For everyone wondering, yes he's still alive.

I would have driven without pants.

These cliff hangers are exactly why I won't subscribe

Turns out Keith is a time traveler taking his 1985 Mercedes GE280 back to 1980 to catch the eruption which also explains why he isn’t wearing pants at 8:02 am.

A very fine line between brave and stupid.

Can I get some closure? Damn

I was there when it erupted. I remember my mom was like, "come on we're going to grandma's! NOW!" I had never seen her drive so fast. We must have lived close enough to evacuate safely, maybe on the outskirts of it. I remember ash in the air. I was 6 years old at the time. I got a free "I survived mount saint Helens" tee-shirt from a store clerk. We never went back for our stuff.

*"At the last moment, he decides to Run"* *Gets in vehicle and drives off*

It's worth every minute of travel to get yourself to the exhibit at the place where David Johnston died. At the end of a film about the events, a curtain is drawn back, revealing what's left of Mount St. Helens. It takes your breath away. One of the most spectacular sights you'll ever see. Guaranteed

"Oh look, a massive cloud of ash and rock is coming towards me at high speeds, better put on my pants."

Really gonna make me look this shit up Smithsonian?

He's very much alive and well. Keith Ronnholm is a Geophysicist. Perfectly fitting study for him. 😊

Get in the truck and shoot the pics as you drive away. Skip the pants...

When I was young, in college, and looking for adventure, I may have done what Keith did. So glad he survived with many photographs and stories to tell.

I was there as a park ranger. That is something I will never forget.

That's so awesome, Kylo Ren took pictures of Saint Helens

Had that taken place today: Kieth uploads his selfie in front of the blast while putting one pant leg on...

Drive all that way to photograph a mountain exploding, but then be more concerned about wearing pants....

Mind you, his photographs are the only photographic evidence we have of the exact moment of the lateral eruption of the volcano. In fact, it’s one of the only series of photographs we have of a lateral volcanic eruption in recorded history.

Keith, your photographs are magnificent - I am grateful to witness them -- NATIVE, former resident of Mt. St. Helens slopes.

“...Keith decides to run!” *Keith Drives away*

Worth of the Smithsonian: leaving the public wondering.

Oh wow. Gosh.he really risked his life. I'd say he didn't realise just how bad it was going to be. So glad he survived.💚

I remember this day. I was kid out on the playground and the sun started getting blocked out by dark ash falling from the sky even though we were a few hundred miles outside of the blast.

Driving a Mercedes... at least he went out in style

The Mount St. Helens explosion is the most incredible event I've seen. For an entire mountain to simply be destroyed like that shows incredible power

He survived everyone! Now that’s a dedicated scientist!

One Man’s brave, is another man’s Darwin Award.

like all young students, he drives a class G convertible mercedes

Gary Rosenquist of Randle, WA was at the same location. They were actually the group of friends who set up camp there after dark about 13 hours before the blast.

I remember watching about this on the history channel as a kid YEARS ago but he actually got to tell his story for himself

Gary Rosenquist and others who took iconic eruption photos were also at Bear Meadows, and successfully survived after fleeing.

theres also a set of photos from another journalist who wanted to do the same thing. difference was he got too close and was buried in the dust and pyroclastic flow. kinda cool to hear this guy actually got out of it safely!

Next time everyone will try to catch another blast

*Alternate Title: Trailer to Make It Out Alive*

In case you’re wondering, Yes, his name , is still Keith

And by the way, although they don't say so, that's not really Keith himself who's shown in this video.

Guys, he's alive today

Fact check: Keith survived, he used a 35mm Minolta to take the shots, he was actually camping on the NE side in Bear Meadow near Gary Rosenquist (who took the famous shot sequence) while the infographic places him on the NW side.

Can we talk about the camera man who was recording that student and whos never got full credits for staying behind to record from every angle. I did read somewhere he didn't make it. Sad, isnit!

I’m not going to find the rest of his story. In my mind his fate had already been determined and he didn’t make it. He was eaten by a bear as he exited the vehicle.

Even a volcano can't melt this guy's balls of steel.

Is there any more video of Keith without his pants on? Asking for a friend.

I wonder if his hearing is still intact. Some volcanic erruptions are sufficiently loud (170 DB at 50 to 100 km) to cause permanent deafness or hearing loss.

Those Pictures he took would prove Invaluable to Science.

I need to know the importance of the no pants part

He is one very lucky lad to have suvived

For anyone wanting to know exactly what happened after this video left off, here's the description from an article about the survivors of the disaster meeting up later: "He snapped photos between gathering his belongings and driving out. Through his windshield he saw a placid spring morning in the mountains, but in his mirrors an unprecedented disaster was unfolding. When the eruption led him into a black cloud of ash, he was unsure if he’d suffocate. He soaked a handkerchief and breathed through it. Unable to see, he eventually stopped in the pitch dark cloud. “The ash whispered like snowfall. Thinking of Vesuvius and Pompeii, I thought, ‘Six feet I’m dead, six inches I’m OK,’” Ronnholm said. Soon, several other vehicles appeared behind him, one of which was a logging truck shepherded by two men on foot who were feeling for the edges of the road. Ronnholm fell in line and the caravan eventually found its way to Randle, where they cleaned up in a church. Through the radio he got enough information to learn the cloud was drifting east and he was able to return home."

