Standing on Mount St. Helens Days Before Eruption - May 1980 | KATU In The Archives

[@Damian-Church-NZ]

Usually, when reporters say "the calm before the storm," they're being over dramatic, but old Stan was bang on...

[@zabijca]

Vitness claim that something what appears to be alleged volcano eruption...

[@lachutequimarche8074]

Heh…bang…

[@patroberts5449]

BOOM

[@gxhcbchchvfhbxsddvp96trg]

Geologists got the scoop of a lifetime ash scoop

[@drscopeify]

That right there is proper news reporting, getting the world a view up front at tremendous risk, fantastic work.

[@clearlisted]

and if something happened you'd be the first to tell them how stupid it was to go there

[@michaelwilber774]

Now this is journalism

[@bobwoods1302]

Idiots back then would say that mountain ain't gonna explode. What's all this sensationalism?

[@jflsdknf]

A lost art

[@denisek292]

Can’t imagine standing on that volcano knowing it could erupt at any moment….hope pilot and reporter got hazard pay for that story.

[@smith9808]

Yeah they did. $3.50

[@KiloMike80]

But meals, per diem and lodging were not provided.

[@xr6lad]

Looks like he got a dashing cable knit sweater and a David Hasslehof hair cut as his compo.

[@Hybridog]

Hazard pay? You've never worked in local TV news before have you?

[@denisek292]

@@Hybridog My son does. He’s a meteorologist. So, how about showing a little respect?

[@SpyMan-p4d]

I was a student at Portland State University at the time. KOIN TV of Portland flew my professor to the lip of the volcano. Then he walked down to the lake you see in this video and got water samples and then flew back to Portland. His name was Dr. Leaonard Palmer. After we examined his various samples in class he said the mountain is going to blow its top. He was right.

[@toomignon]

Well, technically it blue it's north face. 😅

[@guaporeturns9472]

@@toomignonwell , technically it blew , not blue

[@Zwettekop]

How could he tell?

[@TheParadoxDestroyer]

@@Zwettekop Chemical composition of the water, acidity, temperature.

[@Ratso_au]

@@Zwettekophis boat dissolved into the water 😂

[@yesmhm69]

My dad traversed to the peak within the month leading up to the quakes and the crater while St Helens was still white capped.

[@animalmother1582]

My uncle was an airline pilot. He flew over the St Helens area before the eruption, and not long after. He said the same thing everyone who saw it said, "it looked like the moon".

[@ManyDoors777]

Awesome!!

[@LovingIdaho]

I used to hike from our house to the peak and be able to hike home before it got dark .

[@LovingIdaho]

@@animalmother1582, it looked like cauliflower in the air .

[@sergiosaunier]

@@LovingIdaho How were you affected, being so close to the mountain?

[@hrysivjt67]

The "tilting to the north" part is chilling, as that's the cardinal direction in which she blew.

[@jimvick8397]

Bulging, tilting... whatever...

[@ceesan5605]

@@jimvick8397sounds like my…

[@jimmyholster]

@@jimvick8397 throbbing, rubbing...whatever...

[@Lucariocypher2006]

​@@ceesan5605yep your banned buddy

[@TribalCorgiGBI]

Those guys were standing on a place that no longer exists, damn

[@animalmother1582]

It still exists. Just in grains several miles to the north.

[@00000000000101010]

@@animalmother1582 Well the place exists as well, just need a helicopter to revisit it. :)

[@socaljarhead7670]

😂

[@KyleStansfeld-zi6gc]

Exactly

[@BeeFunKnee]

Me and two friends had the weekend off. We were going to go camping at Mt. St. Helen but decided it would be better to just go to the 3 Sisters instead, so we could be back at our jobs in time on Monday. We woke up on Sunday and was in the process of frying up some bacon in a pan when I heard the most sorrowful moaning I've ever heard in my life. It was deep, and loud. It sounded just like the whole earth was in the process of dying. It was Mt. St. Helen exploding over a hundred and forty miles away.

