From tourists behaving badly in national parks to a camping trip in one of the hottest places in the world, 黑料吃瓜网 published a long list of captivating features this year. My personal favorite, 鈥Death on Shishapangma,鈥 by the talented Gloria Liu, explores the risks of rushing to summit the world鈥檚 highest peaks through a terrible tragedy. Liu retells the deaths of four mountaineers with compassion, and her detailed storytelling brings the disaster鈥攁nd the victims鈥攖o life.
I asked my colleagues to send me their top picks for the long reads of the year, too. Of the nearly 40 longform stories we published in 2024, these are our favorites. 鈥擜bigail Wise, digital director
鈥淐an Colorado鈥檚 I-70 Traffic Problems Ever Be Solved?鈥
This story was a beautiful union of two great minds thinking alike. Senior editor Alison Osius suggested a profile of Colorado’s I-70, the often-clogged highway that leads to some of the most beautiful mountains in Colorado. Then she approached longtime 黑料吃瓜网 contributing editor Gloria Liu to write it, and Liu said, 鈥淚鈥檝e always wanted to write that story.鈥 Liu brought a lot of creative thinking to the project, seamlessly melding funny and poignant scenes with traffic data. If you think you don’t want to read a story about a highway, think again. You鈥檒l laugh for sure, and maybe even cry. 鈥擬ary Turner, senior brand director
鈥淥ur Coast to Coast Walk Across Northern England Was an Exercise in Hope and Joy鈥
In this beautifully worded travelogue, author Steven Potter and his wife, Emma, take a belated honeymoon to northern England and cross it from west to east during a 200-mile walk. There are scenes of misery鈥攂listered feet that have Steven hobbling, nettles that sting Emma鈥檚 bare bum on a pee break, and a 40-minute downhill run to make a supper engagement after they’d already knocked out 16 miles. But their delight and good nature override everything. Gorgeous photos by Emli Bendixen round out a happy adventure, with some deep thoughts on how wandering changes us, often for the better. 鈥擳asha Zemke, managing editor
“How Did This Climber Get Away with So Much for So Long?”
I choose “How Did This Climber Get Away with So Much for So Long?”聽for the way in which the writer, Annette McGivney, assembled a huge and detailed mosaic of the key events, disturbing and sickening though the effect was. She was respectful of the victims and meticulous in reporting. I was proud of the editor, Alex Heard, and 黑料吃瓜网 for the work and resources that went into this 11,000-word investigative piece. Such stories are difficult, and聽important. 鈥擜lison Osius, senior editor
“In Montana, a Threatened Swath of Old Growth Fuels a Longstanding Debate”
I’m a sucker for a passionate environmentalist. A fly-fisher defending her local waterways? A wildland firefighter committed to educating the world about sustainable fire? Can’t get enough. It’s probably why I love this story from Montana-based writer and producer Laura Yale so much: it’s packed with people who fight with everything they have to protect the forests they鈥攁nd an endangered population of grizzly bears鈥攃all home. First, we meet Rick Bass, a prolific writer and activist who, lately, has been focused on protecting a rare swath of old-growth in northwest Montana from logging. Then we encounter the well-meaning Forest Service representatives, the tribal leaders, and the conservationists. This is a story of devotion, but it’s also a story with wonky, hard-to-parse policy and science. Yale expertly weaves聽the two together, walking readers through the thorny overlap between economics, policy, and conservation without losing sight of what motivates her characters in the first place: a deep sense of responsibility for and interconnectedness with the land and all its inhabitants.聽 鈥擜bbie Barronian, senior editor
“I Needed to Stop Drinking. So I Hiked 100 Miles in Maine.”
What struck me most about W. Hodding Carter’s聽story about his struggles with alcoholism鈥攕een through the lens of a grueling hike through Maine’s rugged 100-Mile Wilderness鈥攊s the sheer courage it took to write it. The vulnerability. The honesty. It had to be an agonizing story to tell鈥攁nd even harder to live through. I mean, shit, it was painful just to read. But it was also incredibly inspiring. Carter’s struggle through an experience聽he can’t control, his battle with himself, his pendulum of self-loathing and fierce determination to get himself right鈥攖here’s something really universal and relatable about it. Insert your own demon and you’ll probably see a little of yourself in the author. I know I did. 鈥擪ristin Hostetter, head of sustainability and contributing editor
“I Went to Yellowstone National Park to Learn Why It Turns Tourists into Morons”
Tourists have, in recent years, been gored by bison, boiled alive in hot springs, scalded by eruptions, mauled by grizzlies, and more at America鈥檚 first national park. The headline to this story sums up the situation pretty perfectly, and the story itself is a deep dive into the chaos that happens when visitors get too close to wildlife and geothermal features. I rolled my eyes plenty reading this one. 鈥擳Z
“Christina Lustenberger Skis the Impossible”
I didn’t know I needed to read this story until I did. I also didn’t know who professional ski mountaineer Christina Lustenberger was before it. This raw profile made me realize how few longform stories I’ve read about female skiers or alpinists. Though Lusti’s feats are superhuman, her experiences as a woman鈥攄own to an anecdote where she’s the supposed leader on an expedition but everyone is instead taking cues from a man鈥攁re so relatable. And her willingness to be genuinely vulnerable has the perhaps non-intuitive effect of making her only seem more formidable. This was a motivating and empowering read. 鈥擥loria Liu, contributing editor
“I Went on a Dark Cave Retreat. Things Got Weird.”
Tim Neville has been writing for 黑料吃瓜网 for years now, and somehow each new story is better than the last. For this one, he spent four days in a pitch-black cave dealing with his thoughts, resulting in an intense inward adventure. It was grueling and enlightening and beautiful and, well, very dark. I’ll never forget the video of him as he emerged from the cave to see the light again. His insights will always stick with me. The story also just won a Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. 鈥擬T
“This Is What It鈥檚 Like to Camp in One of the Hottest Places on Earth”
Leath Tonino possesses an endlessly compelling voice, and he uses it here to point to spots of beauty and grace amid the desolation of Death Valley in August. We sent him to North America鈥檚 lowest point in the heart of a summer heat wave while hikers were dying聽from heatstroke鈥攑erhaps not the most responsible editorial call. But Tonino, as always, found a stillness and peace in what he calls the Capital-H Heat. Nestled deep among climate anxiety, a respect for nature鈥檚 fury, and a heat so oppressive it all but robs him of language, Tonino found a way to depict of one of the most extreme places on the planet in a gentle, generous manner. 鈥擩ake Stern, digital editor
“Navigating Orca Alley: One Family’s Journey Among Rudder-Bashing Whales”
I was fascinated by the stories of orcas ramming boats in European waters. Was it a revenge mission by the whales against humans? I kept seeing news story after news story about boats being sunk by the giant whales. Then Caroline van Hemert, a wildlife biologist and writer, reached out to tell me that she and her family planned to sail through the very waters where the attacks were happening in order to complete a voyage聽to Greenland. There’s no one I trust more when it comes to the relationship between humans and wildlife than Caroline. She lives in Alaska and has grown up around grizzlies, is not a sensationalist writer, and usually sides with the animals. Her riveting account of their journey through Orca Alley is gripping鈥攁nd finally makes some sense of why this is happening. 鈥擬T
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