I like that it's written by people who both care about the outside and who have opinions. I'd second the point about giving the background to the authors of articles, but for the most part the articles in tgo have breathing space to become nicely evocative - I caught one a few months ago about a guy walking to Nordkapp that used tingly prose - rather than "we went from A to B and then we went to C and then D and we're cool and we impress ourselves".
Yes, Trail looks nicer but it's also irritating me in that it seems to reckon I can only deal with a single clause in a single sentence. Irritating. tgo could learn from the graphic design, but forget the glossy gear "tests". IMHO Trail scores for the two pager wherein the staff writers describe the kit they've used and loved not for the photos from Blacks tent department. Long terms tests of worn and worked gear are good.
I like a point made by John Manning a long while ago in this thread about Scotland being treated as one region in people's heads - I live near the Cairngorms and it would bug the living sh*t out of me if I was to see a walk across Suilven being hinted as local to me just cos it's in the same bl**dy country.
I'd suggest treating the UK as a number of distinct regions defined logically (and not by some quasi BBC regional broadcasting criteria) and try to draw a reasonable balance of walks per region across the year. Flatter bits of the country can still be wild and are still valid. e.g. coastal routes, but of course we all like the wilderness and there is a lot more of it in Scotland.
Jim P? Mike H? Eccentricity is a virtue. The end result of homogenisation (sic) is Piers P. Be careful what you wish for.
And climbing? Please not. Many walkers climb. Many don't. They bike or kayak or whatever. You want a climbing mag please go buy one - don't f*ck up tgo! I like to scuba dive but I don't want tgo to print an article on diving in Llyn Idwal. Stick to tgo's core strengths - Scottish beards ;o)
Oh, and by routes I meant people's experiences and fun and all that, and not "here's an idea for walking from A to B".
Half the fun is deciding where you want to go, and while I'll be influenced by someone else having a good time in that part of the world I don't want to read about the mechanics of putting one foot in front of the other.
That's where Trail misses the point a bit, their walks section tends to reads like a page filling quota. Deciding on where to walk is the reason why there are maps and large tables to put them on and pints of beer to stand beside them.
Over the last year ive tended to read AT and climber. Mainly because these fit my interests better.
I like AT because of the wide range of quality info. Its not a monthy and every page is interesting reading unlike alot of mags now where 50% is poinless waste of mag space. The gear reviews are informitive and unbiased and the articals are cover basically every aspect of the outdoors. There's the Spam challenge which IMHO is a fantastic artical and lots of uk stuff to.
Nothing annoys me more than spendin £3odd a month then flicking past the majority of it hoping to find something interesting rather than add's etc.
Must admit i havent looked at a copy of tgo for a while but will give it a peek when next in smiths. I agree with above posts that some feature on Wales + Lakes might be a nice addition as being a student in leicester the chance to get up to Scotland for the weekend is somewhat small!
Walks guides dont feature high on my lists of whats good about a mag as i like sitting in a pub/spreading the mapp out on the floor at midnight before your going walking the next day finding a route.
Will give more constructive comments next week after i've looked at a copy though.
A belated Happy New Year to all OM'ers. It's a pity the weather has broken down - I had some marvellous days over the holiday period. Most memorable was a day ski-ing round carn na Caim and A' Bhuidheanach Beag, two Munros on the Drumochter Hills. Wall to wall sunshine, wall to wall snow, I skied from the layby on the A9,up and down both Munros and back to the car. Magic. I also gave a talk (on John Muir) at the opening week of the new Ice Factor in Kinlochleven. From what I can gather the first week went a bomb - lots of folk, big party and plenty of folk on the ice. I reckon the Ice Factor is well worth a visit, especially since you can combine a visit with some good hiking on the hills that surround the village. I took a stroll up to Na Gruagaichean on the mamore ridge - snow, ice, mist, huge cornices. Had to wear crampons for the first time this winter. Now that we're well into the New Year I'm looking forward to strenghening links between tgo and outdoorsmagic.com. Jon will be contributing some stuff to the magazine, once he gets down off his Nepalese high and we look forward to meeting some of you guys in the flesh at one of Jon's future soirees. Meanwhile, as John Muir once said, do something for wildness and make the mountains glad Cameron
In the Feb edition you have a Harvey Maps giveaway which is postal entry only. Is it possible in future to have an email entry available as well? It's just less hassle than having to find an envelope, BUY a stamp(s) and then remember to post it.
