I know it was yesterday... but where were you when St. Helens blew, May 18, 1980? My wife and I had moved to the Mid West for a few years from Moses Lake, which got burried in ash.
Question two is how many of you climbed St Helens before that blast?

I made it with the Seattle Mountaineers Intermediate Class via the Forsythe Glacier in July, 1970 after two other foiled attempts at the Dog's Head route.
This is me, july, 1970 on summit of St Helens...yipes...few years back...

WAS FIVE AND HAD JUST MOVED TO BEND OR, REMEMBER IT PRETTY WELL. SHOOK OUR FRONT WINDOWS PRETTY GOOD. WE FIRST THOUGHT IT WAS A SONIC BOOM FROM A JET.

A response from afar, but since I'm headed your way on Friday, I'm thinking about it.

Got dusted with ash right here in Fort Collins, Colorado. Probably was the day after I'm guessing. Got a second dusting on our tent while camping a week or two later.

Never have climbed it.

I was celebrating my 1yr birthday party in Centralia WA.

Norman wrote:I know it was yesterday... but where were you when St. Helens blew, May 18, 1980? My wife and I had moved to the Mid West for a few years from Moses Lake, which got burried in ash.
Question two is how many of you climbed St Helens before that blast?

I made it with the Seattle Mountaineers Intermediate Class via the Forsythe Glacier in July, 1970 after two other foiled attempts at the Dog's Head route.
This is me, july, 1970 on summit of St Helens...yipes...few years back...

That's great! I remember the Tacoma Branch Mountaineers telling me 'bout the Dog's Head Route. Dem were da days !!!

My wife & I got married on May 18, 2003. Later, I took my wife to Mt. St. Helens, and we
couldn't even see the damned thing - way too many clouds!

Nature always can find a way to come back on the road to recovery.
Especially in the PAC NW, where it rains every other day, for crying out loud.




(I was in the shadow of Mt. Rainier when Mt. St. Helens blew.)

I remember driving to church in north Portland. Too much haze in the distance to see anything. We were in the "zone of silence", so nothing could be heard.

Later that afternoon after word got around, we drove to West Hills to look at the steaming volcano 50 miles away. From that distance... the ash clouds appear to stand still - nothing moves.