Mt. St. Helens 30th Anniversary Documentary 

Who's watching this almost 40 years later!

I love what that one guy said. "Do what you love, if you have a chance to retire now... do it. Don't wait to collect that last dollar and die two years later. Life is so temporary". That's a beautiful way to look at things.

I remember that day so well! We lived in Salem, Oregon, when Mount St. Helen's erupted. We watched the black plume rise high into the sky from our front porch and then started moving Eastward. An hour or so afterward we noticed that our cars were covered with ash. The ash also settled on our Rhododendrons and destroyed the leaves and blooms. There's a Visitor Center located off of I-5 traveling North soon after entering Washington State. It's worth the trip if you happen to be traveling in the Northwest. Interestingly, I moved to Bend, Oregon a few years after the eruption of St Helen's, where they filmed the movie "St Helens". It's a very well-done drama, and from what I can tell the actors did a great job representing the actual people of St Helens.

What an awesome documentary this is, from the interviews and commentary to the pictures and videography. Just a great 30th anniversary documentary, thank you to all involved !!!

I was a Security Policeman with the 92d Security Police Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base during the eruption of Mt. St. Helen's. In fact we at Fairchild were hosting an open house and air show. I along with a fellow Security Policeman were placed on top of an aircraft hanger with scopes on our M-16 rifles, with direct orders to use deadly force If anyone attempted to start an aircraft on display. Both of us noticed a huge black cloud to the southwest of the base, very soon after we could see a white top air force vehicle racing to the display area. Keep in mind the speed limit on the flight line was 15 mph. The car was the Wing Commander, he started asking those on the base to evacuate the base in a slow orderly fashion. Our radios came to life, ordering us down to the ground to assist in the evacuation. Our military members evacuated 4,000 people off the base with only ONE very minor accident at the main gate. By 3PM it was dark, no sun light at all, we were being snowed on by ash, and soon had to find any clothing of nylon to place on the snorkel of the air cleaner on our engines to keep ash out of the engine block. Our KC-135 Tanker aircraft conducted a minimum interval take-off to escape the ash coming towards us. Our B-52's were grounded, and secured. The SR-71 was also grounded. A few days later President Jimmy Carter landed at Fairchild as we were a very secure SAC Base. I was honored to have been selected by a secret service agent to secure the air control tower, then was escorted by that agent to the red carpet reception, shaking President Carter's hand. When I discharged from the Air Force I drove to Tucson Arizona and still had ash in my 72' Plymouth wagon. I don't think I will have this happen in my lifetime again. I am 60 now, living in Phoenix, Arizona.

Nice to see Weyerhauser intervening, harvesting downed trees and recovering enough timber to build 85,000 homes. They replanted the forests, and they've been harvesting the new growth for over 15 years.

I grew up 20 miles northwest of the summit. I was born 4 years after the eruption at St Helens hospital in Chehalis. My dad ran the Napa in Chehalis and had to have an emergency delivery of air filters for law enforcement and ambulances. They would plug solid in under an hour. He was also a member of the Lewis County search and rescue and helped with searching for people. My step dad was a Lewis County sheriffs deputy and was also involved in searches and evacuations. The way our house was situated we only had a light dusting of ash while the neighbors about 5 miles in either direction were buried. We used to camp northeast of the mountain just outside of Packwood and the amount of ash that is still there is incredible.

I used to camp, hike and swim at Mt. St. Helens in the 1970's. I swear I've never seen such pristine forests, rivers and lakes since those days.

I remember this like it was yesterday, I was in Spokane Washington when Mt Saint Helens blew...the year my life changed..just remember: life can change in a heartbeat...so always be greatful&thankful..

When this happened in 1980, I became fascinated (obsessed) by volcanology. Listening to the descriptions today about the extent of the massive landslide and mudflows is just as fascinatingly incredible and surreal as it was nearly 40 years ago.

I really wish I had RU-vid to help with my homework when I was young.

