ExWeb Becoming A Subscription Site?

Most of you reading this blog are very familiar with the website Explorers Web or ExWeb as we abbreviate it on a regular basis. I link to the site often, as they generally have some very good news and information on various expeditions taking place in the mountains, oceans, rivers, and other unexplored areas of the world. ExWeb has been around since 1998 in one form or another, and today they took the bold move of going to a subscription service that will charge $3.99/month for access.

A post to the site earlier today explains the change in strategy, which involves the continued growth of ExWeb and the writing/support staff. It also gives the history and evolution of what we now know as Explorers web as well, which sprang from the mind of Tom and Tina Sjogren, who built it up from a blog of their Everest climbs to what is probably the top adventure news site on the web.

You can find out everything you need to know about the new subscription model by clicking here. Subscription costs run $3.99 on a per month basis, $11.83 for 3 months, $19.91 for 6 months, and $36.50 for 12 months. Additionally, 5% of all subscriptions costs will be donated to the Himalayan Helicopter Rescues.

So? What are your thoughts on this? Will you pay to access ExWeb content? They note that subscriptions include "full access" to the site 24/7, expanded coverage of big stories, alerts on breaking news, and access to the content on your smartphone. Whether that means basic content will be locked down for non-subscribers has yet to be seen.

This is a sign of the time I suppose. Should be an interesting move to see how this model fares. As always, I wish the ExWeb team nothing but the best.