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The Mountain Gazette is a preposterous magazine. In an era when most people consume content online, this 11 x 17 inch behemoth can only be consumed IRL. The print-only publication is a revival of a storied magazine that launched in 1966 and shuttered in 1979 (and was reborn in 2000 and then mothballed again in 2012). The original incarnation started as a skiing magazine but evolved to celebrate all manner of outdoor storytelling through longform essays, deeply reported journalism, photography, and original art, with contributors like Edward Abbey and Gary Snyder. The current iteration aims to carry on this legacy, with a more modern perspective.
In 2020 journalist and film producer Mike Rogge purchased the Gazette at a Denver dive bar in order to revive it, bringing back this extra large format printed relic to great avail. Since the relaunch Rogge and his editorial team have produced seven new issues, clocking in at 160 pages apiece. They've sold out of every issue, with newer contributors of the likes of Jimmy Chin and Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin), and recently released the 200th issue in the magazine’s history, a 200-page tome to mark the occasion.
Of course, this rags-to-successful-rag story was anything but guaranteed. “A good friend and mentor told me I should buy a boat instead because at least I could have fun on a boat in the summertime,” reflects Rogge. “If I had failed, the line of ‘I told you so’ folks would have been about a dozen or so long, I’d be working for someone else, and wondering how long it would take to save up for that boat.”
Yet the Mountain Gazette ignited an old following and found a new one by prioritizing quality over quantity, remaining focused on the customer experience, and staying true to the magazine’s renegade roots. Rogge sees this deep appreciation of the tangible as a signal that people are becoming increasingly thoughtful about the media they consume, noting the ongoing cultural resurgence of vinyl and the rebirth of other print media like Summit Journal.
“We don’t publish online, so the work in our magazine belongs exclusively to our readers,” Rogge points out. “If you’d like to share a story, you lend a copy to a buddy. We published a piece one time and heard stories of people driving to their friends’ houses to read it for themselves. That was an awesome moment.”
When I asked Rogge about his favorite stories from past issues he went down the kind of rabbit hole that makes one want to curl up in a hammock with an issue: “Skinny dipping in alpine lakes, falling in love, living in ski towns, snowboarding Palm Springs, getting sober, fighting fires in the West, taking drugs and floating down a river with beavers…I love everything we’ve published because the stories came from the minds of our contributors.”
Thus far, the gamble that the same folks who enjoy the palpable pleasures (and pains) of adventure would also value the tactile delight of connecting with the outdoors through turning the pages of a magazine has paid off, while still functioning on a mountain town timescale. Rogge intends to keep it that way.
Thus far, the gamble that the same folks who enjoy the palpable pleasures (and pains) of adventure would also value the tactile delight of connecting with the outdoors through turning the pages of a magazine has paid off, while still functioning on a mountain town timescale. Rogge intends to keep it that way.
“Our team wants to keep delivering two great issues per year,” said Rogge, of future Mountain Gazette plans. “I’m inspired to keep making each issue better than the last. And to ski 100 days per year.”
“Skiing is the easy part,” he added. In that case, here’s to all the ink, sweat, and tears that will grace the next 200 issues.
Published 11-21-2023