I got to fly over the destruction zone after the mountain had calmed down for several years. The closer you got to the crater, the trees went from burnt to bare to blown over to blown away. Several years later, I visited the newly opened National Monument and the regrowth was amazing. All the trees were the same height, but it was beautiful to see a lush forest growing again.

I worked on St. Helens in the summer of 82' putting the roads back in so they could haul the logs out before they rotted. They were sold to japan. Very instructive, it was still farting and steaming then. I lived over in Cougar.

I was born in 1984. But I found a jar of ash from the 1980 volcanic eruption at a garage sale. Still have that jar, and will never open it! RIP Harry Truman, David Thompson, and all those who parished. You are now one with the mountain for all time, and part of her tale of growth, renewal, and destruction. May your forests be forever green, and Spirit Lake eternally clear and peaceful.

The recovery of Mt. St. Helens was amazing!

Even though I was only 8 years old at the time of the eruption. And I still remember it. The crazy pictures and news clips. The hushed talk of the adults about ash clouds and weather and how far reaching the ash clouds would be. I remember reading newspaper articles about it, and about the fears that nothing would ever grow there again. It's amazing to me to see the changes of the last nearly 40 years now.

All of you involved at Compel Media, thank you very much for creating this video. The content is uniquely balanced. I'd rather think of you as composers of your art works rather than being technicians. Watching this video has affected me on many levels.

I was 6 when the mtn blew, living in Mesa, Wa in Eastern Washington. In 81, my dad started doing professional tours for a charter bus company. And in 83-88 he did St. Helens. The passengers would film on VHS the trip. Dad would narrarate. If I find these tapes again, I will post them. Great video.

thank,i used this for my homework and got a grade 9.!!!

I just love it when these documentaries say nobody knew what was going to happen. Dave Johnston did. He'd done his doctoral studies on Bezymianny in Russia, which erupted in almost identical fashion in 1955. He tried repeatedly to warn the state, but both then-governor Dixy Lee Ray and the head of USGS in Vancouver caved to pressure from Weyerhauser and effectively silenced him. Had they heeded his warnings and adopted the danger zone maps he recommended, most if the 57 people killed wouldn't have been, because the Red Zone would have extended 25 miles to the north/ northwest of the volcano.

Thanks for the upload. RIP David Johnston and Harry Truman.

I had the honor of briefly being in the movie St. Helens 1981 (as a 24 y/o Extra running through a make-believe swap-meet in flying ash generated by a large gas powered movie-set fan) filmed in Bend, Or in the fall of 1980. Bend was depicted as damaged Cougar, WA. 13 miles from Mount Saint Helens. Me and my blue 1967 VW Square-Back was also behind a line of cars that they crashed and flipped in the chaos, unfortunately my VW must have ended up on the editor's floor because I never located the footage in the movie, darn, only me in my brown leather vest zigzagging while I trotted in the ally behind the Pioneer Inn right around the red Ford PU truck rescuing the frantic young lady scene. I plan to travel to Bend for the 40th movie get together. IT WAS SUCH A BLAST.....well, you know what I mean.

May be the most well spoken people i have listened to..Very well done!!

I visited there in the summer of 1995...it was a surreal experience, and the landscape actually looked like it had only happened maybe a year ago. Unfortunately, the marine climate of the area was in full swing that day, and by the time we made it to the summit, St. Helen's was shrouded in low hanging clouds, with a cold misty rain falling. Very disappointing, but still glad I made it there to see it first-hand. This 30-years-later special is beautifully done, very life-affirming. I agree with the narrator...if you get the chance, you really should make the journey there to see it up-close.

I would just like to say THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO ARE THERE TO SUPPORT AND PUT THEIR LIVES AT RISK TO GO OUT TO RESCUE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE TRAPPED FOR NO FALT OF THEIR OWN. THEN GO OUT AND PUT THEMSELVES IN DANGER TO GET PEOPLE SAVED 👍👍👍👍THANK YOU GUYS

This is my birthday, my mom went into labor around midnight. I was born on May 18, 1980, at 8:15am 17 minutes before the eruption of Mt. St. Helens.

