Snow Fall: The Avalanche At Tunnel Creek Summary

In the digital article titled, “Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, John Branch writes about the avalanche at Tunnel Creek that affected a group of 16 skiers on February 19th, 2012. Published by the New York Times, this web text is an engaging piece of writing to regular online New York Time readers because it displays a captivating analysis of the people affected by the avalanche. The article also uses computer-animated motion pictures to help the readers visualize the text. Branch’s written work is effective in attracting his readers through use of figurative language, displays of cinematography, and the use of pathos; these four characteristics are helpful in having the readers understand and visualize the situation.
Firstly, Branch …show more content…
Branch uses an animated picture of flying through and over the mountains from an eagle eye point of view, and the different mountain points and trails are labeled to enlighten the readers with the setting of the article. There is a motion moving map of the west side of the United States that shows a storm hitting Stevens Pass (the ski area that contains the Tunnel Creek trail) in Washington, which illustrates the increased supply of snow that layered on a fragile crust on the mountain. Accompanying that same idea, there is a motion picture of the snow increasing in layers above the hoar layer (a fragile layer) of snow, and the video shows how that the heavy load of snow weighing on the hoar layer of snow caused the snow to slide down the mountain and become an avalanche. These two cinematography pictures show the readers information and facts in a unique and interesting way. In addition to that, Branch illustrates an animated motion picture of the avalanche traveling at an average speed of 50-60 mph in actual time. The snow weighed 11 million pounds and wiped out many trees. This graphic display truly depicts the avalanche event to the readers, and it leaves the readers with a better understanding of how fast the avalanche impacted the skiers. All of the cinematography is exceedingly exceptional in …show more content…
The article’s use of different types of media, such as text, videos, and recorded messages, help express Branch’s pathos in the article. These three forms of information discuss how the lives lost from the avalanche affected the skiers and their loved ones. After reading about the skiers finding the buried bodies in the snow, the readers can look to the right and see a video of Tim Carlson, a competitive snowboarder, and Rob Castillo, a former competitive skier, talk about finding their buried friends in the avalanche, trying to save them, and then realizing they were dead. In the video, these men shed some tears for their dead friends, and their voices quiver with heartbreak as they speak throughout the video. The video compels the readers to feel Tim and Rob’s pain and sadness by showing their tears, and the readers cannot help but feel sad for Tim and Rob’s loss. In section 6 of the article, Branch talks about how the wives found out about their husbands dying in the avalanche, and it is an exceedingly sad section to read. On the left side of that text there is an audio player that plays a recording of one of the wives calling the dispatcher and finding out her friends were dead, and she cried as the dispatcher told her the names of the deceased men. Hearing the woman cry over the phone evokes a sorrowful feeling when the readers listen to this