19 has dramatically impacted our lives this year, leaving the future shrouded in uncertainty. There is little it hasn’t touched and, going forward, this now includes POWDER Magazine. On October 2, we were notified by our parent company A360 Media, LLC (formerly American Media, LLC) that our entire editorial staff will be placed on indefinite furlough, effective November 20, 2020, when operations of the magazine, our website, and our social channels will be paused. We do not know if or when this hiatus will end.
We do know, however, that in the coming days, we still have work to do—and two more issues of the magazine to make. This week, we’re completing the special Gear Guide issue that will be available, for free, in ski shops across the country next month. When you go looking for it, consider bringing a six-pack for the shop employees. It’s the right thing to do in times like these.
Our biggest undertaking still is this year’s Photo Annual, which will be on newsstands November 16. This Photo Annual has long been the most collectible issue of the magazine each volume. With POWDER’s future unknown, this particular Photo Annual promises to be extra special. Do not miss it.
Beyond that, we do not know what will become of POWDER, only that its absence for any amount of time will be felt deeply by those of us who have been captivated by its words and images along its 49-year journey.
We hope that it has offered you a home; a place for skiers to come for humor, reflection, inspiration, honesty, and a small taste of the joy we know can only be found, as the founding editors articulated, in getting away from the crowd to a place where there are no lines, no lift towers, no snow fences, no bodies in the way. Just snow.
See you there. Powder To The People, always.
—Sierra Shafer, Editor in Chief
...and to cheer everyone up, SalomonTV dropped the below edit this afternoon:
Seems that the team at Powder are still going to get another two issues out:)
From unofficialnetworks:
Quote:
Powder Magazine Statement on October 5th, 2020:
As we are all painfully aware, COVID-19 has dramatically impacted our lives this year, leaving the future shrouded in uncertainty. There is little it hasn’t touched and, going forward, this now includes POWDER Magazine. On October 2, we were notified by our parent company A360 Media, LLC (formerly American Media, LLC) that our entire editorial staff will be placed on indefinite furlough, effective November 20, 2020, when operations of the magazine, our website, and our social channels will be paused. We do not know if or when this hiatus will end.
We do know, however, that in the coming days, we still have work to do—and two more issues of the magazine to make. This week, we’re completing the special Gear Guide issue that will be available, for free, in ski shops across the country next month. When you go looking for it, consider bringing a six-pack for the shop employees. It’s the right thing to do in times like these.
Our biggest undertaking still is this year’s Photo Annual, which will be on newsstands November 16. This Photo Annual has long been the most collectible issue of the magazine each volume. With POWDER’s future unknown, this particular Photo Annual promises to be extra special. Do not miss it.
Beyond that, we do not know what will become of POWDER, only that its absence for any amount of time will be felt deeply by those of us who have been captivated by its words and images along its 49-year journey.
We hope that it has offered you a home; a place for skiers to come for humor, reflection, inspiration, honesty, and a small taste of the joy we know can only be found, as the founding editors articulated, in getting away from the crowd to a place where there are no lines, no lift towers, no snow fences, no bodies in the way. Just snow.
See you there. Powder To The People, always.
—Sierra Shafer, Editor in Chief
...and to cheer everyone up, SalomonTV dropped the below edit this afternoon:
While talking to a few manufacturers about the impact, a few were waiting to hear what became of their ski tests.
Powder has been "pay to play" for manufacturers to be included in product reviews. Since the gear guide hasn't been released yet, imagine what they think happened to their play.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Mike Pow, I've just heard Fall line are digital-only for all but two of their issues this year: that's direct from them. I like paper copies so I might give most of them a miss.
I'm more bothered by the death of Surfer. I still dream of a road trip in Hawaii or California and completing the '100 surf things to do before you die' in one copy from 2004. Things like surfing with your family or cutting your own board. Heady stuff.
I've just had a look at Surfer's website and they've got articles on "LGBTQ+" surfing and "surfing for racial justice", as well as an all-female film to "celebrate Ruth Bader Ginsburg".
Let it sink!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Got to move with the times @boobleblooble. This year has given plenty of industries pause for thought relating to diversity in its makeup. Similar articles over at Whitelines about attitudes to LGBTQ+, race, and sustainability in snowboarding and the wider winter sports community.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Richard_Sideways, here's a question: is there anything in life that should not be political? Is there any aspect of life that does not have to be up-ended with race, gay and other 'identity' politics?
Is it possible for someone to enjoy their sport without being expected to ask if there are enough gays, blacks etc on the mountain with them?
