Man Falls Into Volcano, Is Hardly Hurt

(CBS)  In what can only be described as a miracle, a man not only fell 1,500-2,000 feet into the crater of Mount St. Helens, he survived, and was almost unscathed. "It was all luck," he says.

Experienced snowmobiler John Slemp, 52, of Damascus, Ore., became the first person ever to fall into the crater formed when the volcano erupted in 1980.

Last Saturday, Slemp, his son, Jared, and a family friend, Rob Mayes, took their snowmobiles up to the crater's rim, where they stopped to take in the view from a cornice -- an overhanging shelf of snow.

It broke loose, and John dropped about 200 feet. Jared began to slide down with him until Mayes grabbed him and pulled him back to safety.

John landed on a snow bank, but when he tried to climb back up, shelf of snow fell apart beneath him again and he went down another 1,500 feet or so.

At First, all rescuers saw in the snow was an avalanche and a tiny dot. But, when they reached John and pulled him to safety, they were amazed.

"He had a hyper-extended left leg," said Jeffrey Linscott, a helicopter pilot for J.L. Aviation, "and some cuts and bruises -- pretty remarkable, for his fall."

The Early Show showed amazing video Thursday taken by Jared just before the incident. The camera actually fell into the volcano with Jared, but the footage survived!

On the show, Mayes told co-anchor Harry Smith that the three of them had been to the area several times before, and surveyed the cornice thoroughly Saturday, but, "It was an extremely large cornice and a very warm day."

The three never got any closer to the edge then 10-20 feet, Mayes and John said.

"I got off (my snowmobile) on all fours, crawling," John continued. "Jared and Rob were standing. ... We were further back than I had ever been and had something even close to happening like this. ... I'd been to that exact spot five times (previously). ... I crawled back toward my sled on my hands and knees and made a comment about how awesome it looked, and it gave way."

"It was a lot of luck (that I survived)," John says. "It was all luck. I didn't have any control over anything that happened."

"What saved him was all the snow that went with him," Mayes observed, "because he had no line directly below him. It was all rocks."

Jared, a Marine reserve, had just returned from Iraq a week before.

[swwils]

I have no mercy for people who go around,or into craters,or volcanoes.I remember when the scientist said that Mt.St.Helen was going too erupt,and to stay away.About 40 people went out there to watch.Thinking they were far enough away not to get injured ended up dead.The volcano exploded sideways,and shot out a cloud of heat in the 1200 degree range.People 50 miles away were killed and injured.So I don''t go sticking my nose in these type of places.

[my2centss]

"It was all luck. I didn''t have any control over anything that happened."

Luck is finding a shiny new penny, or getting out of a ticket. This was more than luck.

[ioweign]

You do your foolish act and sometimes get killed, this time he was lucky, the next time social security will have to raise his offspring.

Posted by thgdriver at 01:03 PM : Apr 17, 2008

I didn''t know Social Security could get custody of your children...

[rf35]

A failed scarifice to the volcano gods. Mt. St. Helens will probably erupt again soon because of this.

[puzzler125]

Accidents happen when people do the most innocuous things as well. If we all stayed home in padded rooms we would have boring lives and little to no fun. There is a line between bungie jumping, skydiving and more "grounded" (excuse the pun please) hobbies such as horseback riding and skiing but daily accidents happen with these activities as well. Did you ever slip in your home and fall? Do you have a snappy retort about how dangerous home life is?

[glock4me]

That guy''s tougher than Wile E. Coyote. Those ACME hiking boots sure have slick soles.

BEEP!! BEEP!!

[nordeck52]

Yeah, and a HYPO-Extended Brain! So peoples idea of fun is a bit stewpid. Stay away from Volcanos! They tend to be a little DANGEROUS!

Posted by DaVicar2 at 11:01 AM : Apr 17, 2008

If they''re erupting, yeah.

[feddupp]

"Jared, a Marine reserve (reservIST), had just returned from Iraq a week before."

I guess when you''ve looked into the jaws of death (the bloody war in Iraq), falling into a little volcano is a piece of cake!

At least now he''s got a better story to tell his grandchildren someday!