Alpinist ceases publication

Alpinist, a quarterly devoted to alpine-style mountain climbing, is suspending operations for its magazine, Web site and film festival due to financial concerns.

The six-year-old glossy claimed a circulation of 9,000 and 50,000 unique site visitors each month. Its Barry Corbet Film Festival attracted 3,000 visitors in 2008, and the company also started a touring festival this year.

Editor Christian Beckwith cited “the financial crisis” as the reason for closure.

“We're going into a receivership — assigning all our assets to a trustee who us to administer all of our accounts payable and accounts receivable, helps with assets and helps to clean up what remains,” Beckwith explained.

He added that the Alpinist team is “currently exploring” continuing the magazine's life online, and that “a lot remains to be determined” as far as notifying and compensating subscribers.

The final print issue of Alpinist, the milestone issue 25, came out this fall.