I climbed my first volcano in 1977 and  have been chasing them off and on ever since. Actually I am not a true chaser in the way that some professionals are because I usually cannot afford to travel to volcanoes when I hear initial news about their eruptions. Instead I plan vacations to regions with a lot of volcanoes or maybe just to one volcano that I am pretty sure is erupting. When visiting volcanoes on a fairly random basis, the chances of seeing an eruption are not particularly high, in fact I have had only about a 15% success rate.

My favorite volcano is Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania. I have climbed it 12 times since 1997. My worst failure as a chaser was in August 2001 when I set out too late to see the flank eruption of Mt. Etna. The eruption ended completely on the day I arrived. I should have visited John Seach's page about Murphy's Law for volcano chasers,

The following is a list of all the active volcanoes I have climbed or closely observed, followed by the year(s) of my visit. I have listed the years that I saw activity at a volcano in RED type.

ITALY:

Etna 88, 98, 01 
Stromboli 88
Vulcano 88
Vesuvius 77

LA REUNION:

Piton de la Fornaise 91

GREECE:

Santorini 82
Nisyros 90

ICELAND:

Westman Islands 91
Hekla 91
Askja 91
Krafla 91
Kverkfjoll 94

PHILIPPINES:

Mayon 92

VANUATU:

Yasur 92
Benbow 92
Maunum 92

NEW ZEALAND:

Tongariro 83
Ngauruhoe 83
Ruapehu 83
White Island 92

CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES:
Yellowstone 01
St Helens 07
Lassen 07
South Sister 07

HAWAII:

East Maui 91
Mauna Loa 91
Kilauea 91, 93

INDONESIA:

Sibayak 92
Sinabung 92
Marapi 92
Kerenci 92
Krakatau 92
Gede 92
Galunggung 92
Dieng Plateau 92
Papandayan 82, 92
Merapi 82, 92
Tengger 82, 92
Semeru 92
Raung 92
Ijen 82
Kelut 92
Tangkuban Prahu 82
Batur 82
Rinjani 82
Tambora 92
Keli Mutu 92
Abulobo 92

COMOROS ISLANDS:

Karthala 98

TANZANIA:

Ol Doinyo Lengai 97, 98, 99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 08

El Salvador:

San Salvador 96
San Miguel 96
Izalco 96
Santa Anna 96

GUATEMALA:

Pacaya 97

Santa Maria/Santiaguito 96, 97

NICARAGUA:

Masaya 01