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End of a long run: Outside to cease print publication of Carbondale's Trail Runner Magazine

Trail Runner Magazine, based in Carbondale and in print since 1999, will end its print run. Parent company Outside is shifting numerous of its publications to online, subscription only platforms
Trail Runner Magazine, based in Carbondale and in print since 1999, will end its print run. Parent company Outside is shifting numerous of its publications to online, subscription only platforms

Trail Runner Magazine is being shifted to online only as parent company Outside makes big changes to its business model. Those changes include ceasing print publications for some 80 percent of their dozens of brands and magazines.

Pocket Outdoor Media acquired Carbondale-based Big Stone Publishing in October 2020. Until that time, Big Stone published Trail Runner and Rock and Ice magazines, and was owned by publisher Duane Raleigh. Just months later, in early 2021, Pocket acquired Boulder-based Outside Media and rebranded as Outside. Outside merged longtime rival publications Rock and Ice and Climbing, and it emerged Friday that Climbing is also ceasing print publication.

Outside CEO Robin Thurston has been vocal in the press about his desire to turn the Outside umbrella of brands into the Amazon Prime of the outdoor media world, with content being available by subscription on all devices. It appears that shift is now underway. A representative with Denver-based PR firm Ink Communications responded to an inquiry about Trail Runner with a statement boasting of Outside’s acquisitions and "quadrupled paid membership," adding that "Outside made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce headcount" as the publishing industry as a whole moves online.

For KDNK News, I'm Morgan Neely.

Morgan is KDNK's News Director. He comes to KDNK with public radio passion and experience. He was a news host, reporter, and operations/programming director at KAJX-Aspen, and has extensive experience working in municipal government.