[@FPInvention]

Wow what a sound, the power

[@okaygecko]

Actually quite the opposite innit, it's creating more earth. A climax of enormous forces

[@FromAgonyToLight]

The earth can speak, moan, and groan, so I believe your description of that event: “And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard **a voice from the bowels thereof,** saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?” -Moses 7:48

[@molder2233]

You were going to go camping on MSH despite the fact that geologists were telling everyone how unstable it was? You’re not too bright, are you?

[@BeeFunKnee]

@@molder2233 Well, if that were the case then me and my two friends had lots of company. Many people had gotten closer to the mountain to see if they could witness some action. Nobody knew exactly what was going to occur. It's easy to say "you're not too bright" after the facts are all in. There was a reporter that took a helicopter to the top of the mountain just to give a news report. At least we weren't going to camp up on top of the mountain. We were going to camp out close to it though.

[@Hillrunner50]

Back when reporting was real. This was an amazing video.

[@azieldaly2965]

LOL!

[@bobwoods1302]

Before FOX "news"

[@techwatch1228]

@@bobwoods1302 before MSNBC and CNN. You lefties crack me up.

[@bobwoods1302]

@@techwatch1228 They didn't have to pay 787 million for lying though.

[@johnnichols8553]

Yeah a report without a single sentence thrown in about "climate change". You wouldn't hear that nowadays.

[@michaeldeleted]

The media's hyperbole about the "mountain exploding" are chillingly ironic in retrospect.

[@Rocket_scientist_88]

“The calm before the storm”. Nailed it. Great report, scary and ballsy. Kudos to the crew and the geologist for their bravery.

[@schmitice]

News reporters were bad asses back then

[@Jeremy.Bearemy]

Now they are just plain asses

[@letsgobrandon987]

Yep no diversity hires either.

[@MisterCrabs-mg6gq]

@@letsgobrandon987 FDT and maga (maggots)

[@lamsmiley1944]

@@letsgobrandon987 What the hell does some one's gender or nationality have to do with their ability to report the news? (it doesn't)

[@Bryanw1027]

@@lamsmiley1944exactly these people are miserable asf.

[@cal-native]

Really impressed with both the reporting AND the quality of the footage - first rate👍👏.

[@Ominous89]

If you see the terrifying footage how Mt. St. Helens collapsed, these guys were at high risk at any second of this footage. If she collapsed with them still on it, nobody would have ever found them. This footage is a once in a lifetime lucky shot of a place that doesn't exist anymore like you see it here.

[@fallinginthed33p]

Spirit Lake no longer exists in the form this crew would have seen before the volcano exploded.

[@TheDonBoston]

Dude, this is insane. I wasn't aware that a helicopter landed on the old crater rim, mere days before the eruption! This is stunning footage.

[@asterizk]

Yeah, ridiculous right? So crazy to watch.

[@Biancanevesony]

They made history, so glad they managed to film this. Now that rim is gone and so is almost everything they filmed.

[@grantduke318]

Back before lawyers ruined our country.

[@TheDonBoston]

@@grantduke318 Yawn, room temperature IQ comment.

[@Letsgetiton41]

​@@TheDonBostonyes from you.

[@lorihaun9956]

Thank you for posting this!

[@AlfUckhamHall]

Thank you to the news crew who bravely made the effort to film this footage, I wish I was there with them, it's always fascinated me.

[@spaceskipster4412]

The volcanic dust, in the atmosphere, gave us amazing sunsets in the UK all through 1981 and ‘82. I’ve still got some photos of them. 🌋🌅 RIP to those that lost their lives. 🕊️

[@allenra530]

I was working in Peru at the time. Mail was very slow and when the eruption began I knew nothing about it. My parents lived east of Salem, Oregon at the time. One of my coworkers was from Portland and his parents sent him the newspapers at the time. They arrived where we were 2 months after the initial eruption, as did letters from my parents telling of ashfalls on the house. I finished my work in Peru in October and went home. The eruption was still going on and I got a sample of ash off the hood of the car a few days after I got there. It was really interesting, although I was only there for a couple of months.

