Just shy of its 70th birthday, Boulder's Skiing Magazine is shuttering its print publication and folding its adventure-focused content into a revamped version of its sister, Ski Magazine.

For years, Skiing has been the winter-adventure magazine, with a focus on younger skiers who live for the sport. Ski Magazine has been more family friendly, with an eye toward the aging baby boomers who grew the ski industry and seek a little more luxe in their ski vacation.

The plan is to marry the two brands into a single, snowy voice, says Andy Clurman, the chief of Active Interest Media, the 50-magazine publisher that acquired Ski, Skiing and Warren Miller Entertainment in 2013 with a mission to revive the once-ailing yet iconic brands.

“We are going for the bigger tent approach,” said Clurman, who was in New York City for the annual American Magazine Media Conference, where he joined three other high-profile publishers on a panel discussing “why magazines perform unlike any other media, with devoted audiences, passionate communities and engaged consumers.”

Imagine a ski resort, he said. There's a terrain park on one side. Expert steeps up high. Gently rolling groomers down low. It's a one-stop playground for every type of skier.

“The magazine should reflect that without having to segment the market,” he said.

Clurman, an avid skier, is no stranger to the pulsating passion in snow sports. He didn't hear from many readers when he combined his company's Old House Interiors with Old House Journal.

He expects feedback when readers see the cancellation of the quarterly Skiing - its final edition has already published. But while the print magazine might be fading away, the brand is not.

Clurman said he's keeping Skiing's staff — including its gifted editor, Kimberly Beekman, the magazine's first female editor-in-chief. There's a renewed focus on digital video, television and online storytelling, which will carry the Skiing brand. The company's revamped skiingmag.com website will remain intact.

“We are really focused on the total audience and the growth is in mobile and video," Clurman said. "In some cases, if there is less print in the form of Skiing, there is more content going out to more people in total and that's really the whole mission."

Don't picture the shuttering of Skiing's paper version as yet another example in the ongoing decline of print magazines, a dwindling seen across all categories, where double-digit drops in advertising revenue, newsstand sales and subscriptions have triggered widespread digital innovation beyond print.

Active Interest Media, owned by Chicago private equity firm Wind Point Partners, is driven to redefine the role of a magazine publisher. The company hosts boat shows, yoga conferences and the annual Warren Miller film tour. It produces films, videos and television programs for social, cable, mobile and desktop channels. Its new AIM Adventure University sells online instruction videos like yoga for skiers and climbers, backcountry safety, ski fitness workouts and wilderness first-aid. Where publishing used to be about print, now there are five or six channels to reach consumers.

The new challenge for Active Interest Media is to break down the wall the company — and previous owners — have built between Ski and Skiing. That blending mirrors the outdoor industry's recent efforts to eliminate the tribal instincts embedded in outdoor recreation, where once-rival clans (i.e. motorized vs. pedal power, hikers vs. bikers, skiers vs. snowboarders) are galvanizing under the outdoor industry banner in a singular voice. To answer the new task, Clurman is thinking audience first, not magazine.

“We are constantly reinventing, redesigning and repurposing magazines as best to serve the audience … that involves responding to how people are changing their habits and how the sports are changing,” Clurman said.

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