The importance of legacy in outdoor writing | Pinnacle Newsletter #9
#9 The importance of legacy in outdoor writing
This week, I've been busy helping to promote the special 40th birthday edition of The Great Outdoors magazine. And it's got me thinking.
In a blog post yesterday, I wrote:
Forty years in print is an amazing milestone. There are people out there who have been reading the magazine since 1978. Perhaps that’s what The Great Outdoors truly represents: continuity, the long perspective, an authoritative but friendly point of view.
It isn't just the publication itself that's been around for a while. TGO's very first Editor, Roger Smith, is still a columnist. Chris Townsend has been Gear Editor since 1991. Many of TGO's other writers have decades of experience, and more than a few have written classic outdoor books.
There's a lesson here. The people who have built TGO (and the UK's other long-established outdoor magazines) all have short-term goals that they work towards all the time, but they never lose sight of long-term objectives. Leaving a legacy isn't just about creating something that survives for a long time; it's about cultivating knowledge of significance, developing that deep perspective, creating something of real worth. Timeless outdoor writing isn't a listicle on the ten best bothies (although I have written, and will write again, many features just like that!). Timeless outdoor writing resonates down the decades: Whymper standing on the summit of the Matterhorn, Raeburn's harrowing ascent of Green Gully, hiking the Pacific Crest Trail before it was completed. Writing that can create an ambition or ignite a spark in a young mind.
I talk a lot about stories that matter, but this is all it means, really – I think we should strive to create work that can reach into the future and change lives. Work that transcends the boundaries of time. Do what you need to do to put food on the table, but I would urge every new outdoor writer to think bigger than their next pay cheque and start considering how they want to create change. It may sound grandiose, but if you aim for that legacy – if you cultivate that long perspective – then you'll create work of real value.
Recently published
A night in Ben Alder Cottage (first published a year ago, my feature about a winter mountaineering trip to the Ben Alder area)
Review: Scarpa Marmolada Pro OD (my review of some versatile 3-4-season boots)
Backpacking the Fairfield-Helvellyn ridge with the MLD Solomid XL (my first video offering for a few months is a vlog from last weekend's mini backpacking trip)
Triumph and controversy for access in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
Links of interest
Intrepid magazine is running a new adventure grant – well worth supporting.
The Lynx and Us (a new book on conservation and rewilding from Scotland: The Big Picture, published next week)
The Outdoors Station podcast No. 458: Keith Foskett (a plug for my client Fozzie, talking about his latest book, which I edited)
From my Commonplace Book
Human animals, when dialed up past certain boundaries of speed, make poor choices. We're competing to go as fast as possible in domains where, given the impact, we ought to be going as slow as possible.
– Tristan Harris
Until next time,
Alex
www.alexroddie.com