Oops, I almost forgot to submit my entry!
➜ Monthly Photo Competition #38– January, 2026 – “Fire or Ice" - #34 by Bullitt ■
I recently returned from a month+ vacation in the Philippines. While there I rented a motorcycle and rode all over the islands. Quite the experience, because traffic is crazy, not just in the big city, Manila, but also in the small towns. On the main island of Luzon as I explored the northern islands group, Mount Pinatubo is about 2 hours northwest of Manila, Capital of the Philippines. I got this shot on the afternoon of Friday 09 January as I rode past it.
I wanted to tour Mount Pinatubo while I was there. I’ve toured Mount St. Helens up in Washington, and that is very interesting to see and learn about the May 1980 eruption and first hearing of the term, pyroclastic blast. Alas, Mount Pinatubo sits on military lands and it would take 2 weeks to submit an application for clearance. Time I did not have. So I had to settle for this picture taken from near Mabalacat City, Pampanga.
I wish I was closer to the volcano and could’ve gotten you guys a better picture, but this’ll just have to do.
Some minor trivia of Mount Pinatubo follows…
Mount Pinatubo erupted on 15 June 1991 (which was my 30th birthday). It was the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, behind only the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska which released 30x the volume of magma of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. By comparison, Pinatubo’s eruption was 10x that of Mount St. Helens 1980.
On the VEI scale of eruptions (Volcanic Explosivity Index, a scale of, generally, from 0 to 8), Mount St. Helens (1980, Oregon) was a VEI-5, Novarupta (1912, Alaska) was a VEI-6, and Pinatubo (1991, Philippines) was also a VEI-6. 847 people died but Typhoon Yunya, which arrived the exact same day as Pinatubo’s 15 June eruption, contributed to this tally.