- Even before May 18, 1980 when Mt. St. Helens blew its top sky-high while vaporizing a vast area to its north, it was the smallest of Washington’s 5 volcanoes at 9677 ft (2950 m). The blast removed far more than that 1312 feet from the height of the mountain. It left a mere shell of what had been a beautifully symmetrical cone. The melting of several glaciers contributed to the massive floods. Sliding earth buried wonderful stands of virgin forest and recreational facilities and killed untold wildlife. A beautiful tree-lined lake was dammed to a higher level and filled with heat-stripped logs. Condensed rock vapor was carried on the wind to be deposited up to thousands of miles away. For seven years recreational climbing was banned on Mt. St. Helens. Then in May 1987 it was reopened. Only the south routes are still allowed. Access to the crater is strictly forbidden. On clear mornings I can see the mountain as I drive out of my neighborhood to work. That view is a constant reminder of the power of nature. I have always regretted that I had moved from Vancouver, WA to Juneau, AK only three months before the eruption. I returned two years after the eruption, but I missed out on all the excitement. When the mountain blew its top, a part of me went with it.
- Cascade Volcanoes (summitpost.org)
The Cascade Volcanos are some of the most sought after summits in the USA. The main reason being that many of them are solitary giants visible from metropolitan areas. But there are many other, lesser known and hidden peaks that await the intrepid climber. The singular grandeur, deep green forests, and stupendous amounts of snowfall make for a climbing experience that is unique to the world. There is one huge caveat to climbing the Cascade Volcanoes: the quality of the rock. Seldom is heard a climber raving about the high quality rock found, and nary a traveling climber wishes to visit this range to sample the ‘bullet’ ‘bombproof’ ‘solid’ stone. This page is organized from a climbers point of view, not that of a geologist. However, the geology affects the types of climbing found, so they have been grouped semi-arbitrarily into 3 categories based on the primary types of volcanoes, and the types of climbing found as a result. Glaciated Composite Peaks Shields and Plugs Buttes and Cones
- Pythagoras (plato.standford.edu)
Pythagoras, one of the most famous and controversial ancient Greek philosophers, lived from ca. 570 to ca. 490 BCE. He spent his early years on the island of Samos, off the coast of modern Turkey. At the age of forty, however, he emigrated to the city of Croton in southern Italy and most of his philosophical activity occurred there. Pythagoras wrote nothing, nor were there any detailed accounts of his thought written by contemporaries. By the first centuries BCE, moreover, it became fashionable to present Pythagoras in a largely unhistorical fashion as a semi-divine figure, who originated all that was true in the Greek philosophical tradition, including many of Plato’s and Aristotle’s mature ideas. A number of treatises were forged in the name of Pythagoras and other Pythagoreans in order to support this view. See the entry on Pythagoreanism.