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  1. #1
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    Mt St Helens Eruption 40th Anniversary

    "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" - David Johnston

    8:32 am PDT on 5/18/80.

  2. #2
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    I miss the good old innocent days of volcanic eruptions.

  3. #3
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    Jan 2008
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    you see a tie dye disc in there?
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    I remember the 1/4" dusting on cars all the way in Alliance, NE.

  4. #4
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    RIP to Bruce Faddis, my roommate for a year in college, who died on that mountain 40 years ago today.

  5. #5
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    Easy to see why Harry Truman didn't want to leave

  6. #6
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    We were driving home after being flown in to some remote Canadian lake fishing. Wondering wtf was going on...when we were told volcano erupted we called bullshit


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    I rip the groomed on tele gear

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by TBS View Post
    RIP to Bruce Faddis, my roommate for a year in college, who died on that mountain 40 years ago today.
    https://www.bendbulletin.com/localst...9385e425c.html

  8. #8
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    A red Ford Pinto with a blue dirt bike. The story behind one of the most puzzling photos of Mount St Helens' May 1980 eruption.

    You've no doubt seen the photo circulating on the Internet, stripped of all context save for the date and location. You've also no doubt wondered who took the photo, what were they doing up there in the first place, and whether they made it out alive.

    Richard "Dick" Lasher spent that Saturday night packing some gear figuring he'd head out first thing in the morning to get a look at the mountain before it blew. His plan involved hitching his bike to the back of his Pinto, driving up to Spirit Lake, then exploring the area via dirt roads on the bike. He'd leave before dawn and arrive at the lake right at daybreak.

    Tired from packing, Lasher slept in an hour or two past his planned departure time. He swore in telling the story many years later that sleeping in that morning saved his life. Based on the angle of the photo and the surrounding terrain, it appears Lasher drove down toward Spirit Lake from the north, likely dropping down from U.S. 12 and the town of Randle into the forest roads of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. He possibly made it as far south as Forest Road 26 by 8:32 that morning. The time the volcano blew.

    He pulled over and attempted to turn around seeing as the ash cloud was heading his way and fast. He jumped out of the car and ran up the hillside to get some pics, thinking he might just die for it, and hoping someone would find the camera at least as it was a phenomenal sight that filled the sky. The first picture he took was the one with the Pinto in the road and the motorcycle still in the back with that HUGE cloud going up in the sky in the background.

    Had Lasher made it to Spirit Lake, he'd almost certainly have died. Spirit Lake met the full impact of the volcano’s lateral blast. The sheer force of the blast lifted the lake out of its bed and propelled it about 85 stories into the air to splash onto adjacent mountain slopes.

    He made his way back down the mountain after being quickly overtaken by the ash cloud. He was completely blinded, and had to drive on the opposite side of the road steering by staying right on the opposite side of the road heading into oncoming traffic, but encountered nobody going up. The car choked out after a while and he rode his motorcycle out of the mountains back to the room he had rented.

    So, yes, the photographer behind that mystery photograph did survive to see it widely disseminated. Whatever became of the Pinto and the bike, however, I don't know.

    Credit: Daniel Strohl
    When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something." Rep. John Lewis


    Kindness is a bridge between all people

    Dunkin’ Donuts Worker Dances With Customer Who Has Autism

  9. #9
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    Washington State Patrol Trooper Jim LaMunyon set up a road block at Interstate 90 and Geiger Road in Spokane. An emergency was declared in Eastern Washington, and all State Highways were closed for several days after Mount Saint Helens erupted. (J. Bart Rayniak / The Spokesman-Review)


    Ash from the Mount St. Helens eruption covered fields and streets in Eastern Washington. (Photo Archive / The Spokesman-Review)


    May 18, 1980.
    Downtown Spokane covered in ash from the Mount St. Helens eruption.
    (Photo credit: The Spokesman-Review)


    Phil Harris went to Wenatchee for the weekend. On his way home he had to stay overnight in both Moses Lake and Ritzville and cleaned his air filter four times in order to make it home. Ash covered his motor home inside and out. (Photo Archive / The Spokesman-Review)


    Keith Domina takes a break from cleaning up ash from the eruption of Mount St. Helens in this May 19, 1980, file photo in Ritzville, Wash., one of the hardest-hit towns in the aftermath of the eruption. (Jim Shelton / The Spokesman-Review)


    May 18, 1980 Mount St. Helens erupted. Everyone was told not to drive, but Washington State Patrol cars were modified so troopers could work in the ash.
    When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something." Rep. John Lewis


    Kindness is a bridge between all people

    Dunkin’ Donuts Worker Dances With Customer Who Has Autism

  10. #10
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    A friend of mine told she and her husband had just gotten married in 1980 and he was an engineer for the Forest Service. They were camping in the forest on May 18th, but south of the mountain. They didn't even hear it blow from that side, but had they been north of the mountain they would have been toast.

  11. #11
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    Somewhere I still have a baggie full of ash.
    When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, you have a moral obligation to say something. To do something." Rep. John Lewis


    Kindness is a bridge between all people

    Dunkin’ Donuts Worker Dances With Customer Who Has Autism

  12. #12
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    Apr 2006
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    Yeah, we had a couple jars of it for awhile but eventually tossed them.