I remember that day. I was 15 and we got ash all over our cars down here in Colorado Springs Colorado.

I was 4 years old, playing in the yard. Even in Saskatchewan, Canada... it was a real smoky day.

Wow, great look at an incredible event. I graduated from high school days after the original May 1980 eruption. My father was raised in the shadow of the Cascades, in the Yakima Valley. Luckily, my grandparents were in Las Vegas for my graduation when Helen blew her top. THANKS.

The day before Mount Saint Helens blew, I and my band had traveled from Colville Washington to Coeur d'Alene Idaho to stay at a friend's house to practice for upcoming gigs. We had practiced nearly all night and I, so tired, went to take a nap in the basement that morning. When I woke up, it was dark and as I went up the stairs, it was still dark. My friends were rushing around with towels in their hands. I didn't think anything of it, half asleep, but because it was dark ask, how long did I sleep?! I remembered the story of Rumpelstiltskin . If I remember correctly, he took a nap by a tree and awakened 100 years later with a long beard not knowing he had fallen asleep? When I learned that it was not really night outside nor had it snowed covering the trees, that's when I learned that a volcano had erupted near us and everyone was covering the bottom of the doors so that Ash wouldn't travel inside. We all made our respective calls home to Colville Washington, Colville, which really hadn't felt the effects as we had in Coeur d'Alene, or rather on the outskirts of Coeur d'Alene Idaho. I believe we were located halfway between the volcano and Spokane Washington. We were forced to wait until the ash died down somewhat, the next day, before we all loaded up the equipment, got in our van to go north east which would eventually take us out of the ash. As we were driving, me in the backseat, the van started choking and we pulled over. The air filter being clogged , the driver and the guys were thinking of anything that might work ...That's when the driver, our drummer, asked me if I had any nylons on me, and thank God I did! In fact, I believe I was wearing them because in the month of May in Washington state it's still cold and doesn't warm up until the end of July. I took them off without a second thought and he put them over the air filter, driving slow, very slow, brushing them off every few miles, we made it!!! That was a great pair of nylons! I was never cheap when it came to my nylons LOL. They had to last for all those shows I did on stage! We made it home but not without a jar of Ash! In fact several jars of Ash which are probably still around in various homes in Washington State , but my jar is gone. I will never forget feeling like Rumpelstiltskin that day believing that it had snowed in May, the trees covered so thick and so eerie and spooky-looking outside. I just felt really bad for our friends knowing that they had to stay there and deal with it, however long it took. This was their home . And yes I remember news reporters showing, on TV, an old guy who lived on the mountain, then presumed dead after failed attempts to get that guy to leave the mountain, his home. They begged him! We were in such a panicked hurry to get home that we were unaware of how many people had died. We were terrified as well that we wouldn't make it., but we did with my pair of pantyhose , and I'm here to talk about it. Of course I'll never see my pantyhose again but that was the best use for pantyhose that could have ever been invented. I thank our driver, no longer with us today, for having such a witty and educated mind. May Jimmy rest in peace. I now look to the South west and wonder if it will happen again after what has occurred in Hawaii ., so many memories flooding back to me.

I was six days old when St. Helens erupted. It's just mind blowing to consider how much energy was released in eruption. Amazing.

One of the BEST docus I have seen.

