The Goat

Alpinist Magazine has inventoried its assets as required by Illinois law after it filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy last month. I thought they were based in Jackson, but maybe their funding came from Illinois. A mountaineering magazine based in Illinois would be like a surf mag based in Kansas—more of us would have seen the impending collapse. Among their assets are 8,500 subscribers, some of who they characterized as “active wealthy male readers with average income over $91,000.” When did the alpine community go from 10-year-old Toyotas to BMWs? Their claim to 14k circulation off only 8,500 subscribers is likely low since every person I know who works in a gear shop (and also makes significantly less than $91k per year) reads their magazine and never pays for it. The only fitting end to the Alpinist brand would be if someone bought the magazine and turned it into a kickass comic book.