RAINIER ERUPTS! is an epic tale of volcanic catastrophe. What would happen to the cities of Seattle and Tacoma if Mount Rainier were to erupt — tomorrow?
Mount Rainier is one of the most dangerous volcanoes on earth because of its awe-inspiring size and close proximity to the population centers of Seattle and Tacoma. What if this primordial giant were to erupt—tomorrow? Thomas P. Hopp vividly portrays the all-too-possible day when the mountain unleashes its pent-up fury.
Enter a world gone mad with explosions that dwarf nuclear bombs, giant mudflows, choking ashfalls, and spouting red-hot lava. Flee in desperation with mountain climbers caught in the first outbursts. Experience one family’s struggle to survive when their home is swept away by a lahar mudflow. Fly with helicopter crews risking their own lives to save others. Learn Nisqually Indian legends of this White Mountain called Tacobet. Observe scientists predicting the volcano’s next outburst. Follow government officials trying to stave off catastrophe.
RAINIER ERUPTS! is a heart-stopping true-to-life look at the horrors and heroism that would mark such a day of disaster.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
A steady wind blew across frozen expanses near the summit of Mount Rainier. It carried snow that had fallen in a light dusting the night before. It drove thin streams of snowflakes across fluted drifts under a dark blue sky. Glazed ice sheets glittered starkly in morning sunlight.
At nearly 14,000 feet of elevation, two teams of four climbers moved slowly upslope. Roped together at thirty-foot intervals, the teams went single file on a path of boot prints blazed by their lead guide. They were on their final push to reach the summit before 10 AM, a necessity to give them time to enjoy the views and then descend the same day from the brutally cold and hypoxic environment they had penetrated at the limits of their endurance. Laboring in rarified air, puffing out clouds of precious moisture with every exhale, each man or woman took a single step forward, lifting his or her body with a brief tightening of agonized thigh muscles. Then, leaning on ice axes planted on one side like canes, the climbers would lock the downslope knee straight, bearing weight without too much effort until searing pain in the thighs’ overtaxed muscles subsided. When the resting step had quelled the pain, the other foot was lifted forward and upward, and the excruciating process of taking another ascending step repeated. Those ahead and behind in the rope lines moved in the same halting cadence, each climber separately bearing his or her own agony and fighting the urge to cry out, “I give up!”
No one wanted to let the group down—or let the mountain win.
A few thin clouds swirled around the mountaintop, looking as though they might clear by the time the party covered the last several hundred yards to the Guide Rocks. Those monolithic stones marked the lip of the summit caldera, a volcanic cinder cone situated on top of Rainier, which itself was one of the mightiest edifices of ash, cinder, lava rock, and ice on the planet.
At the head of the lead team, guide Jake Swanson turned in his resting step to glance back at the two rope-lines of his expedition. His parka’s hood, climbing helmet, and reflectorized sunglasses hemmed in his view so much that it seemed he was looking out from a space helmet. The wide snow-covered arc of the mountain massif was dazzling white against a sky so deep blue it added to the notion that this was a space vista. In dozens of climbs to the summit, Jake had yet to lose his awe at the other-worldliness of the approach to the top. Far below, to the left and the right and behind, the green lowlands faded into summer haze almost as if they were being viewed from orbit.
The kind of book I like. A story based on scientific possibility.
Your description is well-written and, from the brief excerpt mirrors my experience climbing at high altitude. I don't understand why you didn't mention pyroclastic flow in your intro. That appears to be the worst case scenario for Seattle and Tacoma, based on previous eruptions.
I know it's already published, but I would move the introduction of Jake Swanson to the first paragraph rather than talk generally of the climbers in their guide.
I included the eruption of super volcano Yellowstone in my novel, Alone? Heavy stuff. And entirely possible.
Five titles in one book for 40% of the combined price!
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