[@funkydozer]

When news reports were factual, before dramatic sensationalism and outright lies for ratings became the norm around 20 years later.

[@Retroearthling]

no the real lying left office 3 years ago and GOD FORBID will never come back. The biggest LIAR on the planet BAR NONE.

[@Tommerslappers]

Reagan rescinding the fairness doctrine began that process, and it’s something we desperately need baxk

[@bobwoods1302]

You don't consider standing on the rim of a volcano dramatic?

[@funkydozer]

@@bobwoods1302 No, I consider it brave

[@bobwoods1302]

@@funkydozer Anderson Cooper has been shelled in warzones

[@greatunz67]

News reporter stands on the edge of a volcano that is about to erupt at any moment, wearing dress slacks and Gilligans sweater, now THAT is bad ass!

[@whiteknightcat]

Um ... Gilligan wore a red long-sleeved button-collared pullover with an integral white collar. The reporter wore a simple red pullover sweater over a white shirt.

[@greatunz67]

@@whiteknightcat wow, you must be fun at parties...

[@whiteknightcat]

@@greatunz67 Parties? Par-ties? Hmm. I'm afraid I am not familiar with that term.

[@aka99]

Never forget your helmet! He did not wear any helmet! Safety first. Joke off.

[@guillandanthony711]

This is what I call real journalism! ❤ Thrilling, facts available, experts on the spot. Nowadays, journalists run to the airport if an airplane makes a go-around.

[@bobwoods1302]

You're right. This was before FOX "news" came along.

[@senorincredible]

This is now a valuable item of historical record - amazing work by Stan Wilson and his team

[@Kreemerz]

Days later..... May 18, 8:32am, lateral blast flattened 200 square miles of forest.

[@princeedmirovillar8044]

And still the scorched forest still hasn't recovered to this day

[@larryweinberg1191]

@@princeedmirovillar8044 planted trees in blast zone in 1981. Feds were worried about seedling survival. Long story short the volcanic based soils made everything grow quite well. Sure much of the old growth trees that were flattened are hard to replace, but trees and vegetation grew fast enough to allow elk hunting in blast area 12 years after the eruption. It has recovered.

[@mrmike1884]

Folks. that's a Real News Reporter. Did what he had to do to get the story.

[@secondchance6603]

Now they green screen it and make it up as they go.

[@bobwoods1302]

Lot's of morons back then would have criticized him as well. Always idiots that don't like what they hear on the news

[@TransoceanicOutreach]

He sat in a helicopter, then got out for five minutes, then back home for coffee and donuts. He's hardly in the jungles of vietnam.

[@mrmike1884]

@@TransoceanicOutreach Ok. You go to an Active Volcano that could Explode at any moment for a story. Then you can say that.

[@Gingerwalker.]

Great footage. Thank you for sharing.

[@JGunit]

That took some serious boulders

[@jkgardner1933]

Oh my goodness... this is the first time to see this, are any of these people still alive? How do the feel today about this?

[@nahalastone8027]

57 people were killed and it's amazing it wasn't more because of the foot dragging and idiocy of the people who were more interested in tourism than safety. Scientists were practically screaming the mountain was going to blow right up to weeks before it actually happened. Thank goodness they finally closed the mountain down or more people would've been killed. I still remember my mom yelling at us to get in the house that day. We live 300ish miles away and still got covered in ash. Years later we visited the park and it's something you can't unsee. Just a barren wasteland, trees laid over like toothpicks.

[@KhanMann66]

44 years since the mountain blew up and the scars are still there.

[@xr6lad]

Stan Wilson is no longer a reporter. Still alive. In real estate in California.

[@VicenzoV]

I can tell you exactly how they felt about standing in that spot a few days later. "Holy shit."

[@youzerable]

@@VicenzoV I was up there the day after these guys were and that's pretty much what we were saying too!

[@Grandizer8989]

I wouldn’t have landed that chopper on that surface. But what a cool report. They last guys to stand on the mountain before it blew.

