New Mountain is a new independent magazine based on what you could maybe call the more relatable, everyday side of the outdoors. Focussed on the attainable side of adventure, its articles, interviews and photo essays are less about speed, diet and FKTs, and more about the simple pleasures of being in the great outdoors.

With the magazine finally back from the printers and a launch party kicking off down at the London shop this Thursday, I called up founder and designer Izzy Wedderburn to find out a bit more…

Sam: Standard first question here, but what was the reason for wanting to start New Mountain? Why did you want to make a magazine?

Izzy: I love print. I wanted to create something that I had complete creative control over, where I could choose the paper, the fonts, the margins, the colours, the photographs—ultimately what I wanted it to look like. As designers we mold ourselves to clients a lot, and that’s cool—that’s part of the job—but I wanted a creative outlet that was completely my own, that I didn't have to mold to anyone or anything.

While I was studying at university I fell in love with print and editorial design. I loved everything about it—the tangible nature and the timelessness. So when I graduated I knew that I wanted to put something into the world that fused my two passions in life together—print and adventure.

Sam: How did you turn that into a reality? Having the idea of making a magazine is a long way from having the finished thing.

Izzy: It was a very long process. I’d done print projects before, but they were small projects with maybe ten copies max. New Mountain started off with me just contacting different people that I thought would be cool to have in a magazine—whether they were friends, or friends of friends, or people I looked up to in the outdoor industry. And remarkably most of them said yes, which was really amazing. They were all keen to get their stories out there. After receiving a load of images and adventure stories , I spent most of December just blitzing the design aspect of it—and now here we are, with all the copies stacked up next to me. It’s been a cool process.

Sam: How would you describe New Mountain? It feels a lot more relatable than a lot of outdoor magazines.

Izzy: The ethos for issue one is that it’s not about big brands backing big expeditions. These are meaningful, author-led, self-directed stories from people all over the world, having fun outside in whatever way that means to them. So that could be a weekend bike-packing adventure or literally going for a hike from their back-garden or maybe it is a two week mountaineering expedition. It’s for them first, it’s not for anything or anyone else.

I love seeing what big brands do in the outdoor industry, but the whole point of New Mountain is that people have done these trips with no money or backing—and hopefully readers will connect with that and maybe go on these kinds of adventures themselves—and maybe bring a camera or a journal and document what it felt like to them. A lot of the stories aren’t about physical destinations, they’re more about the personal journeys and how the adventure has made them feel emotionally or psychologically. It’s less about the physical ‘measurable’ parts of an adventure.

Sam: That makes sense. A lot of adventures just get drummed down to stats—how far or how fast—but those numbers are kind of meaningless to people who haven’t done the same trip. The personal stuff is what people relate too.

Izzy: I agree. And it’s not competitive. I love following races such as the Atlas Mountain cycling race—it’s so cool what those guys and girls can put their bodies through. But this magazine isn’t about those elite sports people—it’s about ordinary folk doing whatever they want to do, having fun and sharing it. I’d say that’s what separates it from other outdoor media out there.

Sam: Can that competitive thing kind of ruin these things? This thing of ‘being the best’ or ‘being fast’ can sometimes be a bit off putting. Like the Tour de France kind of looms over cycling—but that’s not how normal people ride a bike.

Izzy: Definitely—I think it’s about shifting the mindset away from only things that are measurable are worth celebrating. We can enjoy the outdoors not as a race or a competition, but just be at one with nature and enjoy whatever you want to do outside. For example, one of the contributors in the mag called Christine likes riding fixed gear bikes offroad (no brakes!)—that’s so different —but it’s so cool that she can do that and there’s a space for that.

And there’s another contributor called Gaelle who is an architect who makes custom bike-packing bags in her spare time—that’s her creative outlet. Or Andrew, who is just obsessed with analogue photography—he takes his medium format camera with him everywhere, on every adventure and gets the most stunning shots. There’s the ‘Outdoors’ with a capital ‘O’, but really you don’t need to be doing anything crazy to be able to enjoy being outside.

Sam: You were pretty serious with athletics when you were younger—competing in the long jump at a super high level. Was getting into this kind of laid-back take on outdoor sports almost a reaction against that?

Izzy: Yeah—when I was a young teenager I threw myself into competitive athletics, and got really high up in the rankings as a junior long jumper in the UK… which not a lot of people know. It was my life—I had blinkers on, like a lot of teenagers do, and I was on a trajectory to become a medic and follow the scientific, elite sport world. But then I had a really big, career-ending injury when I was 17, and I had no choice but to give it all up. I needed surgery—but the odds were really bad—so I thought, “Do you know what, it’s not worth it.”

It was a very hard decision at the time, but I’m pleased I made it, because I could have had a very messed up foot right now! I’m pleased I can still do lots of cool things. But yeah, it was one of those injuries that I was never going to get over, and that was that.

It took a very long time to accept, but I think that’s when I kind of fell back into nature and being outdoors. I went from this really structured life with really structured training—where it was very goal driven. At the time I loved it, but now that I'm out of it, I look back and think “That wasn’t fun—that wasn’t healthy.” Now my spare time isn’t as intense, and I can enjoy physical activity for my well-being, or for seeing friends or just having time to myself. And fused with that, I’ve fallen back into creativity—design, photography, illustration and all the other stuff I did before the athletics chapter of my life began. I was really creative as a kid—but I never really saw it as anything other than ‘making stuff’!

