Oregon Public Broadcasting

The viewpoint and visitor center closest to the Mount St. Helens crater reopens for the season  Friday.  That’s just in time to mark the 28th anniversary of the catastrophic 1980 eruption this weekend.

National Forest spokesman Chris Strebig says highway and volcano crews had to clear snowdrifts up to 25 feet deep to get to the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

Chris Strebig: “I think part of the fascination of going up there this weekend is not only to see the volcano, but also to see how high the snow is at that elevation.”

Strebig says monitoring instruments on Mount St Helens are registering very little activity at the moment.  The lava dome building-eruption of the past few years has paused.

The eruption anniversary, Sunday, May 18th, is a free admission day at the volcano.