I really don't have a beef with long form writing. I've read and am reading many books, and i've read many articles longer than this one and taken things away from them.

However i do have a beef with authors who have little empathy and do not respect the reader's time. And that is the case if after 1500 words, the author decides to pull a And Now for Something Completely Different, without even having hinted at what the bulk of the article is going to be about.

It's not hard to start out with "I'm going to tell a story about how ..."

Edit: The part referred to by the title starts with "I need to tell you about the Cirque of the Unclimbables.", about 40% in.

I thought it was written quite well. Not everything needs to cater to the impatient.

> the impatient

You must be talking about yourself. You didn't even bother to grok what my complaint is about.

I skipped the last half. It's very possible to make climbing articles gripping, this had too much filler.

Actually the article had a great deal of substance, but it should be obvious that you're going to miss it if you stop after one paragraph.

The photography that accompanies the article is just beautiful. It's not hard to emphasise with the writer wanting to make the trip, even though she could potentially cripple herself by doing so.

They are. It feels like a painting where the composition is made to express the grandiosity more than reflect reality.