Special Guest Editor Eddie (Bear) Grylls


Oh my.

Yeah this maybe the first time I just put it straight into the recycling bin.

And you're surprised? Lots of Gerber ads too? Hmmmm?

And this with previous work by Mike Clelland and Andrew Skurka--- it's a wonder the binding doesn't disintegrate and the pages fly apart like opposing magnets :)

Not surprised at all. The perfect pairing. Both caricatures. Mine comes free with my PCTA membership.

Alex. Give it a flip through. I don't want to be the only one who suffered.

Funny, just before I logged BL and read this post I read thew the mag and looked at my buddy and said one word, "Stupid".

Then it went in the trash.

Odd. My first word was "pointless," followed quickly by "hyperbole."

I just got mine; I picked up the mail right before coming into work tonight and hadn't had a chance to look at it. I just opened it up and saw Bear Grylls. Puleeze! What is happening to Backpacker? I remember when Backpacker first came into being. Its current incarnation is nothing like it was. So many ads. Lots of time I can't be sure if a particular page is part of the article I'm reading until I look down at the corner and find that it's really an ad for Montana or Wyoming or something.

I usually read BP for the trip ideas and stunning photos, but this is their annual survival issue. Interesting take on bear safety (not "Bear" safety ... haha) but maybe they should have interviewed RJ for his suggestion of a floor-less tarp now that BPL isn't a physical competitor. BP didn't put Gryllis on the cover anywhere, so not sure if that omission is a good idea in terms of selling the mag in the airport, bookstore, etc... for the uninitiated. I'm sure Outside would have had him base-jumping with a knife clutched between his teeth into a forest fire.

They had Mike C. but he didn't really press the "leave the toilet paper behind" gospel ... yet. I attribute that to a honeymoon period.

I wonder if anyone critiques their issue and mails it back to them?

I wonder if anyone critiques their issue and mails it back to them?

BP has (or at least had) a reader board where we would vote on the covers, content, specific future articles to be considered, etc... a few months before an issue. I participated 4-5 years back via something like Surveymonkey. Got too busy and the surveys quit coming so not sure if they are still doing it.

At the end, there was a place for comments for future/past concerns but imagine they looked at letters to the editor (pro/con) vs. how much a particular issue sold at the newstand, etc..

Edited by hknewman on 09/09/2012 07:52:25 MDT.

Is it just me or is one month "Life Lists" then the next month "Survival Guide", then back to Life Lists?

I swear every time I see one its "Survive Anything Short of a Meteor Edition"


...I guess after a while all topics have been covered...