[@silvereagle2061]

RIP David Johnston and Harry Truman.

[@terrasculp]

To preface, I was raised in Oregon, where they have service station attendants that interacted with every customer. On top of filling tanks, they checked the oil and tires, etc. I remember pumpin’ ethyl at the Gresham Shell when St. Helens erupted. Just another day workin’ at the gas station for me, but on this day, we spent a lot of time, leaning on the pumps, watching the huge ash plume on the horizon to the north. Then came the ash. I remember having to douse tons of windshields with water instead of scratching the glass with the car’s wiper blades. At the time I was in high school and I suppose I was kinda anesthetized to all the hype (the whole Barlow science department was in rapturous delight about the volcano) but, for me, it was really more of a pain in the ass, because after the media told everyone that the ash scratched glass, my job got a lot harder. Lol, talk about an inside baseball anecdote!

[@ktpinnacle]

Tom Benson passed in 2011, but was interviewed quite a bit by KATU after the eruption occurred. Stan Wilson has been running a family investment firm out of Palm Desert for nearly 28 years. Guess his time chasing volcanoes was done with Mt. St. Helens

[@jerryeliaslaurindo1762]

How many times until the eruption...they land on the top...??? Awesome!!!

[@maclura]

i heard about how people didn't believe anything was going to happen, if more people saw it moving that much i wonder if they would've thought otherwise?

[@williamf6783]

she was waking up and this was 100% the best reporting ever nobody can do this no more these guys are totally the best hands down i was nerves just watching the rocks fall

[@usptact]

Not a single word about “climate change”; just solid reporting.

[@lamsmiley1944]

Because they were doing a piece on a volcano so why would he mention climate change? But it definitely sounds like you take offence with science that doesn't fit your world view.

[@ey3z4ya]

Lol wth are you talking about. That's because volcanic eruptions have nothing to do with climate change

[@KennethAkin-me9je]

Volcanic ash is very good for plant growth when added to soil.

[@JH-kd6hs]

Just not when it’s 20ft deep

[@clearlisted]

it's alright

[@Dmarcoot]

what an amazing historical document this is

[@CactusJackSlade]

Wow, the balls of that reporter, pilot and the others right up there on top!

[@dt-wq7ql]

What an epic report. From a very brave reporter. Who was spot on.

[@Mtnmanmike62]

I went for a hike up Mount Aetna years ago. During my hike, several men in military vehicles asked if I wanted a ride down. I figured that they just wanted to make a buck off of me. I declined. I also noticed that there were no other footprints on the mountain, and the soil was like walking on black sugar. I later learned that an eruption was imminent and everyone was order to evacuate. I hiked all the way up and down. An eruption occurred days later.

[@BlueSky...]

When spellcheck turns a mountain into an insurance company. 😆

[@briannat1086]

Awesome report!

[@denniscliff2071]

Several years before this video was made, I was standing about 1500 feet above where these people were standing. That was on an easy climb to the original summit of St. Helens. I was also about a few thousand feet from the summit of Mt. Rainier on a Nisqually ice fall climb when the big eruption on St. Helens occurred. We could see many bolts of lightning in the developing ash cloud, and by the time we descended Rainier the snow had about a half inch of ash on it.

[@ncascadehiker]

I smashed the 'thumbs up'. That was great!

[@johncamp2567]

Fantastic journalism!👍

[@eL3ctric]

on a geological timescale this was bascially just when the eruption begun jeez just moments away

[@KyleStansfeld-zi6gc]

What an amazing place to be. It’s the last time it looked like that, it would never be the same!

[@Unluckyducky-n1c]

It was one Hella earth candle on my b-day,I'll never forget the ones who lost loved ones.

[@cydkriletich6538]

Whoever was piloting that helicopter looked remarkably like Sean Penn, and the reporter in red was quite cute! That said, if you have the chance to go to Mt. St. Helen’s now to see the view and the short film on the explosion, by all means do. And be sure to stay until beyond the end of the film!

