The snow-covered road to the heliotrope trailhead added an extra mile each way to our summit of Mount Baker. The weather was perfect - sunny and mild with minimal wind. The heliotrope trail still had snow but even the 36 hours between our ascent and descent a significant amount of snow had melted. On the Coleman Glacier, the crevasses were easy to spot and while the Roman Wall was icy in the morning by the time we celebrated at the top we were post-holing back to basecamp. A few long glissades on the way down made for a manageable descent. All together it was a great first summit!

Started from Heliotrope ridge trailhead at 4:30 am, hit the glacier about 6400, it was covered with one feet of fresh snow. At this point we roped up, put on crampons and headed up.  Thanks another group who climbed before us - easy to follow their track. There are lots of crevasses on the way, you can easily see big crevasses, but some small completely covered with snow. We met two groups that turned around at 8800 because of giant crevasse stopped them, we also decided to check and found detour. