Bits and pieces: latest published work, plus thoughts on moving to a weekly newsletter

Good evening! It's so nice to see a few more people signing up to receive this blog/newsletter (is it a blog? Is it a newsletter? It's both) – and, honestly, I am humbled that people in 2024 are voluntarily asking to get more emails. Signing up to a creator's email newsletter (or subscribing to their blog via RSS) is a mark of trust, an investment of time and attention that goes far beyond following and liking on social media. It's a responsibility I'm deeply conscious of... more on this in a bit.

This week, my wife Hannah has gone down south to see family, leaving me holding down the fort here in the east of Scotland. I have a bit of work to be getting on with across the main titles I work for: Sidetracked, Like the Wind, and The Great Outdoors. I have some book-shaped ideas to be working on too. It's going to be a week of interesting and varied desk work, and with a bit less pressure than some other weeks recently. In other words, I have not already time-blocked every single hour in the week ahead, and am going to be giving myself a bit of unstructured reading, writing, and thinking time – both on and off the hill. I recently wrote that 'I like feeling fully occupied and putting my skills to good use, but also having enough space to dream up ideas.' This week feels like it's going to fulfil that brief. Hallelujah.

Right now, this evening, I have just poured a dram of Tullibardine and will shortly be watching a film recommended to me by a colleague: The Revenge of Analog. I don't know if it's confirmation bias, because like is attracted to like, or because more and more people in my little world are coming to their senses, but everywhere I look I see more people returning to analogue methods and media. Or just speaking up about the fact that they never stopped using them.

Right then, on to the first main subject of this entry. And, yes, it's about analogue media.

Recently published work

Back when I had a more formal separate weekly email newsletter, I had a regular section pointing out what I'd had published lately. I'm currently deliberating ways in which I might revive this, and I suppose there's no time like the present.

My current run of TGO issues with at least one piece of genuine Alex Roddie writing and/or photography continues unbroken. At some point I'll need to sit down and figure out how long it's been since I skipped an issue, but I think it's been at least two or three years by now. This is not a brag – I see TGO as the foundation of UK outdoors media, and I consider it a privilege to serve this community. I like to think that I give more than I get, and perhaps that's how it should be, at least sometimes.

Recently I've been in the mood to take stock and look at the big picture. Well, looking at the big picture here, over the last decade as a TGO contributor I have contributed over 100,000 words and countless hundreds of images into slowly but surely building education and knowledge in the outdoors (alongside, I don't need to add, many many other experienced contributors). TGO is the voice of steadiness and reason alongside excitement and adventure; it evolves with the times, but is never faddy. Of course, it's not perfect! Nothing ever is. But I keep pouring my heart and soul into this magazine, often on topics that you might think of as quite mundane, because I'm increasingly aware that a steady authority on these subjects is a vital public resource. Now more than ever.

Take the December 2024 issue. My contributions consist of a comparative review of ice axes, plus two mapped Wild Walks (both winter trips in the Cairngorms). Hardly the sexiest 'content' in the world, but people will always need to know which ice axe to buy, and they'll need to get this information from a person, not an algorithm. I spent many days in the mountains last winter using these ice axes in real-world situations, then distilled all that experience down into a star rating plus about 300 words per ice axe. Let's not forget that last winter was just the tip of an iceberg that, for me, stretches back to my earliest days as a winter mountaineer almost 20 years ago. It wasn't just last winter using these ice axes that qualifies me to talk about ice axes; it's hundreds of mountain days using many other ice axes as well.

It was recently calculated that collectively the TGO gear team has about 200 years of experience between us, and mine is very much small fry compared to some of the names on this list. I have to acknowledge a huge debt here to my colleague and friend Chris Townsend, from whom I've learned so much over the years... starting from childhood, when I had a copy of his book The Backpacker's Handbook on my shelf.

Looking at gear reviewing more generally, this is the only way the public can get honest information that isn't tainted by whatever hypebole the brand's marketing department has decided to publish about their product.

