We’ve done some things.
Ice Ice Beta is about a year and a half old. In that time, we’ve produced 36 episodes plus an additional 9 mini-episodes. By the end of Season 2, we’ll have released another 7.
Also! We are no longer just a podcast — we launched The Cooler, our online magazine, in November. A big thanks to Daniel Kay who is leading this effort as the Online Editor, and who will be my interlocutor in the rest of this recap Q&A.
Dan: A lot of folks might not know why you started Ice Ice Beta. What was the original intent?
Aaron: I heard a quote recently that captures my early enthusiasm for this project: "There is no one so pious as the new convert."
I’m no zealot, but ice climbing hooked me pretty good and I wanted to learn, do, read, and watch all there was about it.
The issue was, there wasn’t much out there — and still isn’t.
So I did a thing.
I wanted to start by interviewing climbers as a way to record individual stories, then evolve into broader and integral themes of history, gear innovation, developments in style, ethics and technique, along with other concepts that help tell the story of ice climbing.
For the most part, I think Ice Ice Beta has helped add to the conversation.
Ice climbing is a small niche in the grand scheme of climbing, but one thing the podcast has done a great job showing is how many micro-specialties there are within the umbrella of the sport. What do you look for in guests?
There are *a lot* of people doing interesting things in this space, but there just isn’t coverage of it.
First and foremost, we hope to share that. Secondly, our aim is to feature folks that don't typically get to tell their story. You've already heard from the sponsored folks, plenty of times.
I’ll say it again, I’m continually surprised by what climbers are up to.
(By the way, if you feel you have something noteworthy to share, we probably have a place for it. Reach out to us at editor@iceicebeta.com).
How do you think it’s going after a year-plus of running the podcast?
Overall, it’s been fun. It’s also a lot of work.
I’m personally motivated to create a space where the guest feels comfortable discussing what they want, on their terms (sometimes with a bit of prodding), and hopefully we, as the listener, get to learn a bit more about them and what makes them tick.
Not choosing favorites, but I’m particularly proud of how the conversation unfolded with guests like Kelsey Rex, Jackson Yip, Corey Buhay, Bill Belcourt, and Marcus Garcia, among many others. To me, these are quintessential Ice Ice Beta episodes.
You may have noticed, this past year especially, that the conversation is really about humanity — the condition of being human — climbing is just a vehicle we use to express that.
I also really enjoy learning about small businesses and the unique DNA imprinted upon them by founders, so the Meet the Maker series is actually some of the most fun I have with the podcast.
Ice climbing, mixed, and drytooling, like ski mountaineering and high-end alpinism, are gear-dependent, and generally speaking, the market isn’t large enough for the major brands to justify big R&D budgets and to take chances on true innovation. That’s why the work of these “small” makers matter so much — they’re the ones experimenting to create new gear. Support them if you can.
To answer your question, I think it’s going well.
Any challenges?
I did mention work, eh?
Turns out, producing a podcast is time-intensive. Before Andrew Salomone came on board as the audio editor, soup-to-nuts, episodes took me over 15 hours each. Now, it’s still around 10.
It’s also not a cheap-cheap operation. From paying for editing to hosting the podcast and website to the various tools we use, it ends up costing around $10,000 to run for the year.
Plainly, I’m uber grateful for Aniiu and Furnace Industries for supporting the podcast. It’s because of them that this can exist. And of course, we also have a great group of paying members too. Thank you all!
What’s next? What kind of support do we need from readers to achieve that?
Bing bang boom:
- More on the online magazine
- Less on the podcast (probably going to once a month)
- Hopefully a print magazine
I actually wanted to start with print, but for various reasons decided to go with a podcast first.
As a writer by trade, I love storytelling and think we can do a lot more through the medium of a magazine (online and in print) while still using the podcast for what it does best: letting folks tell their story in their own words.
Online, we want to be more of a home base for what’s going on in the space, featuring personal essays and adventure tales, in-depth gear reviews, discussions about ethics and techniques, some news, and more. Print will focus on longform narrative and journalism.
For some examples, you can look to Bikepacking.com and The High Route for how we’re thinking about this.
One thing I want to emphasize: ideally, we wouldn’t put anything behind a paywall because I hate that model. Loathe it. Fundamentally, I believe it takes away from our core focus of making something that everyone can enjoy.
We hope to keep the online magazine and podcast public, but as a listener-supported podcast and publication, we absolutely rely on the community to help keep this going. We started as an independent, climber-owned operation and want to keep it that way.
So this is my appeal: If you like what we’re doing and you want to see this continue, become a paying member.
Your contribution will help keep Ice Ice Beta going as the only ice climbing, mixed, and drytooling-focused publication and podcast.
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