[@marggyreppeto-pi6re]

That's what I was thinking also of how good looking he is and I don't remember him at all. I was 22 then and watched the news all the time.

[@Cyman75]

Pretty crazy when you think about the massive eruption. If I had been the journalist, this would send shivers down my spine just to imagine how lucky the timing was for this report. And laugh about the fact that one would “worry” about the mud at the edge of the crater, eventually falling into it, while half of the mountain eroded away and slipped down in the deadly eruption.

[@brianspangler3771]

It takes major balls to stand on top of a volcano knowing damn well it could go off at any time.

[@George-xb5ey]

it's insane

[@shable1436]

Unbelievable footage and guts

[@Luther-1968]

Wow, never saw this, pretty gutsy. And he's dressed pretty much for a holiday party at work.

[@jongraham7362]

"All the way down to Spirit Lake", turned out to be a serious understatement. Hiking around there, boggles the mind.

[@TheShadowBannedBandit]

Keep in mind, especially for anybody whom experienced this in some shape directly… this eruption was a “mild” 5 out of 8 on the VEI index.

[@Puleczech]

2:34 "Alright, let's get the hell outta here, boys."

[@animalmother1582]

One giant landslide toward Spirit Lake.... It's amazing how much they could see coming. Even the lateral blast was suspected in such an event. If the landslide exposed the magma chamber.

[@bim5contraelimperio49]

...QUE LOCO NO???...IR A FILMAR EL VOLCAN SANTA HELENA ANTES DEL DESASTRE POSTERIOR...🤔🤔🤔

[@DK-gy7ll]

Those folks were really lucky that the mountain didn't suddenly decide to do its thing right there and then. Days later when it happened all it took was a shallow earthquake to jolt the entire side of hte mountain loose.

[@mencken8]

They knew something big was happening, but that still didn’t prevent the loss of life….

[@SA1NT53]

Kinda surreal that the place he’s standing now doesn’t exist anymore

[@Joe17131713]

Climbed it in 2015 Stunning view of the destruction especially the tree logs

[@Papershields001]

This is amazing.

[@SB5SimulationsFerroviairesEEP]

Merci du partage! J'avais 10 ans! Stéph.

[@UAPch]

Award worthy

[@LindaMerchant-bq2hp]

There was a bulge north side of the mountain ominous and they predicted kind of its erupting danger those reporters were in on that volcanoes rim

[@VideoManDan]

That is ominous that he was in the exact spot that collapsed. Looking back on it I bet he had a hard time sleeping for awhile after the mountain blew its top.

[@Kwolfx]

"For all of that, it's worth it." It was worth it, only because he wasn't standing there when it went boom! I wonder about the geologist who was with the reporter in this video. He might have been one of the people who was too close to the volcano when it finally did erupt.

[@markbarta2369]

He wasn't, some quick google research found his obituary dated January 24, 2011. He was 81 years old.

[@helicopter2630]

I think the pilot would have been “light on the skids” the whole time he was on the ground.

[@jeanmarcwatson]

Wow so prophetic

[@4672-m9f]

Well Done ,my Lads!!!

[@nickb3137]

Back when journalism was a respected profession.

[@zakobrien8764]

I'm sure that reporter's boss at his next eval said something like, "We can't approve your raise until we see more commitment and dedication from you in your work".

[@madkem1]

Even Tom Benson didn't grasp the magnitude of the danger they were in.

[@asanseil5553]

"It's worth it". I mean, he said it.

