On the morning of May 18, 1980, photographer Robert Landsburg hiked seven miles from the summit of Mount St. Helens. As the lens of his camera viewed the snowy cap of the mountain and lush green forests of Skamania County, Wash., Landsburg intended to photographically document the change steadily occurring.
The volcano was quiet. There had been no eruptions for four days. Rolls of gases vented out of fumaroles, pressure escaping. Seismic activity rumbled below, as it had done since late March. Deformation of the northern face continued at a steady rate, the side buckling outward. About six miles to the north, the serene Spirit Lake held a handful of homes and cabins, the majority of them empty of their residents. Harry R. Truman, an 83-year-old resident of the area and owner of Mount St. Helens Lodge, had refused to evacuate.