I've grown up in Puget Sound, so I've grown up hearing personal stories of the mountain. Including my own Mother and Grandmothers first hand accounts of hearing the blast and seeing the ash cloud envelope Yakima. They said it was the strangest, scariest, and most awesome experience of their lives. I remember when I was in 7th grade and it started erupting again, my whole class was FREAKING out. We documented every day it erupted. Anyone who grows up in this area is surrounded by such beauty and awe inspiration strength of the earth. I have lived in an area where I can see a spectacular view of Mt Rainier. I never forget though how deadly it can be, which just makes me appreciate and respect the mountain more.

very nicely done! i wasn't alive at the time of the eruption but i do still love the mountain just as much

Thank you Gregory Miller, It is incredible to have your eyewitness account here. Your story was so descriptive. Just by relating that finding some and putting nylon on the exhaust pipe on vehicles to keep the motor running, really brought me almost to tears!! I would have never thought the ash would cause a car to fail!, If there is a memorial center (I am still watching the video) I do hope that they have the few eye witness accounts like yours on film there!!! By the way, my father was the electronics troubleshoot engineer on the SR 71 built in my hometown! It did not fly without his approval I have been told..

Thank you for creating this beautiful film! I remember those days but have not kept up with the developments. It reminds us how breathtaking our planet is and that we must do our best to take care of it. ❤😊

(This is Feb 2019) - at the time of the eruption I lived in the village of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada - and 2 days after the eruption the broad-leafed vegetables in our vegetable garden, and our verandah, had grey volcanic ash evident everywhere - and (we were) 3000 (straight-line) miles east - the prevailing south-west wind had brought Mt. St. Helens to us!

Yes. I "remember exactly what I was doing" that Sunday morning... Oddly enough, May 18th was my sister's birthday, and on that morning, I was returning home from Portland OR to Seattle WA as the mountain was erupting. It was spectacular! The I-5 bridge over the Toutle River had been closed and we had to divert to another, smaller bridge, crawling along in bumper-to-bumper traffic. By the time I made it to Seattle to watch the news on TV, the bridge that I had crossed... was GONE.... RIP, Harry Truman. I once knew a man like him. His name was Gordon Stuart, and he lived as a hermit at Domke Lake near Lake Chelan. A book about him is called "Mountain Air". Perhaps you can find it. It was written by my aunt Sandy Nelson Bryant, and it's pretty good reading.

Been to St. Helens twice, Mount Rainier numerous times. I was born long after St. Helens erupted. Both are beautiful mountains.

I was just there 2 months ago and the place is hauntingly beautiful!

I lived in Washington State at the time of the Eruption! Tacoma Washingtin! I could see the Ash plume from my living room window, we were told that it may come our way! I was so happy it did not! The Wind went east towards Spokane Wa! The could not see the sun for 3 days! Yes I Remember it very well! It Erupted May 18, 1980! My daughter was born 3 years later! She is now 30! I pray it does not happen again, many souls lost there Lives that day! There was a man I remember! Who would not leave his home! He thought he would be ok! But he was killed in the eruption! It was so very sad! Because! Mt St Helens like Mt Rainier are Beautiful Mountains to look upon! The whole area was a Beautiful place!

Great documentary! I absolutely love the PNW, and plan to visit MT St Helens more often! Thank you for the great documentary!

Thank you for the documentary. That was a momentous day! It is so nice to see after the total devastation of that area how beautiful it's been able to restore itself. Thank Weyerhauser for the replanting of trees. Loss of life is regrettable but thankful warnings and updates were frequent in the news and newspapers. Mother Natures raw and incredible power.

Well done. Best I've seen on the recovery and history of Mount Saint Helens.

Great documentary! Thanks for posting. I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard on the radio news in New Zealand that the mountain had erupted. Dynamic geological processes are part and parcel of the creation of beautiful landscapes not to mention soil fertility and I welcome them. There is nothing more boring than a dying eroding landscape devoid of mountain building.

I visited the area for the first time right about the time this documentary was made. I encourage everyone to go there and take it all in if you have the means. It is truly awe inspiring.

19 January 2023! How well I remember!! Was in my 20's. Where has the time gone? 🤔✝️

Such a great video...thank you so much for posting it.

One of my favorite documentaries - and it looks amazing on my 4K TV.

Love the music in this. Props to Mr. Brendan Flohr. Whoever he is.

