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Sport and Magazines • 109

reader of Climber magazine in terms of national identity. The update section focuses
on news and events of interest to climbers in Great Britain. There is a report on the
completion of a Hard Rock Challenge by two climbers, local news from the Lake
District and Scotland, two obituaries, and announcements about upcoming mountain
festivals. These articles have a personalised tone. For example, the Lake District
news includes a list of new routes that have been developed in the area, the ‘altrustic’
efforts of climbers who replaced old bolts on some routes, and a request for readers
to get in contact regarding routes in the area. In addition, the stories about climbs that
are announced on the cover are all found in Britain: the new series announced on the
cover is a tour of the best crags in Britain, ‘seeking our top quality mid-grades that
are guaranteed to inspire you’; ‘Culm dancing’ features climbs on the north sea coast
of Devon; and the Black Rocks are in the Peak District. The editor states that this was

his first time visiting the (Italian) Dolomites in forty years of climbing, reinforcing
the British address of the magazine.
Articles on places provide a description of the climb, the surroundings and practi-
cal arrangements relating to travel, accommodation, gear and guidebooks. Within
articles are discussions of the appeal of an area such as its beauty, uniqueness and

climbing qualities as well as very specific information on different routes and their

levels of difficulty. Summaries of climbing areas highlight some of the key ways that
locations are assessed. An article on Black Rocks in the Peak District concludes,
‘Black Rocks is simply one of the most compelling grit crags. It is a place to test
yourself, to put into context your triumphs at other crags, to experience climbing at
its most basic’ (Horscroft 2007: 59). Specialist language permeates the description
of the Devon landscape (Pickford 2007):

An unreconstructed spirit of wilderness climbing saturates the Culm Coast at every
level, from long runouts on open slabs, to hidden tidal zawns filled with driftwood,

and to clifftops covered in thrift where ragged blackthorn grows. For the adventure-
seeking climber, there is no better place in England to go exploring. (p. 45)

Individuals or pairs of individuals climbing are the primary subjects of images
throughout the magazine. Often these are large photographs indicating the scale of the
climb and the sense of the lone or paired individual making a diffi cult ascent. In ad-
dition, they may portray a particularly challenging aspect of the climb. For example,
the cover photograph is described inside as ‘Gavin Symonds making the fi rst ascent,
ground up, without inspection . . . This DWS features a wild dyno to a flared slot at

two-thirds height—this was a move that eluded him on the first ten attempts!’ A later

photograph is captioned, ‘Dave Birkett, on the first ascent, reaches for the tiny crimper

from where he could place a high No. 4 wire which was effectively the first good piece
of protection on the route.’ The emphasis on the individual and the mountain is part of
the depiction of climbing, while the address is to the community of climbers, and the
images emphasise the individuality of the pursuit and the climber’s technique.