While the rest of the world stared in awe at the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980, the 52-year-old Federal Way resident and cave explorer saw an opportunity. A self-made ice cave expert and founder of the International Glaciospeleological Survey (IGS), Anderson wanted to be the first person to study the development of ice caves on an active volcano.
"St. Helens started showing activity and I thought, 'I have to do something to get down there,'" he says.
Shortly after the 1980 eruption, Anderson applied to the U.S. Forest Service for a permit to study the remaining glaciers on Mt. St. Helens, and to his surprise, the Forest Service gave him a permit not only to study the glaciers and map any ice caves, but to explore inside the volcano's gapping crater. He became the only person outside of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) with a permit to fly into the crater with up to 10 people for exploration.
It was a dream come true.
"We're seeing how they're building," Anderson says. "Nobody in the world has seen
how they (caves) start from zero and have gone on up, which is really unique."
Anderson says he has expanded his studies to monitor the ice density inside the dome
and observe the ice melt to determine if the mountain is heating up in preparation
for another eruption.
"If we keep an eye on that and see how much the entrances are receding back, or suddenly see how much the plume starts to pour out more than at normal times, then we can start to say it's starting to get a little on the active side," he says. "It's a pre-warning."
"We can tell a lot about how the mountain is doing by studying that ice mass," Anderson says.
Anderson was no stranger to Mt. St. Helens before it erupted. He had climbed to the summit a number of times in training for the rigorous trips into the Paradise Ice Caves. He also explored every nook and cranny of the Ape Caves a series of lava tubes on the south side of the volcano.
Over the last 15 years, Anderson has spent more time inside the crater of Mt. St. Helens than anyone outside the USGS maybe more than anyone in the world. He will mark the 15th anniversary of the eruption that created his personal playground with a trip back into the heart of the volcano. Weather permitting, he plans to ride a helicopter into the crater with a group of scientists and to land at the base of the steaming lava dome before 8:32 a.m. the exact moment that a catastrophic landslide triggered the eruption in 1980.
What inspires this mild-mannered scientist, who works on the docks in Seattle, to venture into a smoldering volcano in his spare time?
Call it scientific curiosity. The holder of bachelors degrees in geology and photography, Anderson can't stay away from his passion for exploration. He never really set out to become an expert on caving. He stumbled into the practice after a chance meeting with a caver high in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.
"I was a mountain climber, and in Colorado I met a caver on top of a peak," Anderson says. "He asked, 'Have you ever been in a cave?' I told him no, and after that we went caving. I've been caving and mountain climbing ever since."
Anderson moved to the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1960s and started exploring ice caves. He quickly became an expert on the Big Four Ice Caves on Mount Baker and the Paradise Ice Caves on Mt. Rainier after starting his studies in 1966. A year later, he helped to continue the mapping of the lava tubes around Mt. St. Helens.
Anderson's obsession with studying ice caves has earned notoriety around Washington. The dangers involved with studying caves that are extremely impermanent and melting around him each time he enters the abyss have made him a legend. Despite the dangers, Anderson has narrowly escaped serious injuries.
Anderson barely survived a surprise spring snow storm that hit while he and his first wife, Edith, were exploring the Paradise Ice Caves in 1968. Edith died from hypothermia when the storm blocked their path and forced them to stay overnight in a snow cave. Charles had to be revived by rescuers the next day.
He also survived a helicopter crash outside the crater of Mt. St. Helens in 1982. He bears a scar across his nose and a battered finger from that incident, which killed no one aboard the plane.
It seems that nothing will keep Anderson from his passion for caves.
"I just keep pushing," Anderson says of his precarious studies. "If it falls apart in one area and, well, I lost a cave there, I just go to another area."
Anderson hopes his studies will pay off soon. He has been asked by a group associated with the Big Four Ice Caves on Mt. Baker to write a book on the history of the caves, and he has joined with a handful of other members of IGS to produce a 45-minute video about Mt. St. Helens. The video, scheduled for release this summer, includes footage from last year's trips into the crater, with close-up shots of the lava dome and rock falls off the crater walls, as well as unbelievable pictures of the ice caves forming inside the crater. The footage also includes glimpses of the mountain during the spring, summer and fall.
He plans to have the video done soon, and it will be made available to the public for $24.95. Anyone interested in a copy should write to: IGS Video, 547 S.W. 304th St., Federal Way, WA 98023.
Following next week's commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, Anderson plans to make a series of summer trips into the crater to continue and even accelerate his studies. He knows that there is no time to slow down. Mt. St. Helens could come to life at any time, wiping out the ice caves he has mapped for nearly 15 years. Anderson already has witnessed the demise of the Paradise Ice Caves system on Mt. Rainier. He is eager to spend every minute possible inside Mt. St. Helens before the caves melt into history.
"I figure, while I'm young, I might as well enjoy it," Anderson says of his dangerous trips into the volcano. "Then, when I'm 80, I can look at the video tapes and say, 'Gee, look at what I did!'"
From the Federal Way News; May 11, 1995.
Return to Rob's clips.
Copyright © White Rabbit Publishing.
All rights reserved.