Mount St. Helens | Still Alive | 4

Against The Odds

Wondery

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

4.7 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Rescue helicopters finally reach the campers, Sue and Bruce, as well as other stranded survivors like TV reporter David Crockett and logger Jim Scymanky. But with nightfall approaching, Sue worries that rescuers won’t be able to find her injured friends, Dan Balch and Brian Thomas, in time. With the roads onto the mountain impassible, blocked by trees and debris, rescuers' only chance of reaching survivors quickly is by helicopter. But the thick ash blanketing the landscape makes landing the copters a major challenge — if ash gets caught in the rotors, they risk crashing. Meanwhile, the logging team and the campers who suffered severe burns are in desperate need of medical attention. As their chance of surviving dwindles, camper Sue Ruff faces the repercussions of deciding to leave her friends behind.

Pre-order your copy of the new Against the Odds book, How to Survive Against the Odds: Tales & Tips for Animal Attacks and Natural Disasters, for stories of everyday people confronted by life-or-death situations, showing you how they survived—and how you can too.

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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.
0:09.7	A listener note, Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events.
0:14.4	Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.
0:26.4	Thank you. but everything is based on research. Sue Ruff kneels next to a puddle and splashes water onto a swallow that's covered in ash.
0:33.3	Her boyfriend Bruce Nelson hovers over her shoulder, watching her work.
0:38.1	Sue coos to the swallow as she rinses the ash out of its feathers.
0:42.7	Hey, little guy, it's okay.
0:45.1	We're going to get you clean, and then you can fly out of here.
0:48.4	The bird trembles in Sue's hand.
0:50.9	It's around two in the afternoon on Sunday, May 18th, 1980, about five and a half hours
0:56.6	since Mount St. Helens erupted. The blast killed two of their friends and badly injured
1:02.6	another two, but Sue, Bruce, and her dog Cody escaped with only minor scrapes and burns.
1:09.6	For more than three hours now,
1:11.7	Sue and Bruce have been walking down road 2,500,
1:14.9	hoping to find help.
1:16.2	What they've seen along the way is grim.
1:19.4	Dozens of dying elk.
1:21.0	Their fur burnt off.
1:22.6	Their nostrils filled with ash,
1:24.7	along with dead lizards, porcupines, and grouse.
1:28.5	So when Sue saw this small bird lying on the road, she had to help it.
	...

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