“The snow burst through the trees with no warning but a last-second whoosh of sound, a two-story wall of white and Chris Rudolph’s piercing cry: “Avalanche! Elyse!””
The first paragraph that has only one sentence caught my eyes to the story. The article I thought was boring instantly became the opposite. The beginning part of the article kept me wanting to read more. Gravity did the rest.
As someone who loves doing research, I loved learning more about the history of said person or place. That’s what author, John Branch, did, “In late February 1910…”
Not only it’s better to learn the history of the person or place, but also the subject, the avalanche. That’s what the author also did, “Before 1980, it was unusual…”
If it was an article without any pictures or videos, I would have left the article unread no matter what because there were so many details. Putting pictures to the names helped me remember who the person was as I read the article.
Before I go further, I should note that it would have been more helpful if the author stated that Tunnel Creek was located in the Olympic National in Washington.
The integration of photos, videos, soundbites, and graphics made the multimedia feel very useful and beautiful.
If the whole article was in one page, I would have left the page unread because it was too long. But the beautiful transition of the multi-chapter article kept me wanting to read more.
As someone who did not know how avalanche was caused, the graphic on the second page, “To The Peak” made it extremely easy to understand. If it wasn’t for the graphic, I would have been extremely confused and would have hard time following the article.
Snow Fall – To The Peak Graphic
The loved ones of the skiers and snowboarders added an emotional human element as I realized there would more victims than the actual deaths.
I never actually understood why Jim Jack and others ignored the report from the Northwest Avalanche Center, “considerable to high” avalanche danger. Is it because they could not resist the beauty of skiing in great conditions. Is it because past reports from the NAC were inaccurate most of the times?
As someone who loves surfing, I understand not being able to resist the temptation and wanting more, “It’s a cultural shift, where more skiers are going farther, faster, bigger.”
I found the map highlighting the routes of each skier very helpful. What would have been even more helpful is if it showed how much feet each person is away from the nearest other.
Videos and soundbites were much powerful than the pictures and graphics. I wish there was the video when Castillo’s camera “captured snow sliding past his legs for another 13 seconds.”
Don’t underestimate the power of mother nature.
A great story using this type of multimedia would be immigration and refugees. A journalist could write about the path of a family escaping human crisis in their native country. The story could include a map of the path, pictures on the road, and challenges they came across on a long trip.