St Helens

[+EraSeek]

Yesterday. Inside the carter walls.

 

[+Bull Moose]

They said that the eruption knocked out some monitoring equipment. I wonder how your cache is doing. And the YJTB that is with it.

[+WeightMan]

I would suspect that the cache is doing just fine. Almost all activity is confined to the crater and about the only problem outside the crater would be some ash fall.

 

People keep expecting anothg eruption like 1980, but they forget that the reason for the huge explosion was the very large plug in the vents that prevented escape of the gases generated by the magma. That plug had been in place for about 100 years. The current lava dome is very recent and is not blocking the vent nearly as well. THe area to the south, that includes the cache, is fairly well screened by the south wall of the volcano. There certainly is the possibility of rocks, some of whcih may be quite large, being expelled from the mountain and those might well fall to the south, but the cache being fairly small has a very good chance of surviving by simply not being in the place the rock lands.

 

This is all speculation, but based on some facts about Mt. St. Helens and other similar volcanoes. This mountain is dangerous, but, as long as we give it the room, we should be able to deal with it.

 

Disclaimer: I am not a geologist, nor do I play one on television, but I have spent some time studying this mountain and teaching middle school kids about it.

[+Bull Moose]

I would suspect that the cache is doing just fine.

I suspect that, too. The cache is on a pretty secure object. I was actually surprised how secure it was.

I just wonder what kind of "monitoring equipment" they lost and how they lost it. Maybe it was inside the crater...

[+EraSeek]

For those trying to make heads or tails of the photo, It is taken from the NE leading edge of the crater, looking SW at the old lava dome. The new lava dome is behind where the activity is. Behind that is the highest part of the crater rim and just to the left would be where climbers stand on the rim when they summit (both unseen here). You can see a bit of the west crater wall beyond the dome. The crater is open to the north.

[+EraSeek]

They lost 4 gps units and 2 siesmology units inside the crater that were on the old dome, between the old and new dome, and on the new dome.

[+top pin]

I guess my climbing permit for this year is just gonna become a conversation piece....

 

Now I'm gonna have to change my plans for July 4th. Wonder what mtn I'll have to give a try then... hmmmm...

Edited March 9, 2005 by top pin

[+shunra]

Eraseek's image was taken from the Sugarbowl camera, referred to as 'Closer camera' on the image below:

 

 

I found this an interesting piece of information:

 

Analysis of recent aerial photos reveals that as of February 1, 2005, the high point on the "whaleback" reached to an altitude of 7,650 feet, nearly 1,400 feet above the 1980 crater floor and 500 feet above the top of the old 1980-86 lava dome. The top of the new dome is now only about 130 feet below the level of Shoestring Notch on the southeast crater rim and about 700 feet below the south crater rim.

 

The dome grew 500 feet since September. How long will it take to grow those additional 700 feet, after which the summit of the dome will rise above the crater rim, and turn into the highest point of the mountain?

[+Lazyboy & Mitey Mite]

Ummm, is my place going to be all covered with ash again anytime soon?

[+Kenr74]

I guess my climbing permit for this year is just gonna become a conversation piece....

 

Now I'm gonna have to change my plans for July 4th. Wonder what mtn I'll have to give a try then... hmmmm...

Same here. I was just thinking yesterday that they might re-open it for climbing since things had been calm for a while. Oops!! I'm heading for Adams and Hood but St Helens was on the list too.

[+Bull Moose]

Man, am I ever glad I did St. Helens before Nolenator got her all upset.

Then again, if I hadn't done it, then Nolenator probably wouldn't have gotten her all upset...

Wow, that's a mind bender.

[+travisl]

Same here.  I was just thinking yesterday that they might re-open it for climbing since things had been calm for a while. 

You're not the only one. The USFS was, too, according to this A/P story from last Sunday.

 

Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mt. St. Helens to reopen

 

02:44 AM PST on Sunday, March 6, 2005

 

Associated Press

 

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. -- As Mount St. Helens rumbled to life last fall, the Forest Service rushed to evacuate thousands of visitors from the Johnston Ridge Observatory, the viewpoint closest to the crater.

 

Now, as the 25th anniversary of the volcano's catastrophic eruption of May 18, 1980, draws near, the agency is preparing to reopen the center to accommodate the anticipated crush of tourists.

 

A final decision is expected this week, though Johnston Ridge probably would not open until the summer season begins in May, The Columbian newspaper reported.

 

Even so, a Forest Service official said he's inclined to reopen the observatory as long as the volcano continues its relatively placid pattern of dome-building.

 

"The conditions look favorable," said Cliff Ligons, manager of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

 

Ligons said he and other Forest Service officials have regularly consulted with scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey offices here, and that scientists believe the volcano is in a "fairly stable" period of activity.

 

None of the steam and ash eruptions since the volcano reawakened last September has flung rocks outside the crater.

 

That said, a flurry of earthquakes with magnitudes of 2.5 and 3.0 were recorded Friday evening — an increase from the previous pattern of one or two earthquakes that size each day.

 

Silly geologists.

[+top pin]

Ya might all want to climb it again before I do. I hope it doesnt run in the family. Heres a post that I wrote for another forum. This is all true.

 

Re: Who was the last to summit old Mt. St. Helens?  [Re:  Mikester]

      #436320 - 02/08/05 11:13 PM 

Edit post Edit    Reply to this post Reply    Reply to this post Quote    Quick Reply Quick Reply 

 

A little late on this but I just joined and read this thread. My father climbed St Helens in early March 1980. When his rope team reached the summit they ran into a giant crevasse that shouldnt have been there. So they stayed roped up the entire time while on top. Little did they know that exactly four days later on KOMO a news helicopter would be filming that same crack with steam venting from it. I was to young but he said you could still see their footprints around the area. I dont know when they shut the mtn down to climbing but it couldnt have been much longer. I believe the first official notice I've seen of the steam etc was for March 27th 1980.. Wish I was old enough back then to have been on that climb.. I do have to say my father and that team had to been one of the last ones to ever climb it though..... RIP St Helens.......

top pin

Edited March 10, 2005 by top pin

[+richandsteph]

I blame us ... we seem to have a calming effect on volcanos. We live near Ridgefield, WA with a great view of Helens for years and nothing ever happened. We went to Hawaii for 3 months and POW Helens errupts and The Big Island stops flowing ... hmm conincendence. Well we returned home for 3 months and Helens petered off. We leave to California for another 3 months and two weeks later Helens goes pop again. Don't worry, though, we will be back in time for climbing season.

[+EraSeek]

Photo of St Helens from space on May 2004. Last year.

 

 

March 2005 from space:

 

Edited April 3, 2005 by EraSeek

[+1stimestar]

Those space pictures are really neat.