This is why you always park your car facing out. Nobody got time for a k-turn in the middle of a volcanic eruption

Amazing!!! I love it

I was in the NOAA office on Lake Union talking to the NOAA Ship Oceanographer that was headed into Shanghai that morning. The radio watched, good friend Roger Ankney, first asked abou Mt. St. Helens. I knew nothing until about 30 minutes later after closing up shop when I tuned into 710 AM KIRO radio. Wow!. My cousin Connie, a flight attendant with United Airlines was SEATAC bound on a flight that passed a couple miles to the East of the mountain and spent a lot of time taking pictures (real cameras then) for passengers who promised copies. She never received any and only recently retired as she saw the pandemic shutting down airline travel. She's doing very well living in FL and trying her best to absent herself from the idiots begging to receive the SARS-COV-19 death virus. Stay safe amigas and amigos. Distance and mask wearing the two best tickets to surviving the idiocy that id dysfunctional America.

Fun fact:Keith's car was slowed down because he has balls of steel

Lucky for him the car started 1st try. Usually in a race against death, the car suddenly won't start.

Pretty sure this "student" has a name - give him some credit geez

I know the proerb "Children and drunkards have doubled guardian angels".He was a kid, David Johnston was grown up scientist.

Those shots ushered in the modern era of vulcanology.

Brave? To face a volcanic explosion just for a photoshoot? Brave isn't the word.

He survived guys

I experienced that time and there was reddish brown dust around for a long time. That was the time we really should have been wearing face masks!

Great video!

We conplaint about their outro too much they removed it xd

Stay tuned! Same BAT Time...Same BAT Channel!!

pov: you speedrun taking pics while driving but failed to escape

These reenactment scenes, I can't XD

This vid gave me some good ideas of a book I’m writing about for my project we did it’s 4 chapters thank Keith you were lotta help in my book

Remember how Ellis in L4D2 always talk about Keith and how COOL he is, then here he is...

It's amazing any of us survive our childhoods.

Damn, the way it ended lol

The original invincible cameraman.

Got to be impressed with a graduate student driving a Mercedes G-wagon!

Is this the end of my subscription? yes.

This was very brave and very risky even if he used a vehicle bearing the -Good Star on All Roads-, there is no way to know how big these pyroclastic eruptions get. Well Done, Karl Themel

RIP Harry Truman... Anyone else remember that old man who refused to evacuate from the Lodge at what used to be Spirit Lake? Situated right under the section of the mountain that gave way....☠️ Never found him... He's buried under two or three hundred feet of debris and ash....

For an excellent chronological account of eyewitnesses and events in the days surrounding the eruption of Mt. St. Helens read 'In the Path of Destruction' by Richard Waitt.

BRAVERY IS THE ACTION WITH WISDOM AND LOGIC

**Everybody gangsta's until Mount St. Helens erupted**

this brave student captured the mount st Helen’s blast

Another video has the name of the photographer as Gary Rosenqvist and he was not a student..Keith Ronnholm (a local resident) also appears in that video confirming that. For those unfamiliar with the University of Washington, apparently grad students in 1980 were driving Mercedes Gelaendewagen SUVs.....

cameraman. never. dies.

I would have just drove on without my pants

If he was in his truck reading, then what was he reading that made him feel it was necessary to take off his pants... Keith probably should've left that part out of his story

"Keith ... has-" ***insert edit "*** -come to witness the volcano" Anyone else notice that?

In case you guys were wondering, its cold up on that that mountain, let alone at 8:32 am. It was easily in the 30's, its annual temperature is 47 degrees.

My sister and her boyfriend walked around the rim days before the blast. Their footsteps appeared on KOMO.

I thought it was Greg Brady from The Brady bunch in the thumbnail.

He is still alive if anyone was wondering

"Who does he think he is?" - "I'm Keith Hernandez!" (Seinfeld joke)

Saw the full vid in science class. This is an actor portraying the actual dude. He survived.

Eruption was in May, but the fireweed seen in the background in this reenactment doesn't bloom until August. Need to reshoot.

so did he die or what?!

And now I'M to left wonder... was that the end???? WTF way to leave us hanging.

I was 5yrs old at the time living in Tacoma, WA. My friends and I would play baseball on the neighborhood intersection as each corner counted as a base. I remember looking into the sky at the towering plume and feeling infinitesimally small. Haven't witnessed anything like it since.

the shorts caught me off guard 😭

Is the end of this video in the cloud too?

"Keith has time to wonder, is this the end?" _video ends_ I see what you did there.

I remember hearing a recording many years ago of a young man who was almost killed when he went to witness the eruption. He was running as fast as he could to get away from under the ash and recording at the same time. It was pretty suspenseful. I wonder if it was this young man.

The answer to why he wasn’t wearing pants is probably related to what he was “reading”.

Anyone else wondering why he thought he absolutely needed pants on to be able to drive?

He made his escape in a Mercedes? He was lucky it started and he was able to get away.

at the time i was 10 years old and living 525 miles to the south and i can remember one afternoon it was snowing ash and my dad telling us that the volcano blew up where we had just went camping a few months prior..