Posted on 02/17/2010 11:35:37 AM PST by Star Traveler
NewsCore February 17, 2010 12:19PM
- Hiker dead after rescue efforts delayed
- Believed to be alive after initial fall
- Fell 457 metres into volcano's crater
A MAN who fell into the crater of north-west America's Mount St Helens volcano died after rescuers were forced to abandon their bid to save him overnight, it emerged today.
The 53-year-old's body was recovered by a US Navy helicopter after rescue attempts began again this morning.
He was named as Joseph Bohlig, KPTV reported.
He toppled into the crater - falling up to 1500 ft (457m) over rocks and ice then landing on a 70-degree snowy slope near the bottom - after a ledge he stood on near the rim collapsed on Monday.
He was believed to be alive when he landed, although his condition was not known, with rescuers saying they could hear him blowing an emergency whistle.
Attempts to reach him by helicopter on Monday afternoon and evening were called off due to unsafe winds and the approach of darkness, forcing Bohlig to spend the night in the crater.
A medic was airlifted to the crater floor but was unable to climb to Bohlig and had to be flown out again.
Lt. Brooks Crawford of the US Coast Guard - one of two pilots that tried to rescue Bohlig on Monday - told KPTV the victim was buried in snow.
"We were 300 feet (91m) above him," Crawford said. "(The other pilot and the rescue swimmer) saw his head, arms and legs and saw no movement whatsoever. No signaling, nothing to indicate that he was in good shape."
Bohlig had climbed Mount St Helens 68 times, according to the Skamania County sheriff's office. Officials believe he may have been posing for a photo to be taken by his partner when the ledge gave way.
Mount St Helens - famous for a deadly explosion in 1980 which killed 57 people - is an active volcano in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest of Oregon, in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire geological region.
Thousands of people climb to the crater's rim each year, but permits are required to go above 4800 feet (1463m).
A warning on the US Forest Service Web site said the crater rim is "unstable and can be hazardous at any time".
Mount St. Helens VolcanoCams
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/
Three months after the eruption I came off the interstate and drove to the red zone. There was a road sign for Toutle(I think) and Spirit Lake with the distance to each. Spirit Lake had been painted out in green paint.
You must have been driving along the Toutle River Highway then, because that's the one that would take one to Spirit Lake. And that's the road that would have had the mud flows down it and houses buried in the mud flows.
But, I would imagine that at just three months afterwards, that area where houses were buried, would not have been dug out yet and the road would have been covered, too... so you probably didn't see that, at that time.
Later on, though, after it had been dug out a bit, you could drive down the Toutle River Highway and see those houses that had been buried and also see the mud marks, high up on the trees, showing that it had gotten pretty high, as it came down the river.
Now, when you drive down that road to Johnston Ridge Observatory, the highway has been relocated to higher ground (as the original highway would have been totally buried that far along, as you get closer to the mountain.
Here's a link to the highway and the mileage markers, all the way to Johnston Ridge Observatory.
On the way up there, on the new relocated highway to Johnston Ridge, you cross this bridge -- the Hoffstadt Creek Bridge. I just thought it made a nice picture. I've got a few of those that I've taken, too... :-)
Here's an interesting page... Washington 504: Spirit Lake Memorial Highway
Well, that was fortunate for him..., but not so for the other guy.
Yep, it was the road that runs along the Toutle River. We drove to a point where a bridge had been washed out and that was as far as the public could go. The guard rail that was exposed where the bridge had been torn out by the mud flows was buried under 5 feet of ash.
Logging trucks were coming out of the red zone and three large trees had been laid across the river and covered in ash for a bridge.
I’ll never forget seeing a very nice house untouched by the mudflows that came within feet of the foundation.
The forest blow-down was indescribable.
Cornices are unstable and prone to sudden failure. Extreme caution is advised! Do not approach the crater rim unless you can find a wind-scoured area where the surface of the rim is visible. The crater rim is unstable and is subject to frequent rockfall and collapse. Stay back from the crater edge, it is potentially hazardous at any time of year (especially during the period of elevated avalanche danger and rockfall during the spring thaw).
thanks for all the pics.
interestingly beautiful.
As many will say sad story, but at 68 times....
He died doing something he loved.
Lot of truth in 'old sayings'. . .
RIP.
Abe played the part of the chief. The fictional islanders were a mixture of jews and druids that shipwrecked long ago. Movie is a cult classic but hated by the critics. It has a great message about life.
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