  13. #13
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    This fact has always amazed me:
    The landslide temporarily displaced the waters of Spirit Lake to the ridge north of the lake, in a giant wave approximately 600 feet (180 m) high.[31] This in turn created a 295-foot (90 m) avalanche of debris consisting of the returning waters and thousands of uprooted trees and stumps. Some of these remained intact with roots, but most had been sheared off at the stump seconds earlier by the blast of super-heated volcanic gas and ash that had immediately followed and overtook the initial landslide. The debris was transported along with the water as it returned to its basin, raising the surface level of Spirit Lake by about 200 ft (61 m).[8]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_e...limactic_phase

  14. #14
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    ^^ Harry Truman never stood a chance.

  15. #15
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    Dec 2005
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    "An animated series of images showing the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Clearly visible in the first few images is the largest recorded landslide in history—the entire north face of the volcano sliding away following a shallow earthquake. The newly-exposed core of the volcano then erupted"

    don't know if the gif works here, but its from a set of photos The Atlantic put out 2015

    https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/20...n-1980/393557/

  16. #16
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    Still have a few little jars of ash that relatives in Idaho gave us buried in the basement.

    RIP to all who perished.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by KQ View Post


    So, yes, the photographer behind that mystery photograph did survive to see it widely disseminated. Whatever became of the Pinto and the bike, however, I don't know.

    Credit: Daniel Strohl
    Note to self: buy a dirt bike

  18. #18
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    the ham
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    The blue dirt bike is a Yamaha IT175

  19. #19
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    Oct 2006
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    Probably one of my earliest memories as a human, 3 YO.

    4" of ash in Spokane 180 Miles away.
    Hello darkness my old friend

  20. #20
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    I was a student in Ellensburg. Also the nighttime DJ on the local townie radio station. It was Sunday morning, so I was off work, but my room mate - a weekender - was on the air at the time and called me when the news of the eruption came over the teletype.

    I went out on my west facing front porch and saw a line, from north to south as far as I could see, of blackness in the sky. It took a couple of hours to arrive overhead, and when it did it was dark as night and I could hear the ash fall hissing on the leaves in the yard. It snowed thick silica dust for many hours and the sky was still dark the next morning as the cloud worked its way east.

    For several weeks we went on double shifts on the radio as we became virtually the only means of communication for many people, and broadcast news and outreach 24 hours a day. Phone lines had ceased to function and public services were terribly strained. Townfolk would come by the station, the little cinderblock box on the hill just south of town, ask us to put the word out for various people they'd not been able to contact. They also fed us with homemade food and cookies.

    We were told the ash would destroy our car engines so few people drove. My dog wasn't allowed outside and we wore masks. Once the skies cleared there was a layer of ash everywhere that lasted for years. Some of it was scooped up by graders and left in a high pile outside of town. I suspect it's still there. All the freshly leafed-out plants became denuded from the ash and that spring and summer there was little, if any, greenery for miles around.

    I'll never forget those times, and being at the hub of community outreach. T'was quite a time.
    Quote Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles View Post
    If I lived in WA, Oft would be my realtor. Seriously.

  21. #21
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    Harry Truman could be a metaphor for our time. The, I ain't gonna let those damn scientists tell me what to do types.

  22. #22
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    Mar 2005
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brownski View Post
    Note to self: buy a dirt bike
    Well, any second vehicle. The pinto choked up. The dirt bike saved the day.

    Cool stories KQ. Remember it, but only from 2,000 miles away. Must have been hell.

    What about silicosis? Anyone have long term lung issues?
    . . .

  23. #23
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    Sep 2001
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    Quote Originally Posted by hawkgt View Post
    I remember the 1/4" dusting on cars all the way in Alliance, NE.
    1319 miles. Wow. Had no idea it traveled that far.

    I was wondering, in areas where there was a lot of ash on cropland, what did it do? I know it killed a lot of shit short term but long term, was there any noticeable impact? Could it have been positive (nutrients etc.) or was it even noticeable?

  24. #24
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    Oct 2005
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    Idaho
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    I was alive but still on the tit and don't remember anything. My parents told there was an inch of ash in some places around town and we were 400 miles away. Have a cool pitcher and pie plate a local potter at the time made from the ash. I don't use pitchers or pie plates often so I've tried to get rid of them a few times and always put them back on the shelf.

  25. #25
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    Oct 2004
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    50 miles E of Paradise
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    Black Butte Ranch was paying his way thru school with the understanding he would be one of their greens keepers after. I spent a huge amount of time tutoring him in math and botany. Guy was one hell of a skier.

    One winter night in 1974 during a snowstorm, he and my other roommates decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood in Corvallis. They gave me shit for not joining them when I said “Here’s what’s gonna happen. You will end up throwing snowballs at other people. Somebody will get pissed off that you hit them, and start a fight. And at least one of you will end up bloody”.

    They left, yelling “pussy!” at me. They were back 30 min later. Bruce had a bloody nose and one sleeve of his jacket torn off. Marc and Bill were both roughed up too. Bruce was laughing his ass off “TBS you are a fucking Nostradamus” he said.

    Miss you bud. Always down for an adventure

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