This is why the NBA and others in the US are struggling because the man in the street is fed-up with being abused (if he's white) for being a racist and being patronised (if he's brown/black) as a victim. People just want to be left alone to enjoy their leisure time without being lectured by 'activists'.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
boobleblooble wrote:
@Richard_Sideways, here's a question: is there anything in life that should not be political? Is there any aspect of life that does not have to be up-ended with race, gay and other 'identity' politics?
Is it possible for someone to enjoy their sport without being expected to ask if there are enough gays, blacks etc on the mountain with them?
This is why the NBA and others in the US are struggling because the man in the street is fed-up with being abused (if he's white) for being a racist and being patronised (if he's brown/black) as a victim. People just want to be left alone to enjoy their leisure time without being lectured by 'activists'.
We are going wildly off topic here but this sort of "I don't need it shoved down my throat" is precisely the sort of point of the conversations need to be addressing because without "allies" in the wider population there is always going to be sense of "well I'm not a racist so it's nothing to do with me" which doesn't let the true racists and homophobes etc know how much of a minority they are in. I'm as wary as anyone of bandwagon jumping (and is for example why I haven't yet amended my email sig with the latest and greatness in woke corporate approved taglines) but I will try to stand up when I see BS going on.
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@boobleblooble, yes I heard that yesterday too, in fact, they are not even publishing their ski test, which is more to do with the fact that the SIGB test was moved at the last minute from Pila to Scotland.
With Covid many of the big brands have slashed, or simply do not have an ad budget for this season, and when you have staff on the books and or even have to pay freelancers for stories the books will not balance.
My OH who runs Style Altitude which has won another award* is able to run an incredibly tight ship, many of her contributors file stories for hardly any actual payment, what income she gets does not come from the usual Ad banners and the like, but that's all I'm saying on that!
*for sure many of the awards are SEO link building exercises though we do differ on that perception
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
boobleblooble wrote:
@Richard_Sideways, here's a question: is there anything in life that should not be political? Is there any aspect of life that does not have to be up-ended with race, gay and other 'identity' politics?
Is it possible for someone to enjoy their sport without being expected to ask if there are enough gays, blacks etc on the mountain with them?
This is why the NBA and others in the US are struggling because the man in the street is fed-up with being abused (if he's white) for being a racist and being patronised (if he's brown/black) as a victim. People just want to be left alone to enjoy their leisure time without being lectured by 'activists'.
This really boils down to two questions:
1. Is it possible for one to enjoy their sport (/art, photography, film, music, bla bla) without politics intruding
2. Does one have the right to deny someone else their freedom of speech to use whatever they platform they so choose to discuss/promote politics and/or a message?
The two are not mutually exclusive, and the second obviously does not preclude one from judging that someone for their opinion, even if one concludes that attempting to censor them so would be undemocratic.
My opinion:
1. You absolutely have the right to go surfing or whatever without thinking about politics
2. You absolutely do not have the right to expect other surfers or surf writers to withhold their opinions just because it offends your sensibilities
3. You are absolutely entitled to judge said surfers, writers, filmers, etc for the opinions they espouse (and if that means you choose to only actually do your sport of choice rather than watch others do it/read about them doing it, that's totally fair. Just don't expect them to do their sport in the manner you want for your own consumption)
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
What clarky999 said.
boobleblooble wrote:
...here's a question: is there anything in life that should not be political? Is there any aspect of life that does not have to be up-ended with race, gay and other 'identity' politics?...
As you're asking, I think it would be more polite if you kept on topic.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quote:
@Richard_Sideways, here's a question: is there anything in life that should not be political? Is there any aspect of life that does not have to be up-ended with race, gay and other 'identity' politics?
These are issues which are societal ones, not political ones. To frame the issues of diversity as political ones is to absolve personal responsibility for ourselves, and the communities we belong to people who may be "In Charge" but may not represent us. You are entitled to your opinion that you don't want to have to listen to all this crap and just want to get on with surfing, skiing, whatever... People who are gay, black, female, want just the same thing, to get on and enjoy aspects of their lives too, without being judged, slurred, or barriered, just like you do.
Highlighting that there are people struggling to do this in the communities we hold dear should not be offensive to you; but the fact that they face these issues should be.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Dave of the Marmottes, if you personally want to confront someone you can do what you like and bear the consequences. If you're told to poke off then don't be surprised.
