SKI Magazine Will Only be Printed Once a Year as Owner Outside Interactive, Inc. Slashes its Print Operations by 80%

Currently printed monthly, SKI Magazine will be cut back to just one edition a year after parent company Outside Interactive, Inc. decided to slash its print operations by 80% to focus on digital content.

The decision was announced by Sierra Shafer, SKI Magazine’s editor-in-chief, on Twitter yesterday. The Tweet has been deleted but captured by Skiology Matt in the Northeast Skiology Group on Facebook.

Hi all,

hope you’ll forgive the mass email; we have some news we want to share with all of our valued contributors as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Yesterday, Outside Inc. made the difficult decision to reduce print by 80 percent across the company. In addition to our unified Winter Gear Guide, we will only produce one additional print magazine this year and for the foreseeable future. We are just beginning the process of determining what this SKI annual is will look like and what we will be able to include in its pages.

If you have completed any work for print for us this year, please know we will be paying you in full for that at the assigned rate, regardless of if we are able to run your piece in print. Any remaining work will likely find a home on SKI’s website.

With a renewed focus on our digital content, we are still actively assigning and publishing work for the web. In fact, digital assignments will now receive more of our resources going forward. Please continue to pitch us your most brilliant ideas.

This is a big shift for us all, but far from the end of SKI as a home for the most essential stories in skiing. Change is hard/scary/essential and I hope in time we can all look at the possibilities in the digital and social spaces with optimism and creativity.

It’s also worth noting, that there were a number of layoffs at all levels of the company in connection with this change and others. Thankfully, SKI’s editorial staff was not affected. Unfortunately, we no longer get to work with Elyse Schrieber as our art director.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions, knowing that this news is fresh to us too and it may take some time for us to get all of the answers. We appreciate, so deeply, your support and understanding.

Thank you for trusting us with your work.

– Screenshotted email

SKI Magazine dates back almost 100-years to 1936. It changed names a couple of times before merging with two other publications in 1948 to become the SKI Magazine we know today.

According to its website, Outside Interactive Inc. is home to “more than 30 leading brands in the active lifestyle industry.” They reach over 250-million people and have over 500 employees. In April, the company unveiled plans for the Outerverse, ‘an adventure-minded, wellness-driven alternative to the Metaverse’. The Outerverse represents the first comprehensive foray into Web3 technology by a major consumer media company and will consist of three primary parts: an NFT marketplace (Outside.io), a community-oriented creator platform, and an Outside-branded loyalty token. All of the elements will be built in partnership with blockchain innovator SuperLayer.io.

“The emergence of NFTs, cryptocurrency and Web3 systems is a game-changing development for media. Our vision is really bold: We want to harness these new technologies to get the next generation of adventurers outdoors, and we want to infuse blockchain culture with the values that our followers hold dear. Big Tech wants you to live a virtual life; we’re creating experiences and content that will help you live a real life. The Outerverse is a place where technology exists to fuel adventure, inclusivity, and sustainability.”

– Robin Thurston, CEO of Outside

The company has recently focused its marketing efforts on Outside+, a $3.99/mth subscription with access to all its digital content. 

In October 2020, it was announced by, ironically, Sierra Shafer that Powder magazine would be discontinued from November 20th, 2020. The options for snow enthusiasts who like to hold a print magazine in their hands are slowly dwindling.

• Related: RIP Powder Magazine… Or Will It Comeback From the Dead?