Thursday, May 2All That Matters

Richard Lasher was on his way to ride his dirt bike when Mt. St. Helens erupted in front of him.

by landonop


Richard Lasher was on his way to ride his dirt bike when Mt. St. Helens erupted in front of him.



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26 Comments

  • TheManInTheShack

    I just read a story about this. They said he unintentionally slept in that morning which almost certainly saved his life. Had he made it all the way to Spirit Lake (his intended destination) he would not have been able to escape the blast. Lucky dude.

    Reply
  • Spartan2470

    [Michael S. Keys](https://www.geekwire.com/2017/facebook-total-blast-rare-mount-st-helens-eruption-photo-gets-new-life-social-media/) posted this image on [Facebook](https://www.kitsapdailynews.com/news/may-18-198038-years-ago-a-volcanic-anniversary-of-ash-mudslides-and-devastation-from-mount-st-helens/) and shared a string of messages he received from a man named Steve Firth, which provide some good insight into how the photograph came to be. The messages are in the photo comments, and retyped as one here:

    > “Hi Michael, you don’t know me but my daughter saw your post of Mt. St. Helens blowing and showed it to me because she recognized it. That Pinto and dirt bike belonged to a good friend of mine and when he stopped to turn around, he took this picture. He told me that there was lightning bolts shooting out of the smoke but he didn’t have the right filter on his camera to capture them at that moment. The picture could have been even more amazing. It was used on the TV news and used to be on the cover of Mt. St. Helens brochure at the Johnston Observatory / visitor center. He gave me an original 8×10 copy of it although it looked like he was a good distance away from the blast, he barely made it out of there alive. Had the blast came more in his direction he would have died in seconds. Sometime later he returned and photographed a burned-out pickup with a horse trailer attached to it. He told me he had talked to them that day and said they never made it out. He is a freelance photographer so he took some amazing pictures of the aftermath as well. Anyhow, I thought I’d let you know a bit more about that fabulous picture. Take care, Steve.”

    [Here](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/MSH80_bulge_on_north_side_04-27-80.jpg) is the bulge right before it blew. It was taken by Peter Lipman on 27 April 1980. According to [here](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:MSH80_bulge_on_north_side_04-27-80.jpg#):

    > A “bulge” developed on the north side of Mount St. Helens as magma pushed up within the peak. Angle and slope-distance measurements to the bulge indicated it was growing at a rate of up to five feet (1.5 meters) per day. By May 17, part of the volcano’s north side had been pushed upwards and outwards over 450 feet (135 meters). The view is from the northeast.

    And [here it is](https://giant.gfycat.com/CandidLiveIchthyosaurs.webm) rebuilding itself from 2004 to 2008.

    For those having trouble view the rebuilding on mobile, [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6B1myUKAS4) is the source video.

    **Edit:** Thanks for the correction /u/kadyrama.

    Reply
  • bubba7557

    I can’t remember if it was Mt St Helens but I think it was. A professional photographer on his way to hike witnessed the explosion. Knowing he couldn’t escape the hot ash cloud baring down on him he quickly took what have ended up being some of the closest pictures of the eruption. Before the fallout reached him, he took off his shirt wrapped his camera in it, put that in his backpack then laid down on top of his backpack and waited to die knowing his efforts may preserve what turned out to be his most famous photographs of his life. Imagine facing certain death and saying, whelp what can I do to preserve my legacy in these last moments.

    Reply
  • Bwilderedbyhumans

    There’s a documentary called something like, Mt. Saint Helens, minute by minute…you can find it on YouTube, it’s worth a watch. It was an amazing eruption.

    Reply
  • beardedmanDK

    Went to mt st Helens 20 years ago. Pretty awesome-fear inducing to see. Im from Denmark… Where on a 2 month roadtrip cross the States

    Reply
  • piekaylee

    Seeing Mount St Helens in person is a wild experience. From the lava flow field, to the nausea inducing new growth trees. I’m glad that it is so protected, because the area is clearly still healing.

    Reply
  • thiscouldbemassive

    For anyone who wants to do a deep dive of first hand accounts from the survivors and witnesses, I highly, Highly recommend Eruption by Steve Olson. It explains the whole situation from why there was logging so high on the mountain, to what the government knew and didn’t know ahead of time, to how the survivors got in trouble and how they got out of it, to where the dead were when they died.

    Reply
  • Dismal_Equivalent_68

    Classic photo. Anybody know the ending to his story? I was in bed at 15 yrs old and mom was getting me up to go to my grandparents house for my gramps’ birthday. Our windows shook in Edmonds Wa

    Reply
  • Zeapey

    I’ve lived within view of St. Helens all my life. I was only 3 when it blew but it is absolutely seared into my memory. The ash raining down and my little asthmatic ass having to wear a mask everywhere I went. I remember my sister and I watching the cloud from our front yard and saying it looked like a flying pig at one point. My Dad thought it would be a good idea to take a drive up there once we were allowed to. The rivers looked like they were full of wet cement and debris. Full trees and giant boulders flowing like there were weightless. I remember specifically being terrified of crossing a couple bridges, my Mom was yelling at my Dad but he just grinned and went for it. Hah! Love you Dad! I still go up there all the time, Lava Canyon is definitely my favorite spot. It’s just such an amazing place to live. I’ve also become friends with the man who was the head of the forestry department for Weyerhaeuser at the time. He was in charge of all the replanting on their land. He had me tattoo a picture of the mountain on him (that’s my profession, not a kitchen job) I’m also close with the Nelson family, Leslie Nelson was the county sheriff at the time. He had some incredible stories about it. People were not happy with him keeping them out of their homes. Turns out he saved their ungrateful lives. One of the craziest things is we couldn’t hear it really even though we’re only 30 miles away. But they could hear it in Canada from what I’ve heard. I fucking LOVE Washington!!

    *Edit – I was remembering it wrong. There were some smaller eruptions before the big one and that’s when we drove up there, not after May 18th.

    Reply

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