Sam: Kids do all that stuff, but it’s not like it's a conscious thing. They just pick up a musical instrument or a paintbrush. It’s weird how that kind of thing often drops off for a lot of people once they get to their teenage years, but maybe it’s pretty important to keep these things going.

Izzy: I went to a very academic school, where I was shoved into this bracket of following a certain ‘academic’ pathway—and you leave all that creative important stuff behind. And that’s a shame. It shouldn’t really be seen as ‘kid’s stuff’—it’s a way of thinking, and when you’re a kid you’re the authentic version of yourself. So going back to that person was really positive for me.

Sam: It’s interesting that you went down a very different route after your athletics phase. You could quite easily just have shifted from one competitive thing to another. But you’ve gone the other way.

Izzy: I agree. It’s easy to finish one excessive thing, and just go onto another one and just engross yourself in that—but I realised I didn’t enjoy that stuff. For example, I’ve done some long bike-packing and hiking trips over the last couple of years, but they’ve never felt regimented or strict—they’re more explorative and about the journey.

With competitive sport there’s this structure that’s all laid out in front of you, and there’s no room for doing anything else. Learning to take photos and learning graphic design feels the opposite. There is no pathway or specific structure, and I like that.

Sam: I feel like being outdoors kind of encourages those kinds of hobbies—whether it’s picking up an old camera or starting to write—whereas that doesn’t really happen with super-serious, strict sport. People aren’t taking 35mm photos of their friends throwing the shot-put.

Izzy: I think it’s because the outdoors generally is a lot less measured than elite sport. Of course there are things that you want to achieve, and things that level up how confident you are, but they’re not really specific—they’re just specific to you, so it’s kind of irrelevant I think.

Sam: I suppose the actual activity is just a short part of it. Like with bouldering—the climbing is obviously part of it, but you’ve also got to find the routes and get out there. It’s a full day out.

Izzy: Yeah, it’s the people you meet, the weather, the landscape, the lunch stop—and all the in-between moments—and that’s what’s really important. It’s not just about climbing the route and ticking it off in your book.

Sam: If it's not about the ‘measurables’, how do you judge a good day outdoors?

Izzy: For me it’s about connecting to the environment and trying to be in the moment as much as possible. I spend most of my life on a laptop as a graphic designer—like most of us do—and I think it's really easy to think about other things as you’re moving through the landscape, so for me I try to be really present.

That’s why climbing is great—because you can’t really think about anything else—it’s all or nothing. And it’s the same with mountain biking—if you’re not thinking, you’re going to catch an edge. So there’s definitely something about being in the moment and enjoying it—and that’s probably why I’ve gravitated to analogue photography too. There’s no reliving the moment—it either happened or it didn’t—you take the shot, you don’t know what it looks like, you don’t even care—you’ve just captured that moment and that’s all that matters.

Sam: Is making a magazine about this stuff kind of a blessing and a curse? You’ve signed yourself up for months of laptop stress, dragging files around.

Izzy: There were times where it was quite a lot of laptop time, but at the end of the day, this whole project is to inspire people to get outside—to inspire people to slow down and feel motivated to do things for themselves. The end goal isn’t a blog or an Instagram post—it’s a printed thing—I don’t want people just reading it on their phones—I want them to pick it up in their hands and get inspired.

That’s why I love print—whatever has been printed on a page I believe has meaning, it matters—someone has thought it through enough to actually want to print it onto paper. And it doesn’t matter if it was printed 2 months or 20 years ago, it still has meaning. I think that’s why I wanted to put something like New Mountain out into the world—I didn’t want it to just be scrolled past.

Sam: How important was it to have a big mix of contributors in the magazine?

Izzy: The mix of contributors was really important. We’ve got hiking, bike-packing, climbing, analogue photography, split boarding… so there’s a big range of subjects, and then in terms of the people—it's all just their hobbies. I didn’t want to just choose some big adventure influencer because of their following. I wanted the stories to feel different and people to resonate with them.

Sam: Nowadays, the magazine kind of has to be that. The internet does a good job of all those little news snippets that used to fill up the first half of old magazines, so now print is more about depth.

Izzy: 100%—it’s more book than magazine in the sense that hopefully you’ll put it on your shelf rather than put it in the bin once you've finished reading it.

Sam: Yeah, it’s a bit too nice to put in the blue bin. Rounding this up now—what have you been enjoying lately when it comes to being outdoors? It seems like you do a lot of different stuff.

Izzy: I’ve recently learned to rock climb. I’m not very good at it—I still don’t know what I’m doing half the time—but it’s been a really interesting process. Usually I’m more of a runner or cyclist, doing more endurance activities—but with climbing you have to be completely immersed in the moment. For me it’s been really cool—it’s been one of those real personal development moments of trust. It’s been a rewarding challenge. I think if you’ve not been that climber kid, or didn’t have parents who climbed, then it’s a humbling experience.

I think for me, going from wanting to be a competitive sportswoman my entire teenage life to then completely starting again at 18 was terrifying, but it was the best decision I ever made, and I’m much happier following a creative career. So yeah, the lesson is to just go for it, and not to overthink it. Which I suppose is a good analogy for adventure too—you can plan every detail down to the minute, but at the end of the day, what is going to happen is going to happen, regardless of how much prep and planning is done—so why not just go for it, and make it up as you go along.

Thanks to Sam Waller for the interview.