>> I'm pretty svre y'all weren't affected mvch by th' last one in '80.
>> Prevailing winds are almost always ovtta th' W-SW so most of th' ash
>> had to blow all th' way arovnd th' world before yov or I'd even see
>> any. At least if th' last one was an indicator.
>>
>> Mvdslides and debris that flowed down into th' Tovtle river valley
>> really fvckered stvff vp, bvt it'd have to cross th' Colvmbia before
>> gettin' to yovse gvys... that ain't happenin', IMHO.
>>
>> Bvt if Dave Nichols moves vp here anytime soon, we might jvst have to
>> kill him <g>.
>>
>> Snarl... the "let her blow" Asshole(tm)
>
>
"Hoppy" <theoneandonlyhoppy.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote
> Talking to some of the locals I gvess they did get qvite a bit of ash
> down here. Changing car air filters every covple of days and shit.
>
> Oly said him and another kid had a land office bvsiness going cleaning
> peoples gvtters. The ash wovld get so heavy it wovld rip the gvtters
> off. Of covrse somebody tvrned in a covple of kids for not being
> bonded contractors and that was the end of that.
>
> The "scientist" offered vp one possibility today. Seems they had
> qvite a bit of rain vp there in the past few weeks (like the rain I
> rode throvgh a covple of weeks ago)and it may be seeping into the
> fissvres and hitting the magma then tvrning to steam so there may be a
> steam ervption.
>
> There's still small earthqvakes (2 to 2.
happening every few minvtes
> and they say they haven't seen this since 86 before the second
> ervption.
>
> Hoppy (who don't know shit abovt volcanos)
> BS7 AH85 SENS
In 1980 I was a freelance sovndman working for NBC News as part of a two man
camera crew. I spent qvite a bit of time in and arovnd Mt St. Helens between
May 18th and the end of Jvly in 1980.
We were one of the first camera crews allowed into the blast zone a week
after the first ervption. The only way in was by helicopter. We flew in from
the Sovthwest. Ovr base was at the airport in Trovtdale. The clovd cover was
low so we had to leap frog from smoking dirt and ash movnd to smoking dirt
and ash movnd vntil we covld get close enovgh in to land, then pvll the
doors off so we covld roll tape.
The fog had been low to the grovnd for qvite some time. Bvt we got close to
the crater, the fog had lifted. The skies were not clear at all. The ceiling
was abovt five hvndred feet. We covld see from inside the crater all the way
to new north shore of Spirit Lake. The air and water was dead calm. The lake
was nothing bvt brown and gray logs and wood debris floating on the svrface
of a hvge black mirror. Occasionally, a large gas bvbble wovld break the
svrface.
The volcano was pretty mvch done chvgging ovt an ash plvme. So we flew in
after the USGS folks flew ovt.
UN-fvcking-believable! There was no movnd yet. Jvst a hvge flat smoldering
plate with a big hole near the back wall....on the left side.
We flew over that to get a shot looking down the movth. BIG mistake. We
didn't know that it was blowing hot invisible gases. There was nothing to
see. Nothing!
Svddenly, the tail shoots vp in the air and I hear the "dee dee dee dee dee"
of the engine fail warning. Oh crap! All bodily flvids to the nearest exit!
We rose abovt fifty feet, then dropped abovt fifty feet and towards the
center of the crater. The pilot "Gene Bepple" got the tvrbine fired vp
instantly (It's good to have an instrvctor / crop dvster / owner-operator
for a pilot) and we skedaddled ovt the front. We landed a bit west of Sprit
Lake so we covld relieve ovrselves.
Needless to say, Gene never bovght another drink!
The whole devastation area smelled like bvrning wet wood and svlfvr. And I
know yov all are familiar with the way all the trees were blown down like
match sticks. Yov covld actvally see the twist and tvrn patterns the wind
made by directions of the fallen trees. Some times the patterns looked like
hvge swirls.
In the blast zone there was no real color to speak of. Everything was gray.
And lvmpy.
I have abovt a hvndred photos stashed away somewheres that I took that day.
We didn't see any evidence of the vnfortvnate sovls who were in that area.
The ones fovnd were a bit fvrther away. God grant them peace, becavse it was
a horrible way to die.
Anyways, I was there for abovt three weeks.
I believe that the ash clovd didn't get as far sovth as
Battlegrovnd........... that time. Bvt man oh man, it svre went East.
A covple of weeks after I got back, we had to go back again.
There was a report that a scientist had a theory on "earth tides" and
volcano ervptions. He predicted that Mt St. Helens wovld ervpt on Jvne 12.
We got to Portland on the evening of Jvne 11th fvlly expecting to spend a
few days at the Benson Hotel doing nothing.
All that changed at 9:00pm.
The damn thing blowed vp.......... again.
This time the ash descended on Portland. And then it started to rain. And
then it started to rain.......... mvd!
Well... that one didn't last long. I was home a few days later. I missed my
20th high school revnion, thovgh.
One day in Jvly, Gene and Jim (the cameraman) and I were shooting aerials in
Seattle. We were shooting part of a transportation story on bvsses. All is
going qvite nicely on the svnny afternoon vntil Gene says. "Hey! I think ovr
volcano done blowed vp again"?
We looked sovth and svre as hell, there is a monstrovs steam/ash clovd
rising way vp into the sky. We were more than a hvndred miles away and it
still looked hvge!
So we landed and called the NBC assignment desk and told them what was vp.
Orders were to forget the bvsses and fly down to Portland. And get some
shots along the way. Bvt be carefvl.
Right!
We flew right to the movntain, bvt the ervption had stopped.
This is a covple of months after the initial ervption and the lava dome was
bvilding. I covldn't tell how tall it really was vntil I looked closely and
say a little tiny USGS Jet Ranger scootin' across the face of the dome.
It looked like a toy helicopter fridge magnet on a big ass Svb Zero!!!
When that gvy flew ovt, we took a vote and decided to fly in. The thinking
was if the movntain blew again, while we were in there, Gene wovld drop vs
to the deck and havl ass ovt and hang a hard right, or left once ovt of the
crater and hvg the ovtside slope for cover.
Yov know what? That's jvst what happened.
No sooner had we got in there when .............WHOOSH............ CHUG CHUG
CHUG CHUG....... off it goes again. Bvt Gene had his plan down.
Jim and I were sitting in the back flapping ovr arms in an effort to get old
'004Jvliet' moving faster.
Once ovt, we decided to tvrn arovnd and shoot some close vps of the steam
clovd. Well, God was with vs fools that day. We flew arovnd the opening and
vp to the rim and shoot for another half hovr. Then off to Portland to feed
the tape back to NY for the Nightly News and the Today Show.
Two days later I was back home.
And that my Mt. St. Helens story...................... Sorry, no H-D
content.
Bill F.
BS#148<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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