Horrible Tragedy in New Zealand - Five confirmed dead

[Freedom56]

A volcano erupted on an Island that was a stop for a cruise ship.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/li...te-island-live

[ls99]

Long ago I used to install and service seismic gear on active volcanoes in the Aleutians.
Had a few close calls.
Can't understand the reason for playing tourist on active volcanoes.

[Nemo2]

Hiked out to the Piton de la Fournaise, on L'île de la Réunion in the mid/late 1980s......it wasn't active right then, but it's erupted a number of times since. I recall there was hardened lava quite some distance away.

(We would have avoided it, had it been erupting at the time of our visit.)

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/pit...aise/news.html

[HI Bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 Long ago I used to install and service seismic gear on active volcanoes in the Aleutians. Had a few close calls. Can't understand the reason for playing tourist on active volcanoes.

Obviously, you're not a geologist? The most exciting adventure of my life was flying over Fissure 8 on Hawaii Island, as it spit lava 150 feet into the air, which ran as an orange river, to the sea about 7 miles away.

[Freedom56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ls99 Long ago I used to install and service seismic gear on active volcanoes in the Aleutians. Had a few close calls. Can't understand the reason for playing tourist on active volcanoes.

I have been on a few of those volcano hikes. We drove up to the top of Mount Vesuvius and took a short hike up to the top of the crater. The view of the Gulf of Naples was incredible from up there and so was the drive back down. Another was the hike to the lava flows in the Big Island of Hawaii and also to the crater. I don't think I would do either tourist activity any longer. Now they are saying 13 total perished on White Island.

[OldShooter]

I am too lazy to chase down the statistics, but would be interesting to know how many were injured seriously or killed as a percentage of the total number of visits worldwide.

People tend to get far too spun up about very rare but very spectacular events.

[Sunset]

From being a tourist, I have learned that a tourist can go on nearly any type of tour possible as someone will always sell them a tour without regard to the risk.

Sometimes it's the operator knowing the risk, but willing due to the $$$
Worse is the operator that doesn't know the risk, as they will be totally unprepared.

Naturally most of the time it all works out fine, until it doesn't.

[Koolau]

The Krafts made some amazing documentaries and knew the risks. I think they knew that their chances of a full life span were slim. It was just a matter of time. They gave their lives for something that matterd to them - a lot. It's not MY passion, but I do envy those with a passion. YMMV

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katia_and_Maurice_Krafft

[HI Bill]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau The Krafts made some amazing documentaries and knew the risks. I think they knew that their chances of a full life span were slim. It was just a matter of time. They gave their lives for something that matterd to them - a lot. It's not MY passion, but I do envy those with a passion. YMMV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katia_and_Maurice_Krafft

Wow, amazing story! As a geologist who isn't a vulcanoligist, I know enough to know that I don't have the knowledge or experience to stay safe around active volcanoes...flying over Fissure 8 on Hawaii Island last year was my safe way of getting close with very low risk. But I do respect those who know, and accept the risks to further science!

[anethum]

Many years ago, I climbed Villarrica volcano in Chile. It's an active volcano, 9,380ft high (2860m). Climbers were required to go up with a guide. We were a small group and they issued us outergear, boots, crampons, and poles. The top half of the perfect volcanic cone's slopes were covered with snow. This was in December, the beginning of summer in Chile. It wasn't that difficult to climb, and we had a gorgeous sunny day. As we approached the top, our guide suddenly told us that there are toxic fumes in the caldera and that we should breath through hankerchiefs and not spend more than 30 seconds at a time inside the rim. He, however, put on a gas mask he had brought. Around the rim, there was no snow due to the heat from the caldera. More worrying were the multitude of small, cooled pieces of lava which had melted little circles of snow near the outside of the rim. That told me that there had been at least one eruption which had sent lava beyond the caldera since the last time it had snowed. In any event, of course I ventured a few times to the rim and looked down. It was one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. There were constant eruptions of red-hot lava. Nearly all of those eruptions only spewed lava a bit upward, but there were 2 eruptions while I was looking into the caldera when the lava appeared to go at least halfway up to where I was standing. In retrospect, it was incredibly dangerous to have climbed that volcano, but I lived to tell the tale.

I took a few analog photos inside the caldera rim. The photo below taken from the Wikipedia site for Villarrica volcano is similar to my photos but much better quality than if I were to take a digital photo of my prints and upload them.