This year marks Mountain Gazette’s 60th anniversary, and 205 is the first of two oversized editions—each 192 pages—planned for the celebration. Like always, the stories are exclusive to print. We don’t publish them online.
So, what's inside Mountain Gazette 205?
We asked managing editor Doug Schnitzspahn for a few hints (though we like to keep a few secrets until it hits your mailbox).
Doug describes the new issue in three words:
“Bigger. Higher. Deeper.”
Inside the upcoming issue, readers will find stories that range widely across the outdoor world—exploring the challenges facing ranchers at California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, reflections on hunting and personal loss, the joy of riding a bike, the importance of trails, and even the subtle art of sandbagging.
One feature dives into the complicated future of ranching on Point Reyes—exactly the kind of story Mountain Gazette hopes to bring into the world.
“There’s no easy answer,” Doug says. “Stories that are brave enough to explore real complexity are what readers want to engage with.”
Another piece that stayed with Doug long after editing it was a deeply personal essay by Kim Beekman about learning to hunt with her late father’s rifle.
“It’s a raw and thoughtful story,” Doug says. “She captures the complexity of grief and the ancient ritual of being on the hunt in a way that really hit me.”
Mountain Gazette has never really followed themes, Doug says. Instead, each issue grows from a simple idea: tell honest stories about people whose lives are shaped by time outside.
Spring in the mountains isn’t a clean transition. One day it's blower powder, the next it's corn snow and t-shirts in the parking lot. Around here, though, spring reliably brings one thing: a new issue of Mountain Gazette.
Subscribe before March 30 to discover it in print, and Mountain Gazette 205 will arrive as your first issue.
Because some stories are still meant to be read slowly—on paper. The kind you linger on, dog-ear, and eventually pass along to a friend.
