Every issue of Mountain Gazette starts the same way: with a group of writers, photographers, and artists who spend a lot of time outside—and have something honest to say about it.
Mountain Gazette 205 is no different.
We caught up with managing editor Doug Schnitzspahn to talk about the contributors bringing this issue to life. Some voices are new. Others have spanned generations of Mountain Gazette. Together, they are the spirit that gives the magazine its voice.
One contributor Doug is especially excited about? Photographer Chloe Weir.
“Chloe is a force unto herself,” he says.
Her work appears alongside a feature exploring the complicated future of ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. Both on the ground and from the air, her photographs capture the landscape—and the tensions shaping it—in striking detail.
But 205 also reaches deep into Mountain Gazette’s history...with one story in particular.
Doug points to longtime contributor George Sibley, who wrote for the magazine when it was still called Skiers’ Gazette nearly sixty years ago. His new essay, fittingly titled “Being Old,” reflects on everything from thoughts of mortality to the early days of ski patrol, when patrollers shaped moguls by hand with shovels.
“The beautiful art that runs with it shows cross-sections of trees,” Doug says. “Each ring marking another year.” He adds—with the utmost respect—that Sibley is older than some of the trees depicted. It’s that kind of cross-generational storytelling—voices spanning generations—that makes Mountain Gazette special.
The upcoming issue is also part of a larger milestone. This year marks the magazine’s 60th anniversary, and Issue 205 is the first of two oversized editions planned for the celebration, each 192 pages long.
Like always, the stories are meant to live in print. You won’t find them online, and we still like to leave a few surprises for readers to discover when the issue lands in their hands.
Subscribe before March 30 and Mountain Gazette 205 will arrive as your first issue. Because the best stories aren’t just read. They’re discovered slowly, page by page.
