Scottish Winter Climbs Blog

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 CaelanB 17 Jan 2023

Hello All,

I've noticed that http://www.scottishwinter.com/ seems to be uploading posts substantially more infrequently than it has done in prior years. Since the beginning of the season there's only been 5 posts and one of those wasn't even directly about winter climbing. Indeed, none of the most significant winter ascents this year have been reported on Scottish Winter. Does anyone know why this might be?

I've got a couple of ideas - Simon Richardson's busyness now that he's the new routes editor for the SMC, other platforms (Insta, UKC) undercutting it. Whatever the case, I've missed the regular post and the buzz the website seems to emanate through the winter season.

Post edited at 17:29
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 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to CaelanB:

UKC has got the top routes, presumably because they pay a little for submitted articles/news? Simon obviously isn't going to do that since he doesn't make any earning from his site, and there's little point in duplicating news which of course then isn't news. But I think climbers much appreciate his site and those doing FAs or significant repeats appreciate the opportunity to tell the rest of the climbing community about their ascents.

 Alex Riley 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

You need to get back out on the tools so there's some news Caelan

OP CaelanB 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Alex Riley:

Oocha!

Maybe you need to come back to Scotland, drag me up some hard routes, and let me register them under my name? In any case, I'll have you know that I've managed to get three routes in this season including one that I thought was new (it wasn't in the guidebook) until I looked at the new routes database.

 DaveHK 17 Jan 2023
In reply to CaelanB:

> I've got a couple of ideas - Simon Richardson's busyness now that he's the new routes editor for the SMC, 

I suspect it's this, plus the 2 guidebooks (that I know of) he's got in the pipeline and being president of the Alpine Club and lord knows what else!

OP CaelanB 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

I really hope the process hasn't become monetised like that. If that was true I think it would really undermine the community ethos that I've always felt winter climbing has and that Scottish Winter was the bastion of.

1
 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to CaelanB:

It's the only reason I can think of for why a top climber would give UKC the scoop rather than Scottish Winter. Simon can only report on stuff he knows about, so would think it's more down to who the news is given to, than him being busy.

 DaveHK 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

> It's the only reason I can think of for why a top climber would give UKC the scoop rather than Scottish Winter. Simon can only report on stuff he knows about, so would think it's more down to who the news is given to, than him being busy.

I don't think that's how it works.  I can't imagine UKC pay the FA team for details as it's usually ukc staff who do the write up rather than the FA team and even if they do pay there's nothing to stop anyone else reporting it or the FA team speaking someone else.

 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to DaveHK:

> even if they do pay there's nothing to stop anyone else reporting it or the FA team speaking to someone else.

True, but as I say, duplicated 'news' is worth a lot less (I don't mean in a monetary sense) and not really news.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

We don't pay for news or interviews, only articles from contributors. 

 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Thanks for clearing that up. That scuppers that theory then; I remain puzzled as to why the big winter scoops have come your way!

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 DaveHK 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

> I remain puzzled as to why the big winter scoops have come your way!

Because they have a (small) team of people who seek them out and write them up? It's not as if there is a range of media outlets competing for these stories.

The nice thing about Simon's blog was that it wasn't just the big numbers that got reported, it was much more grass roots. 

Post edited at 20:41
 Andy Moles 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

> Thanks for clearing that up. That scuppers that theory then; I remain puzzled as to why the big winter scoops have come your way!

Because they look at Instagram.

 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Andy Moles:

> Because they look at Instagram.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that journalistic method. Can't spot an insta reference in the Stone Bastion article though.

 Michael Gordon 17 Jan 2023
In reply to DaveHK:

> The nice thing about Simon's blog was that it wasn't just the big numbers that got reported, it was much more grass roots. 

Agreed, but let's have that in present tense!

 Andy Moles 17 Jan 2023
In reply to Michael Gordon:

Tim's post about it was fairly minimal.

 TobyA 18 Jan 2023
In reply to Andy Moles:

> Because they look at Instagram.

Or someone here has seen the Instagram post or whatever and started a thread here. I don't know if Nat or someone else at UKC saw Greg's post separately or saw the thread I started here linking to it, but sometimes it seems stuff that one of us UKCers report then gets turned into a news article - which seems a perfectly sensible way of doing it!

 Andy Moles 18 Jan 2023
In reply to TobyA:

Point stands though, the vast majority of climbing 'news' breaks by self-report on social media these days.

Guess it puts the onus on UKC to focus its efforts elsewhere, because as far as News goes it's basically an aggregator for people who don't have Instagram.


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