Story #17: Perhaps the last summit of St. Helens

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Ten days before its eruption, brothers Charlie and Paul Hickenbottom made one of the last legal climbs of Mount St. Helens before access to it was closed. They spent the night at the summit. Charlie snapped this northward photo of Paul inside the crater rim on their descent. Mount Rainier is in the background. (Charlie Hickenbottom)
By Charlie Hickenbottom

I made one of the last – or maybe the – last legal summit before the mountain was closed to access, spending the night on the summit March 8.

On May 18, I was driving toward Mount Rainier from Seattle and briefly got caught in the ash cloud south of Eatonville, was able to turn around in zero visibility and slowly but quickly hightailed it back to home.

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Now & then here and now…

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