[@BlackStarASMR]

The fact that I did not exist in 1980 makes these videos from the past even stranger somehow. It is a world in which I did not exist, but that I can see. And it is a world that never existed for me and that did not see me. On a deep level this is mindblowing. How can I see a world in which I was never present? It shows that you can look back into the past and that information from the past can stick up to the present now. And it shows that you can't look into the feature. It is a symptom of time and time itself is a very strange phenomenon. Can you even describe what time is? And even more mindblowing is the fact that, like Einstein has proven, time does not pass in the same speed at all spatial points in the universe. Gravity is not a force, though it seems to be. Gravity is rather a strange phenomenon: mass bends space and time. Gravity IS the bending of space-time. so if an apple moves through space near to the earth, the apple will be seemingly "catched" by the "force" of gravity of our massive planet Earth. But what really happens is that the apple is moving on a straight line through space, but since the mass of Earth bends space itself, so it bends the "grid" of space in which the apple is moving so that straight line is bend towards Earth. So the apple continues moving on the straight line that is bend towards Earth. Einstein has proven that and scientists after him have proven this fact over and over again. But this fact has HUGE implications regarding how we have to understand the world we live in. But the main conclusion is that the world we live in is truly stranger than the world seems to be.

[@MaXGTS1]

I want some of whatever you're smoking. 😂

[@Fatal_-FN]

this ain't some fake news

[@niklazz7037]

Well Stan... you surely have angels looking upon your shoulders. Balls of steel.

[@SpressoHead]

Just to think Stan was one of the last few to stand there and live to tell about it . . .

[@vahjayjayaddict]

"Tom, can you get closer? We are ready for the money shot." "I am standing on a live volcano that's about to erupt. How effing close do you need me to be?"

[@nicholasmaude6906]

I have no doubt that that reporter hit the nearest bar and got totally hammered after Mt. St. Helen's blew its' top.

[@northside7772]

"A once in a lifetime experience...an exhilarating experience..." True!...and the tone of his voice is also saying: Let's get the hell out of here!

[@fastica]

I was born the 18th of May of 1980.

[@falconeshield]

Happy 44 years and beyond man

[@Reaper-vv4qw]

My 6th birthday!

[@markpimlott2879]

That's really cool 😎 Helen!

[@clearviewtechnical]

My son was born on May 16th, 1980.

[@MOMO41837]

"I'm afraid she's 'bout to blow Captain!" 😂

[@tonyhill1264]

I remember being an 11 year old kid in 1980, watching the ashes fall into my hand at school that day...

[@heatherpayne1995]

You went to school on a Sunday?

[@josephastier7421]

They knew the mountain could slide to the north. But not even the geologists who predicted the eruption understood the risks of the lateral blast if the magma was uncorked on one side only.

[@LovingIdaho]

First eruption was in April . Second was May . I used to walk from our house to the peak and back home all the time growing up before the my blew . We lived 5 miles the way the crow flies . We lived on st hellens loop rd . 19 mile camp was across the road from the back of our property . After the mountain blew , the state forced everyone up there to sell their property . At first , everyone said no until the state just started taking everyone’s land . We got less than we paid for it 12 or 14 years before . But , atleast we got something and they didnt take it for free .

[@NVRAMboi]

Standing just close enough to perhaps hear the initial "KA-" before immediately being wiped out by the ensuing, "..BOOM!!!"

[@RatusMax]

Could have blown up right there with them on it. Where are these people now?

[@rohitvirmani1]

It was a combo event - earthquake leading to a landslide leading to the massive eruption from northern slope!! A perfect concoction for disaster. Result : Snowmelt, Lahars, Pyroclastic flows, instant loss of forest in the shockwave area, and fatal life disruption over a huge area.

[@redbarchetta8782]

Yes, we knew she was gonna blow. I got to experience the ash in Montana.

[@memyselfundeye]

Timing is everything…

[@serrielu8025]

“This ledge we’re on looks sorta precarious.” “ Just mildly yeah”. 😊

[@iamkendraofficial2174]

Crazy!!

[@aaronboren5851]

When a geologist says stand back from the cornice, best to stand back from the cornice 😅

[@MontanaMedic13]

Today the algorithm delivered.

[@writerconsidered]

I noticed they kept the chopper running just in case they needed a quick exit. In hindsight however if they were on that mountain at the time of explosion they would have no chance of escape and would have been blown away in a second.

[@Oskanderstine]

Could be the calm before the storm. Yeah, definitely that!

[@bert1913]

After St Helen's blew, we had ash all over Tacoma, Wa.