[PennyB]

(05-18-2015, 09:22 PM)Island Chris Wrote: May 18 1980: Mt St Helens exploded. Harry Glicken was supposed to have been on the mountain, but was replaced by someone who was killed. Glicken was killed at Mt Unzen in 1992 when the French (amateur?) volcanologists the Krafts took 40 others to their deaths. We knew Harry (not well) and there is a plaque in his honor at the UCSB Geology dept. If you want to know about the Krafts, try and find the "Nature" PBS show the volcano watchers. They are loons, which is fine, but being responsible for the deaths of 40 others is not so fine.

August that year I hitchhiked and took the train up to that area, north of the mountain. The blackberries were crunchy from the volcanic ash. I would not even have seen the mountain, except it erupted the day I walked down logging roads in its direction. It looked really distant. I was to the north. People were killed May 18 that distance to the northeast.

Chris

I remember Harry also. He once tried to talk me into going to Japan to teach English. A very nice fellow. So many of the "good ones" lost their lives to doing what they loved on dangerous mountains! The Krafts took many risks, and finally lost their gamble. Harry knew full well what a volcano could do, alas. I am told that he never recovered from the "guilt" he felt for Johnston's death.

Penny