Some community members have been asking a lot of questions about The Alpine Mountaineer since Mick Hill mentioned he’d sold the newspaper. It’s time to answer some of those questions for our readers and our advertisers.

Some people have voiced concerns that the paper has been sold to an off-mountain news group. Others have asked about the future of The Alpine Mountaineer.

The fact that people are asking questions is an indicator of the amazing loyalty of both advertisers and readers. We have been slow to make announcements pending the legal aspects of the sale, but we are confident that the time has come to make an official announcement.

The Alpine Mountaineer has been purchased from Mick Hill by the Keystone Communications Group, LLC, which is owned by Aaron and Kathy Creighton, long-time residents of the mountain community. This corporate entity name will soon be reverting to Mountaineer Communications, LLC.

Mick Hill will no longer have association with the publication and we thank him for his diligence in keeping this community newspaper running for these past several years.

Asked where he sees the newspaper going in the future, Publisher Aaron Creighton answered, “We have some big ideas on how this paper can better serve our community and bring value to our advertisers. We will continue to offer high-quality professional journalism covering the communities of the San Bernardino Mountains but will be expanding it. We will be offering a new, rich content online edition of the newspaper that we are confident will become very popular. We are investing in increasing our circulation and adding distribution points to make sure The Alpine Mountaineer is available in more places. This will also offer greater readership of our content across the mountain and bring more exposure to our advertisers.

“We intend to make sure that we continue to make The Alpine Mountaineer the only locally owned weekly newspaper in the San Bernardino Mountains.”

Stay tuned as we take steps to make exciting changes while still honoring the long traditions of the newspaper.