The Ski Journal 3-2 — Review

I went out to the mailbox on my first day back in Colorado from school in the great PNW, and guess what I found? Stoke. The summer issue of The Ski Journal. In all its glory.
 

First, the usual set of amazing photos. This is one of the things I love about The Ski Journal. No flipping through ads, letters, mastheads, and other stuff to get to the pictures. They give it right away, full blast. As always, the images were amazing. Mostly big mountain shots too, which is what I like best.

The picture on the cover is sweet. Sure the guy is pond skimming on a glacier, nothing amazing, except it looks like he is making turns. I don’t know if that is what is happening, but if so this individual has some serious pondskiming skills. Or maybe he is about to fall. (One thing about pond skimming, your bomb craters fill in immediately.)

Favorite article? I really enjoyed the article about South America. The story about horse packing in to a remote stone hut in the middle of nowhere, among hundreds of unskied peaks, really got me going and wanting to go there.

One thing that really sets The Ski Journal apart from other magazines is the advertising, or lack thereof. They have four or five full page ads, and that’s it. Even better, they place all the ads at the beginning and the end of the mag, and they choose ads that look nice, not just any old PR junkshow. It is awesome to be able to read through the entire center of the mag without seeing a single ad, just great content.

I was starting to wonder whether it would be worth giving up climbing, mountain biking, and the warm weather that comes with summer to go down to New Zealand for two months for their winter. This mag stopped all doubt like a snow snake stops a powder hound. Within a few minutes, I couldn’t wait for the next time I get to make some turns, which hopefully won’t be long.

The only thing I don’t like about The Ski Journal is that they put their captions on different pages than the photos. I suppose this gives a little bit more room for the photos, but I don’t think that it’s worth having to flip back and forth constantly to figure out the story behind the photo.

I am always excited when The Ski Journal comes in the mail, and this was no exception. It delivered, with great photos and entertaining articles. You can really tell they put tons of work into this mag.