Captivating.
This is one of the most impressive interactive news stories I've seen. Click the picture above and experience it for yourself. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and watch the whole thing. Trust me, it's that well done.
Behind the scenes.
It took more than 11 staffers at the New York Times more than six months to complete. One can only imagine the budget. To learn how this interactive news story was made, read this Q & A with the graphics director, multimedia producer, video journalist and editor who worked on the project: How We Made Snowfall: A Q & A with the New York Times team
"The New York Times’ astonishing Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek, launched in the final days of 2012, capped a year of extraordinary work in interactive journalism, both at the Times and in newsrooms around the world. In the six days after Snow Fall’s launch on December 20th, 2012, it had received more than 3.5 million page views and 2.9 million visitors, nearly a third of whom were new visitors to the Times website."
Disclaimer from an armchair reporter
I am neither an adventurous skiier, nor an adventurous sports person of any sort. But as a young girl I spent many weekends on the bunny slope at Stevens Pass, the setting of this story. I remember stories of my older brothers skiing at Seventh Heaven, as well as stories about my dad almost dying while climbing Mount Rainier. My family moved from Seattle to Boston when I was five years old, and I spent occasional winter weekends on intermediate slopes while friends raced down black diamonds. But I admire great storytelling and was quickly drawn in by this piece. I am excited to see what this team, and others like it, come up with next.
Best wrap-up I've read
The Atlantic: 'Snow Fall' Isn't the Future of Journalism
Journalists will continue to find more options and build more tools to astonish us. Stuff like this will get better and better and slightly more frequent, one hopes. But it won't become, generally speaking, frequent....Give "Snow Fall" the respect it deserves. It doesn't need to bear the augury of "journalism of the future." It's just a rare and sensational gift for readers in the present. That's quite enough.