"...your posts all seem a little 'strange'." Probably 'cos although I grew up in the UK I've lived abroad for a while. We now live in Sardinia, almost zero local climbing scene but tonnes of rock. UKB I find is a very good forum for obtaining info (we just went to the USA and got good info), good straight discussions, and I like to give something back from the things I come across, where we live and doing what we do.
"It is good for improving your language skills though, as you can immediately check how good your translating skills are!" So you got given both the Italian and English versions? You must have a generous friend! Only the very first issues had both English and Italian in the same issue.
"In which parallel universe is €14 good value for a magazine?" I have all the UPs and go back to read them over and over again, and find that the in-depth articles are much more, well, in-depth than what you read in other mags. Which other mags survey the leading climbers from each European country on what they think about, say, RP vs onsight? Most of the other mags (and forums BTW) have a very national perspective, and tend to trot out the same stuff year-after-year: "Getting fit for that spring trip to Font..." I used to subscribe to cycling mags, but stopped after a couple of years since the annual cycle was repeating. Or "Building your trad rack..." if I look at recent UK mags.
I think UP is a good complement to the internet news and the traditional mags. In Italy I get Pareti which I quite like, always has interesting editorials (last one - top climbers fib about their performances, you have to post a vid on youTube before they believe you).
For me, even the topos alone in UP are worth €14 - new single and multipitch routes mainly in Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Turkey...), lots of people who come to Sardinia get their topos for new especially MP routes this way - but maybe you guys aren't interested in this?
Thanks anyway for the comments.
ciao Peter
