Skram Media to acquire Mountain Gazette

Boulder, CO and New York, NY – September 17, 2008 – Skram Media announced today that it has reached an agreement to purchase the Mountain Gazette from GSM Media, LLC, of Paonia, Colorado. Skram Media will also own the magazine’s website, mountaingazette.com.Â

“We are very excited about the acquisition of Mountain Gazette. It’s an iconic mountain magazine, and it fits perfectly into our existing portfolio of magazines that serve readers passions,” said Mark Crowther, founder and CEO of Skram Media. 

Skram Media already publishes the two market-leading rock-climbing magazines – Climbing and Urban Climber – and their related websites – climbing.com, urbanclimbermag.com, and UCTV (myUCTV.com). 

“We can now offer our advertisers not only the largest and most diverse audience of climbers, but also mountain bikers, skiers, hikers, backpackers, kayakers and trail runners,” Crowther added. 

All editorial, sales and marketing staffs of Mountain Gazette will remain at their current locations, including Editorial Director Peter Kray, and Editor-At-Large John Fayhee. Back-office operations, including accounting and circulation, will be integrated into Skram Media’s HQ. 

Founded in 1966, Mountain Gazette reaches more than 135,000 readers each month. The magazine delves into what makes the mountains such a special place to live in and visit, and serves as the official unofficial voice of the mountains and mountain culture. 

“With the recent news that Climbing’s audited, paid circulation is at its highest level in five years, the addition of Mountain Gazette to our group means we now reach more than 350,000 readers each month with our magazines, and many more online,” Crowther added. “We speak directly to the largest audience of core mountain enthusiasts of any media group.” 

Concurrent with the acquisition, Felix Magowan, a founding partner of GSM Media and the former CEO of Inside Communications – VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, VeloPress, VeloSwap et al- will join the Skram Media Board of Directors. Founded by Magowan in 1987 in Boulder, Colorado, Inside Communications was recently acquired by Competitor Group, Inc., a Falconhead Capital portfolio company. 

“I’ve known Felix since 1999,” said Crowther. “As well as being a passionate outdoorsman, he intimately knows our market thanks to his various outdoor industry investments and board seats. More importantly, Felix has been way ahead of the curve on the Internet, and his know-how and experience will be incredibly valuable as we look to expand our market-leading magazine brands more broadly in new media.” 

The Skram Media-GSM Media deal is expected to close October 1, and is subject to customary closing conditions. 

About Skram Media:
Skram Media, formed by Mark Crowther in 2004 to launch Urban Climber, acquired Climbing from Primedia (NYSE: PRM) in December 2006. The Company also produces the market-leading websites in the climbing category: Climbing.com and UCTV (myUCTV.com) the leading destination online for climbing video entertainment. For more: skrammedia.com. 

About Mountain Gazette & GSM Media:
Founded in 1966 as Skiers’ Gazette, Mountain Gazette took on its current name in 1972. John Fayhee re-launched the title as a monthly magazine in 2000, and it quickly regained the iconic status it had in the 1970’s when it featured the work of, among others, Edward Abbey, John Jerome, Wendall Berry, Galen Rowell, David Roberts, Lito Tejada-Flores, George Sibley, Dick Dorworth, David Hiser, Bob Chamberlain, and more recently Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bowden, John Nichols, Katie Lee, Ellen Meloy, Mary Sojourner and Royal Robbins. In 2006, the title was acquired by GSM Media, LLC, a company formed by publishing industry veterans Marc Sani, Paul Gibb and Felix Magowan. Sani is the publisher of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News as well as publications produced for the outdoor market. Gibb is finance director for High Country News. Magowan is the former CEO of Inside Communications, producer of VeloNews and other sports-related properties.