Mount St. Helens observatory open for Sunday's anniversary

Mount St. Helens taught us a lot about power and geology on May 18, 1980.

We learned about lava domes, pyroclastic flows, lateral blasts, seared zones, volcanic mudflows, mudflows that temporarily closed down a 4-mile section of the Columbia River 50 miles away -- and a litany of statistics: 57 dead, 200 homes destroyed, 47 bridges damaged or vanished, 185 miles of highway, 15 miles of railways destroyed and a bill of nearly $3 billion in today's dollars.

Sunday is the anniversary of the explosion that shot ash into a 30-mile-high column and rewrote the geology books. The Johnston Ridge Observatory, only 5 miles from the crater, has reopened for the season.

But don't be too anxious to hike to the top. There's still about 12 feet of snow, so much that it may be as much as a month behind the typical melt-out that allows hikers, not snowshoers, to make the summit, which this year might not be until July.



Back from the dead: Lincoln Hall was left for dead on Mount Everest in 2006. National Geographic tells the tale in "Left for Dead: Miracle on Everest" at 9 p.m. Tuesday on the National Geographic channel. Hall's story touches the issue of the ethics of commercial guides and the summit ambitions of climbers.

Those who die on Mount Everest, especially in the "death zone" above 27,000 feet elevation, are usually left on the mountain. At the summit, Hall was lucid and calm, but was caught in the most dangerous aspect of the outing -- the descent, where he was struck by high-altitude cerebral edema.

Four Sherpas struggled for hours to get an uncooperative, irrational and sometimes unconscious Hall down the mountain but at 28,000 feet, with all that exertion, they, too, were running out of oxygen. Hall, apparently dead, was left behind.

Only he wasn't dead.



Avian hunt: Pilchuck Audubon Society has several birding trips scheduled for the next few weeks, including outings to Rasar Park, Camano Island, Big Four Meadows, Yakima Canyon, Whidbey Island and Jim Creek Sanctuary. For more information, call Art Wait, 360-563-0181.



Return to Paradise: Today is the second day that reservations can be made for the rehabilitated Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park. Updates for the opening of the inn are available at www.visitrainier.com.

Paradise, a national historic landmark, has been closed since October 2006 for structural and seismic upgrades. It first opened its doors on July 1, 1917.



Behind the scenes: For most people, it's hard to get near animals in the wild. Although not a wilderness, Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo is offering a chance to get up close and personal with animals in its Eye-to-Eye tours.

Wander down the Northern Trail with a zoo keeper and be introduced to some of North America's native species; get close to an elk herd by feeding them carrots; on the Savanna Safari, discover how to house a hippo and stand eye-to-knee with a giraffe.

Tours run May 21, July 12, July 26 and Sept. 13; reservations should be made soon for adults 18 and older and children 8 years old and older. For information, call 206-548-2424 or visit www.zoo.org.



Bits and pieces: What trails are open in the Wild Sky Wilderness? The 106,000-acre preserve in the Skykomish River drainage near Index includes Eagle Lake, West Cady Ridge, Scorpion Mountain, Silver Creek, Lake Isabel and Iron Mountain.



Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.