Climber found dead in Mount St. Helens crater

Joseph Bohlig, a man who was climbing on the Mount St. Helen's volcano on Monday and fell into a crater, was found to be dead on Tuesday. Bohlig was standing on a piece of the volcano and it crumbled, which caused him to fall 1,500 ft. down into the volcano. He was posing for a picture on the side of the volcano when he fell in. He was a veteran climber, and Scott Salkovics, another climber with him, witnessed his fall into the volcano. Although there are warnings all around the crater of unstable cornices, the pair decided to venture closer for a picture anyway, which led to the death of Bohlig.

I found this story to be very interesting; you don't often hear of someone falling into a volcano. I don't understand why this man would want to be so close to an open crater in a volcano, though. As stated in the article, there were signs all around the opening/crater of unstable cornices, but these men went right ahead to the very edge of the volcano anyway. Just one small slip, one small misstep, and this man lost his life. We talked about this in my Senior Social I class today, and he was still alive when we talked about it. I was very suprised to hear more about it, and that he had died. I assumed they would find a way to get him out safe, but it was too late. Also stated in the article, thousands of climbers just like Bohlig go to the very edge of the crater each year. There should be more safety precautions if Mount St. Helens if it is going to be a place open to the public. People should not just be able to fall into volcanoes. There should have been, and should be, more safety measures taken for the safety of all those who visit this volcano. This accident could have been so easily avoided.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/16/washington.hiker.volcano/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+(RSS%3A+Top+Stories)