Gear testing isn't well-paying work, it's got to be said, and there are times when I moan about it! But maybe I should talk about it more often, because it's more important than I have sometimes given it credit for. If you'd like me to write more about gear reviewing, perhaps some behind-the-scenes stories, then do let me know.

Finally regarding TGO, don't forget that much of my print material ends up on the website sooner or later (sometimes lightly adapted for the web). For example, my skills piece on sustainable adventure was published online a couple of weeks ago.

Not as much to say about this one, but I've had a feature published in Outdoor, a German-language magazine about hiking and backpacking. The story in question is about hiking the Fisherfield Six up in the far NW of Scotland last year – a birthday adventure with my brother James and Carey Davies, former editor of TGO, upholding my long-standing tradition of fine mountain birthdays. The trip was one of my mountain highlights from 2023, including a midgemageddon incident as well as a truly exceptional high camp on the summit of A' Mhaighdean. Summer isn't my favourite season in Scotland, but there are occasions when it can truly deliver.

Also of note: with the exception of two of James's digital images (including the opening spread), all photographs in this feature were analogue images shot on Kodak Portra 160. I think this is the first time I've had a piece published where all of my images were shot on film, but don't quote me on that. I found it notable that the editor had no issue whatsoever with the technical quality of the images. Composition and subject are everything.

The future of this newsletter: shifting to weekly?

Right now, the way this blog/newsletter works is very simple: when an entry is posted on the website, it's sent out to all subscribers as an email. This works fine when a low volume of entries is being posted. But there are times when I ramp up the number of posts I publish on here, and as I gradually move away from attention-economy platforms such as Instagram I intend to post on here more often (I know I keep saying this, but I am forming a plan and will be implementing it).

I don't want a situation to arise in which I'm publishing (say) four or five shorter items a week, and you're all getting four or five emails a week. We all get too many emails. I don't want to add to the noise; I want to contribute to the signal.

So here's a question. Should I shift how I publish material on here? Should I separate posts from newsletters? I'm considering a new model that looks something like this:

• Entries such as this one are posted to the web and to RSS, but not immediately broadcast as email newsletters.
• Once a week, I post a digest to the web, RSS, and email newsletter. This will contain links to everything I've published on the blog in the past week, plus some extra material – rather like my Pinnacle Newsletter of old.
• Meatier articles will probably continue to go out as discrete newsletters in their own right.

I'd welcome your views here. As a reader, what do you want to see? Would you be happy to continue receiving every post as a newsletter, even if frequency increases? Or would you prefer to receive a single digest per week? Please let me know in the comments – or just email me.

I'm also looking into whether the web platform powering this blog (Ghost) will allow me to create multiple tiers, in which some users receive every single post as an email and others only receive the weekly digest as required. But I suspect that whatever I do will be universal for all members. For this reason, I want to make sure that whatever I decide works for everyone. I'll take a couple of weeks to consider this and gather views.

Don't forget that RSS exists and isn't going anywhere. It's by far the best way to read blog posts on the internet. All you need to do is download an RSS reader of your choice (I favour NetNewsWire, which I've used for 20 years) and subscribe to the feeds of your favourite blogs. Yes, you can subscribe to Substack publications this way as well.

Finally: Alpenglow Journal is still coming. I'll have an update to share on this in the next couple of weeks. In short, I've had to take a bit more time to consider what I really want to do – and how to do it.

Finally: you can now optionally sign up as a paid supporter

A few of you have emailed to ask how you can support me financially. My usual answers are to buy my books, subscribe to the magazines I work with, and to maybe drop me a few pennies in my tip jar. However, I have introduced another option.

Since I relaunched this blog on the Ghost platform, membership has been free – and, it's important to add, this blog will always be free with no restrictions. But if you want to show your support, there is now the option to pay £50 a year. You can access this screen from the Membership page.

To reiterate, this is entirely optional and paid supporters will not receive anything that free members are not receiving... except my heartfelt thanks, of course. I will never put a paywall on this blog.