I was a student at Laurelwood Adventist Academy. Our family actually lived very close to Laurelwood, so Mt St Helens was blocked from direct view by Bald Peak. But it soon became obvious to us the mountain had erupted, because we couldn't miss that towering ash column! My father drove us up to Bald Peak park, where we could clearly see the eruption. While there, a man who had a transit level let me view the mountain through the telescopic sight. I will never forget what I saw that day. I was seventeen then. I'm now fifty six. Yet it is just as fresh in my memory now, as it was that day.

Went up there last year 40 years later it is beautiful now

Amazing! Thank you for sharing. Incredible recovery.

I planted trees up there for several years before, and for the first couple years after it blew. Spent a long season replanting the Green River drainage. It was amazing up there. Driving in the first season was on roads cut through ash so deep it almost felt like a gray tunnel. Weyerhauserr had us digging through the ash at first, but Fish and Wildlife told them to stop, as the holes were leg breakers for the elk. The elk were everywhere after the blast, and we sometimes had to chase them off (or try) when they would follow us around uprooting our trees!

Can't wait for our trip later this year. I've passed the exit six times in the past year when visiting family in Washington. I am STOPPING this year!

Great video! Thanks for posting, this place is definitely on my bucket list!

This eruption is a reminder to us of the power of plate tectonics, subduction will bury all signs of human habitation give or take a few million years from now. Have a nice day y,all.

Great documentary! I hiked Mt. St. Helens last Saturday and it's awesome to get to know what happened there a bit more. Fascinating stuff.

Amazing 👍 I was 4, and was about 100 miles north, just north of Seattle, in Snohomish, at the time, but I remember it still like it happened yesterday. It's most certainly among my main indelible childhood memories, to this day. And, it's arguably even more beautiful and area for recreation now, as magnificent as it had been, up until that day. I try getting out there every summer still. Even though there are far larger and more ancient forests and mountains within 30 miles of where I live, right now, along the coast of Puget Sound between Mt Rainier and Mt Baker. ⛰️

Glad I got to see it during my life time! 💐💐💐

Volcanoes are "dormant" until they aren't.

I had the privilege of climbing up to the crater back in 1989, when it was still a brand new moonscape. The visual destruction was mind boggling, and the ground was still dangerous with downed trees, large unsettled hills and ridges of pyroclastic debris, pumice, and sharp broken rocks and boulders. We had to descend before we could enter the crater itself (see 2:57) because a sudden snowfall was making the already hazardous ground even more dangerous. Its been almost 30 years since then, and the ground of the debris field is no doubt vastly more stable now, with eroded gravel and new dirt slowly filling in all the gaps between the rocks underfoot, and plants emerging to anchor everything. Let's just hope Raineer stays quiet for a good long while yet ... Helens was bad enough. Likewise for Yellowstone.

40 years now since the eruption. Beautiful once again.

My late uncle spent some time down at Spirit Lake pre-eruption. He said he had never seen any place more beautiful.

My Grandmother lived in Yakima, Washington. She was in church and when they came out, there was nothing but ash and darkness. My husband's Mother lived in Stevenson, Washington on the Columbia River, maybe 30 miles out of Portland, Ore. When the mountain blew....they were on I-5 on there way to Seattle, they could see Mt. St. Helens when it blew.

So in reality the Gophers are the real heroes.

I'll never forget that day. It was so creepy to see that morning sunlight coming in my window go dark...the ash cloud had come clear across the state to southeastern Washington. I'll always remember it.

A very interesting video and good to see the recovery of this area. Thank you.

"fragmented stumps"... just let that sink it for a moment. Those tree trunks were probably 3-5 feet in diameter.

I did a motorcycle ride through the area in 2012.. thinking about doing it again this year before the rain and snow returns. It's sooooo pretty. I'd post a photo here if I could.

We were on the road from San Diego back to Vancouver just south of Portland when Mt. St. Helens blew and had to stop for a night and change air filters, (actually the VW had an oil-bath unit and we were lucky not to have any changes made) in the VW van (camperized) before we could proceed. We followed a three-truck plowing convoy North along Hwy 5 and some of the dust we accumulated took several years to disappear from our unit. It's hard to believe it has been 30 years since this took place. Thanks for the upload.

