On the morning of May 18, USGS volcanologist David Johnston, woke up at his campsite on a ridge 6 miles north of the volcano, and radioed in his regular 7 a.m. report. The changes to the bulging mountain were consistent with what had been reported several times daily since the watch began and left no indication of what was about to happen.
“This is it!”
Overhead, Keith and Dorothy Stoffel were making an aerial survey of the volcano when they noticed a landslide on the lip of the summit’s crater, USGS reported. Within seconds, the whole north face of the mountain was on the move. Just as they passed around to the east side of the mountain, the north face collapsed, releasing superheated gases and trapped magma in a massive lateral explosion. Keith put the plane into a steep dive to gain the speed to outrun the cloud of incandescent gas; Dorothy continued to photograph the eruption through the rear windows of the plane as they made their escape.
This landslide released a glowing cloud of superheated gas and rock debris that was blown out of the mountain face moving at nearly supersonic speeds. Everything within 8 miles of the blast was wiped out almost instantly.
The 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption was the most destructive in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people died, and thousands of animals were killed, according to USGS. More than 200 homes were destroyed, and more than 185 miles of roads and 15 miles of railways were damaged. Ash clogged sewage systems, damaged cars and buildings, and temporarily shut down air traffic over the Northwest.
Robert Payne, Mike Hubbard, and Keith Moore were fishing, sixteen miles northwest.
Hubbard recalls; “We could see half a mile of ridgeline. The cloud suddenly loomed over the ridge as a wall. It didn’t continue up but flowed down through the forest toward us. The front was a thousand feet high—boiling, gray, turbulent, coming very fast.”
“I dropped my pole and ran down the bank. I looked back and already it was almost on us, a hundred yards back. Bob ran just behind me, and I glimpsed Keith forty yards back running from the river into taller timber. Just ahead of me was a huge maple tree, four feet in diameter. I dove in behind it, Bob dove in, and it turned black.”
The three men mentioned above, as well as many others on the mountain at the time of the explosion survived.
A month later, Victor Albino decided to write a game based on the events. Originally written in 1980 for the Commodore PET, it later appeared in March 1981 it landed in the magazine SoftSide for the TRS-80.
Volcano Adventure is a very serious game and it pulls no punches. The tension is very real as you are forced to make a series of choices in order to stay alive. The game is very well written by an author who seems hell bent on making the experience as realistic as possible. So much so, that I was under the impression that Victor Albino was present the day Mount St. Helens exploded and was sharing the experience. This is a choose-your-path adventure and you are provided with choices to make at each step as you attempt to make your way off of the mountain.
When you start Volcano Adventure the game begins with a menu option. There is an educational section which describes the events of March 27th, 1980 and then proceeds to explain how and why a volcano erupts. It even provides a side view of a volcano including labels.
The game itself is not very long and I finished it in about 30 – 45 minutes. The choices that you have to make on your harrowing escape from the eruption are not easy and I found myself dying a couple of times. It is a miracle that there were any survivors at all given the conditions of that day. In a sense, you get to relive their story. If you are interested in playing the game yourself you can do so at this link: Volcano Adventure.
I strongly urge you to give this a try as it provides an educational experience as well as a serious glimpse into THE most destructive volcano in U.S. history. The fact that these events were very real makes it a more tension filled, immersive experience compared to any dark, creature infested dungeon of fantasy.