The problem with that attitude is that you are essentially demanding that others act according to your wishes: 'it's not enough to just not be racist you have to be anti-racist'. The essential demand is to obey someone else's morality, the sort of activists and bullies who have realised that they cannot convince others as their manner and arguments are poor so are resorting to violence and bullying instead. Have you seen that footage of the woman in the cafe who refused to do the 'black power' fist? Heard of the estimated two-billion-dollars'-worth of damage that the BLM riots have done?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
@philwig, not at all: I commented that I'm less sad that Surfer has gone under because of a tedious, trite and self-righteous focus on identity politics recently and someone answered to say that they were right to do so. OK, off we go!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@clarky999, I've not suggested others should change their opinions. I've said that a) bringing politics into everything is tedious and will kill off many business and b) this stuff isn't coming from the ground up. It is virtually all led by activists, large corporations, politicians, publically-employed staff, quangos, charities and also criminal/violent elements like BLM in America (their charity has a convicted terrorist on the board). It is strangling everything fun and the ordinary person is being forced to comply. As we've seen with C19 many are going along just for an easy life.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I don't think it's "politics" and to bracket as such in order to shut it down is just another way of maintaining the status quo. I do see a hitherto unprecedented amount of effort at a corporate level to pick up the issues raised by BLM, but of course no large business wants to see its significant number of non-white employess disenfranchised because they choose to box off the issue, so its not all altruism.
I don't know about activists, I don't live my life as some mythical SJW, but I know it is a term used by people like Trump to denigrate the voice of the people. Easier for those who the status quo favours to say - oh it's just been whipped up by activists and those people are all vandals than acknowlege the reality of why these things are happening and try to do something about it.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Dave of the Marmottes wrote:
...... I don't live my life as some mythical SJW, but I know it is a term used by people like Trump to denigrate the voice of the people. Easier for those who the status quo favours to say - oh it's just been whipped up by activists and those people are all vandals than acknowlege the reality of why these things are happening and try to do something about it.
I had to look up "SJW".
Perhaps my studies of Fox news have been insufficient, or maybe my Facebook privacy filters ensure Mr Putin's not been able to raise my awareness of such things.
"Newspeak" seems to be a requirement of authoritarianism.
boobleblooble wrote:
As we've seen with C19 many are going along just for an easy life.
You've outed yourself there. If you can find any other Trump people on here then you could start a thread in the appropriate section for this sort of nonsense.
this stuff isn't coming from the ground up. It is virtually all led by activists, large corporations, politicians, publically-employed staff, quangos, charities and also criminal/violent elements like BLM in America (their charity has a convicted terrorist on the board).
That's like saying the civil right movement isn't from teh ground up but led by this activist blok call Martin Luther King!
Quote:
It is strangling everything fun and the ordinary person is being forced to comply.
Don't forget the civil war "strangled" slave owning and a lot of the "fun" in the south as the people there were "being forced to comply".
Even apartheid more modern memory, anti-apartheid boycott had "strangled" all business of South Africa. The people there were eventually "forced to comply" in the end.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
boobleblooble wrote:
the ordinary person is being forced to comply.
So, "ordinary" means white, hetrosexual, male now?
@Dave of the Marmottes, if you are aware of major support from the public for vandalism of statues and critical race theory amongst other things then I would be interested to see it. To take one example (in the US but that is where Powder/Surfer are based) there have been calls to "defund the Police". The support from the public as seen in the polls is either for the same amount of policing/policemen or more, and a tiny number want less. This is across all ethnicities surveyed inc. blacks.
The current BLM/antifa movement is essentially top down from the list I've mentioned earlier. In the US Kamala Harris has encouraged the riots and protests, saying that they should not stop. It's not her corner shop that is being burnt down of course.
These movements are entirely political and there aims are couched as such. BLM both here and in America have called for the end of the nuclear family and the overthrow of capitalism. These both sound like extreme Left-wing or even Communist demands which are certainly political.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Cant wait for TirciaPug to sign in and see how this escalated
Neither of these felt like they were trying to push a political agenda
After all it is free
After all it is free
@philwig, eh?? I've not used the term. It's quite proudly used by that sort of person anyway, and the use of the word 'woke' originally began on the Left as in 'stay woke' i.e. remain aware of prejudice, stay sharp etc.
Trump people?? Oh, please. If you think that the UK population are all going along with the C19 restrictions because they're terrified then you need to get out and about. Patience is wearing very thin with the confusion and self-evident contradictions of gov't policy.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@abc, the civil rights movement in America worked in the teeth of serious opposition from the establishment and Police. Large corporations and celebrities weren't falling over themselves to support them.
Err... slave-owning has been and gone mate. Well, formally at least. There are vast quantities of slaves and indentured labourers all over the world including the US and UK, mostly associated with illegal immigration and foreign gangs. Don't seem to hear much about those from BLM et al for some reason mind you.
Apartheid is also over mate, and it has been for decades. If you think that the situation today resembles SA back then you're flat wrong, there's no other way to put it. On another note, many businesses in SA actually illegally served all racial groups because they wanted to make money. Economic liberalism for you!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@maggi, what? I said "ordinary person". It's not only straight white men who hate this stuff. I didn't realise that women, gays and blacks all thought the same but if you say so!
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