This program was fascinating!.

How wonderfully tough God has made His Creation.

I live in New Brunswick Canada and remember the ash on the cars here. It was a light dusting and made you think.

I live an hour from Johnston Ridge and ride up there frequently on my road bike, beautiful area. Windy Ridge is also an awesome place to visit. I shot video with a drone last week and have it posted on my RU-vid channel for anyone that wants to see how much things are changing. Thanks for the upload of this documentary!

I was stationed in Bremerton Washington at that time, about 80 miles north of the eruption. Found it incredible that where I'm from, New York, received more ash than Bremerton did because of the prevailing westerly winds. It was the single most awesome sight I've ever seen. I went back a few years ago and encourage anyone who enjoys national parks to put this on their short list of places to visit. It's incredible.

I was a month into AF basic training when this erupted...listening to my training instructor erupt. lol

Harry Truman is my spirit animal.

I was in the Navy on a Mediterranean cruise. We heard about it about a week after it happened. I visited the area in 2008 and I found it to be both beautiful and tragic. When driving around the south side of mountain I came upon the Ape Caves, dense forest, plentiful wildlife, and such serenity. So peaceful and soothing. Coming around the north side of the mountain was a completely different store. EVERYTHING was either gone or laid flat along the landscape. Such destruction. It was like somebody had drawn a line on the land and said that everything north of the line was to be destroyed. It was that definite.

This is a Stunning Documentary Thanks for Sharing !

I hiked this area just 8 years before the eruption. Glad I wasn't there for it.

Wrong Truman. The Harry Truman who had a lodge on Spirit Lake is not related to President Truman.

Great Documentary! Thank you for the upload!

Great Documentary! Thanks for posting!!

I was i mile from the crater to the NW on that morning, MAY 18, 1980!!!~~ it barely missed me. I wish I had had A CAMERA LIKE TODAY'1`````````````````````````````````````

The fact the Foresters we're driving a Ford Pinto wagon was a bad omen.

Great documentary. Thanks for uploading!

Just watched it early this morning. It is absolutely excellent!!I started watching it at right about 3:45am this morning. Sunday, April 30th. 41:02 Just finishing it Up. I was living in Missoula Montana back then when it blew. The cloud 🌧️ of ASH and everything else that was mixed in with the cloud, covered Missoula, and large parts of Montana. Because it blew to the east and all the way to the Atlantic ocean.

I saw Mt. St. Helens when I was 3. Had no idea that volcanoes existed, but noticed the scars on the mountain left from the eruption. Called it a "broken mountain".

im 44 and i was in cali turlock when it happed

Thanks for that....I remember seeing that one! Wow.

Great reporting, I truly enjoyed watching the Documentary.

I was 7 and I remember playing outside with a mask on with other kids in West Lynn, OR. We turned cardboard boxes into space suits and pretended we were on the moon. I don't think I understood the danger at the time.

My mother lived in Vancouver BC. She heard the explosion and thought there had been a very bad car accident at the corner of her street.

Great storytelling of a historic mountain.

I was just getting ready to graduate from highschool when she blew. I remember it well, the last days of my highschool career we spoke of nothing else. I would love to have the opportunity to visit the area. Thank you😀👍

My wife and I lived in Sasktoon Saskatchewan at the time and I owned a totally black car that became a totally white car with ash for a week

Yeah yeah, I was 18 and watched it blow from my house in St Helens (Oregon) across the Columbia river from Washington. Why the hell isn't anyone talking about those monster trout at 5:50. Those things look like Salmon, imagine hooking one of those on regular light gear, you'd be chasing them around the lake in your boat. Man those were the days, those fish don't exist anymore around here. You know, the important stuff.

This was an awesome program.

I was an 8th grader in Toutle, WA when the mountain erupted...it was quite an experience to be a part of.