Mount St. Helens | Blast Zone | 3

Against The Odds

Wondery

Cassie De Pecol, History, Society & Culture, Dolby, Mike Corey, Dolby Atmos, Atmos

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The survivors of the Mount St. Helens eruption find themselves in an alien world, with toppled trees, mudslides, and thick, hot ash covering everything. Unsure when or if rescue is coming, campers Sue Ruff and Bruce Nelson must make a difficult decision: whether to stay with their injured friends, or leave them behind, in order to get help faster.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Against the Odds early and ad-free right now.
0:05.6	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:09.8	A listener note, Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:14.8	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:21.6	Thank you. be invented, but everything is based on research. One tree.
0:31.6	Dan Balch lowers his undershirt from over his nose and mouth. He'd been using it to try to filter out some of the ash raining down from the sky,
0:36.6	but the ashfall has slowed to a
0:39.0	trickle and he can finally breathe easier.
0:42.8	He takes a look around from his perch on a fallen tree, about six feet off the ground.
0:48.3	What used to be a thick forest of pine and fir is now a wasteland of felled trees,
0:54.1	all toppled in the same direction and covered
0:56.8	in a coat of gray ash. It's hard to believe that just yesterday, Dan and some friends, including
1:03.7	Sue Ruff and her boyfriend Bruce Nelson, were breathing in the mountain air and setting up their
1:08.8	tents by the river. That same landscape has been
1:11.9	decimated by the eruption of Mount St. Helens. It's about 10.30 in the morning on Sunday, May 18th,
1:19.3	1980. It feels like it's been several lifetimes since the volcano erupted, but it's only been about two
1:26.1	hours. Next, what?
1:28.5	Next to him, on the tree trunk, Dan's friend Brian Thomas moans.
1:34.1	His shirt still over his face.
1:36.2	Dan gently nudges Brian.
1:38.2	Hey?
1:39.2	Looks like the ashes past.
	...

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