30 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY: ANNIE BARNETT ABOVE (left): Andy shows a draft map of Mount Shasta, where different colors visualize deposits from volcanic eruptions over thousands of years. or Rainier, tracking past behavior lays the foundation for creating long-term hazard assessments. “We educate people about what the mountain is capable of,” Andy summarizes. “What can happen and whether we should worry.” Although his geologic focus is the Western U.S., Andy estimates he’s visited over 50 volcanoes in locales like New Zealand, Guatemala, Italy and Saudi Arabia. Any given day might find him on the top of a ridge or “slogging through some really terrible places.” His professional tool kit includes ice training, mountaineering skills, glacier travel, wilderness first aid, bear deterrence and “getting in and out of helicopters in pretty gnarly spots.” Andy calls out his field work in Alaska as especially memorable. “I love being up high Park and got the job. “Our group looks at volcanoes in a variety of different ways,” he clarifies. “I date rocks. My specialty is time. I provide the time context for eruptive behavior.” Here’s why time matters: Volcanoes that have been active in the last 10,000 years can potentially wreak havoc again. Andy unfurls what looks like a paint-by-numbers map of Mount Shasta. “Each one of these is a discrete eruption or a series of eruptions,” he describes, gesturing to color splashes ranging from purple (older than 350,000 years) to oranges and reds (a specific eruption 10,700 years ago) to pink (“all younger than that”). Whether it’s Shasta, St. Helens, Lassen Peak, Hood
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