• Original Reporting
  • On the Ground
  • References

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Original Reporting This article contains firsthand information gathered by reporters. This includes directly interviewing sources and analyzing primary source documents.
On the Ground A journalist was physically present to report the article from some or all of the locations it concerns.
References This article includes a list of source material, including documents and people, so you can follow the story further.
Park City, Utah-based mega e-tailer Backcountry.com is best known for online sales, but it also has a brick and mortar store in the corner of its massive order fulfillment warehouse in Salt Lake City. (Ed Kosmicki, Special to The Colorado Sun)

These are the 25 Colorado Sun stories that received the most readership in 2019. 

They touch on a wide variety of issues and topic areas, from reporter Jason Blevins’ investigation into Backcountry.com, to a look at production of Neil Young’s new album and persistent coverage of Colorado’s deadly 2018-19 avalanche season.

  1. Backcountry.com sues anyone who uses its namesake. Is it bullying or just business? 
  2. Colorado abortion rates keep declining. Free IUDs and easier access to the pill are the reason.
  3. Backcountry.com faces boycotts, social media backlash over trademark lawsuits. But the company remains mum.
  4. Gov. Polis is about to sign a Colorado net neutrality bill — one with some serious teeth
  5. Lost for decades, the Colorado Orange apple variety has been found — officially
  6. Backcountry.com breaks its silence amid trademark lawsuit controversy to apologize and say “we made a mistake”
  7. What Denver International Airport looked and felt like on Friday, its busiest day ever
  8. Colorado climber stepped over newly dead bodies to summit Everest. He’s still wrestling with what it all means.
  9. Neil Young and Crazy Horse spent 11 magical days in Telluride — and the album they made there is coming out soon
  10. Opinion: Time to stop drinking the Colorado economic Kool-Aid
  11. At Colorado College, where tuition runs $71,000, many new in-state students will pay just a fraction — or nothing at all 
  12. Adams County DA had “romantic relationship” with victim advocate who died last month, court record says
  13. Colorado’s first avalanche death of 2019 came during an advanced avalanche-safety course on Red Mountain Pass
  14. 50 years ago a nuclear bomb was detonated under the Western Slope to release natural gas. Here’s how poorly it went.
  15. Colorado’s weekend snowstorm prompted avalanches in areas that hadn’t slid in decades. Here’s why.
  16. Remember the Fort Collins trail runner who killed an attacking mountain lion? Here’s what his life has been like since. 
  17. Amid outbreak threat, Colorado moves to reduce vaccine exemptions despite opposition from Gov. Jared Polis
  18. A ducked rope line. A massive avalanche: Detailed report on deadly Telluride slide comes as sheriff’s probe continues
  19. Who’s signing the petition to recall Gov. Jared Polis? People who feel left out in Colorado.
  20. Could a massive southern Colorado ranch become a state park? It’s an idea just “crazy” enough to work.
  21. Colorado Springs’ downtown creek has long been viewed as a blight. Then one man started catching trout in it.
  22. Backcountry.com fires its attorneys, partners with company it targeted in trademark lawsuit as CEO vows to make amends
  23. In Colorado mountain towns, the U.S. Post Office no longer delivers like it used to
  24. He survived the Aurora Chuck E. Cheese shooting 25 years ago. A possible death penalty repeal is bringing it all back up.
  25. Backcountry skier killed in “especially tragic” slide near Telluride, becoming Colorado’s 5th avalanche death of season

More of our 2019 coverage

— 52 photos that helped us tell Colorado’s stories in 2019

— 13 Colorado Sun stories worth a second (or first) look

This byline is used for articles and guides written collaboratively by The Colorado Sun reporters, editors and producers.