It's time for another beautiful collector's Print Edition of Vertical Life (www.verticallifemag.com.au) – Australia's premiere climbing magazine. 

That's 144 pages (+ covers) of reading pleasure on thick matte stock: the best stories and photos from the eight issues through 2014–15, plus a little new content. And as an added bonus, you get the wonderful feeling that you've helped keep Oz's only climbing rag alive. 

Two years ago we released the first 'best of' print issue of our digital climbing magazine Vertical Life, it featured our favourite stories and photos from the seven digital issues spanning the years 2012–13. We decided to produce it in part because so many people asked us to, but also so that there was a physical record of Australian climbing, something you could hold in your hand, read on the dunny or use to bludgeon a recalcitrant belayer over the head. People loved it, so we're doing it again.

But – the same as last time – we need your help to make it happen. 

Unlike the digital editions – which we give away for free – printing a magazine is significantly more expensive. So we are asking you, our readers, to support the mag by pledging to buy it ahead of time. And in return you get one beautiful collector's edition of Vertical Life, something that can sit proudly on your bookshelf beside your collected works of Freud and Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. 

We have also created some very cool climbing-related rewards that we are really proud of, including: a beautiful Climbers' Calendar, which not only features Kamil Sustiak's powerful images but is packed with key dates and important anniversaries to make it a standout resource for Oz climbers; a deck of Australian climbing royalty playing cards featuring 18 of the best and most significant Oz climbers from different generations – perfect for endless rainy-day games of Shithead; a superb t-shirt based on Grampians artist Stacey Rees sketch of one of the icons of Australian climbing – Ammagamma; and a very limited edition portable hangboard – the Cyr Board – handmade by the one and only wood-maestro and climber, the Gentleman Furniture Maker aka John Beckwith.

We are trying to raise $7000, which is a bit more than half the cost of printing the magazine and bringing it to Australia, though we would be stoked if we made the full $11,000 it will cost.

For those few, wayward, isolated Australian climbers who might not be familiar with us. Vertical Life is a digital magazine that comes our quarterly. You can download issue off our website for FREE (crazy we know) here. 

The magazine is primarily run by two Melbourne-based bumblies, Simon Madden and Ross Taylor, although it wouldn't exist without the regular contributiions of a  host of writers and photographers, including our regular contributors: Kamil SUstiak, Andrea Hah, Denby Weller, Michael Meadows, Amanda Cossey, Duncan Brown and Chelsea Brunckhorst. Not to mention the great number of people who help us out all the time with words and images and criticism and love who are way too numerous to mention (you know how you are).

The total cost of having the hard copy edition of Vertical Life designed and printed is $11,000.

It will cost $2000 to have the digital content redesigned for print and the new content added (including ISSN allocation and bar code), and $9000 to have the magazine printed and shipped. Of that amount, we have set ourselves the task of crowd funding $7000, though we would be stoked if we made the full $11,000.

Please note: if the $7000 target is NOT reached within the 21 day campaign, our funding will not have been successful and your pledge amount WILL NOT be processed, BUT we can exceed the target amount, so please pledge right up until the final day of the campaign even if we have reached our target.

Normally we like to cheat our way up routes by silver-jugging or stick clipping around most challenges, however, that's not going to work in this case. 

The biggest challenge for running a climbing magazine in Australia is that it is such a small market with a limited number of (albeit very supportive) advertisers, thus we are really relying on Australian climbers to come to the party and support this print issue to make it happen.

However, we've done it before and last time we more than doubled our target, we'd love to do that again, not just because it makes the magazine less stressful to produce, but because it also means that the magazine is getting out to more Australian climbers and we love that. We love print and we know that you do to so we are confident.