Skiing (magazine)

Skiing

January 1991 cover
Categories	Sports
Frequency	Monthly
Format	Magazine
Founder	Merrill Hastings
Founded	1948
Final issue	2010 (print)
Country	United States
Based in	Denver, New York
Language	English
Website	skiingmag.com

Skiing is an American magazine devoted to skiing that has been published in print since 1948. It's one of the two largest circulation magazines for skiers.

Early years

Merrill Hastings launched Rocky Mountain Skiing in 1948, a news-oriented magazine that soon developed into a national publication. In 1950 it changed its name to the National Skiing Newspaper. It became National Skiing in 1954. In 1956 the name was changed to Skiing. The magazine competed aggressively with the Ski magazine run by Bill Eldred. In the early days the magazine was not entirely objective in its reviews, favoring resorts and equipment makers who advertised in its pages. In the first ten years circulation rose to almost 50,000.

New York

In 1964 the Ziff Davis company of New York bought Skiing Magazine and Skiing Trade News from Hastings, and moved operations to New York. Bill Ziff, the owner, raided Ski Magazine for experienced staff. Luray, the first editor, wanted a slick magazine. Ziff decided it should be more serious, aimed at dedicated skiers, and replaced Luray by Doug Pfeiffer, a ski school director from California. Pfeiffer was editor in chief of Skiing Magazine and its sister publications Skiing Trade News, Skiing Area News and Skiing International Yearbook from 1965 to 1976. Under Ziff in 1965 the magazine started to issue test reports on skis. To avoid upsetting advertisers, none of them were negative. Due to the timing of new model releases, the skis being tested and the conditions under which they were tested typically did not match the skis and conditions the readers would experience. Pfeiffer was followed as editor by John Jerome and then Al Greenberg.

In 1985 Ziff Davis sold Skiing and other magazines to CBS, the broadcaster. In 1987 CBS sold the magazines to Peter Diamandos. Later that year the Times Mirror company bought Skiing for $25 million. Times Mirror also owned the rival Ski magazine. Times Mirror was purchased by the Tribune Company of Chicago in 2000. In 2001 Skiing, Ski and other magazines were sold to Time4 Media, a subsidiary of Time Inc.. By this time the traditional skiing magazines were facing steep competition from ski-related websites. In 2006 it was announced that the magazines would be sold again.

Present Day

Skiing is now owned by Active Interest Media and is based in Boulder, Colorado. It publishes a print and tablet edition four times a year. It has a strong social media presence, with more than 100,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, respectively.

Sources

• Bronski, Peter; Jory, Melissa McLean (2012-12-07), The Gluten-Free Edge: A Nutrition and Training Guide for Peak Athletic Performance and an Active Gluten-Free Life, The Experiment, ISBN 978-1-61519-149-9, retrieved 2015-12-08
• Fry, John (December 2006), "The Ski Magazines", Skiing Heritage Journal, International Skiing History Association, ISSN 1082-2895, retrieved 2015-12-08
• Fry, John (2006b), The Story of Modern Skiing, UPNE, ISBN 978-1-58465-489-6, retrieved 2015-12-08
• Pfeiffer, Doug (September 2008), "Ski Testing: Art, Science or Fantasy Reporting?", Skiing Heritage Journal, International Skiing History Association, ISSN 1082-2895, retrieved 2015-12-08
• "Skiing Magazine". Skiing Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
• Smith, M. Scott (August 18, 2010). "Skiing Magazine Suspends Print Version". DCSki. Retrieved 2015-12-08. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• "Timeline of Early U.S. Ski Periodicals". International Skiing History Association (ISHA). Retrieved 2015-12-08.