Draft:Rocksport magazine

Rocksport was described in the strapline as "The magazine for rock climbers by rock climbers". It was the publication which first made public concerns about the North Wales new route hoaxes which lead on to an article in the Sunday Times, by Pete Gillman in January 1969, about that matter (Gilman’s article was much later reproduced on p 22 in Grant Farquhar’s book  ‘The White Cliff’ in 2018) and also summarised in Gillman’s book: ‘In Balance’, pp128-133).

A testament to the longer-term significance of the magazine is provided by the online article Prometheus Unchained, produced 40 years after Rocksport ceased publication, which highights the impact that the magazine had on members of the UK rock climbing community. This point is reinforced by the reproduction of a significant number of articles in various anthologies published commercially in the years after the final editions of Rocksport including Games Climbers Play , At the Sharp End , and Pete Livesey - Fast and Free .

Although other magazines aimed at the 'outdoor' market existed, Rocksport was the first to cater exclusively for the ordinary climber. Although it was initially rather rough round the edges (the first issue comprised 24 pages, produced on a duplicator, and the reproduction of the only two illustrations was of very low quality), it took off quickly and evidence of contemporary impact is provided by remarks in the editorials of other UK magazines of the period: Mountain Craft, a competitor in the field, published a complementary review of an early issue of Rocksport, writing that ‘The copy is compellingly readable..’ (Mountain Craft, # 81, p. 47, 1968); that review occupied a full column and included views from both Ken Wilson (the editor) and Paul Nunn (a leading activist in the UK). An Editorial in another UK mountaineering magazine, Mountain, #2 (Mch/Apr 1969) comments to reinforce points made in Rocksport concerning the state of UK climbing guidebook production.

Rocksport was distributed in the UK and initially published in Cardiff. The front cover of the first 6 issues described it as "The magazine for rock climbers by rock climbers". The production team were Les Ainsworth & Phil Watkin (co-editors), with David Ellis, Peter Minett, John Parry & Patrick Wood, they wrote in the editorial that they were '''committed to a non-profit making policy. Any profits will be ploughed back to improve both the presentation and content of the magazine'''

The first issue was in quarto format, it comprised 24 pages, produced on a duplicator, and was published in April 1968. The second issue was a 'proper magazine', with a more professional look, unlike the first issue it was printed on glossy paper, with a range of typefaces, it included several monochrome photographs and carried a number of adverts.

The stated objective was to publish an edition once every two months and this was maintained for 19 issues (April/May 1968 through to April/May 1971). There was then a break in publication of almost a year until the issue of Feb/March 1972 appeared, that issue was published by P. Grainger in Nottingham and produced by a new team: T.I.M. Lewis (editor), with Jack Street & David Ellis. That was also the first issue in a new A4 format. Ten successive issues were produced from Feb/March 1972 to Aug/Sept 1973. After that the next issue published was dated April/May 1974 and there is one further undated issue (with a picture of Pendulum on the front cover), these two were printed on letter size paper. There was then a further break and three more issues were published Aug/Sept 1974, Oct/Nov 1974 & Dec/Jan 1974, these three issues are the first ones to show an issue number (which started as #1). No more issues were published but, in 1975, the June/July edition of the magazine Mountain Life (issue #20) incorporated Rocksport. From that issue the front page strapline of Mountain Life became 'Mountain Life & Rocksport' and the editorial included the line that In the immediate future every issue of MOUNTAIN LIFE will contain a ROCKSPORT section of at least 4 pages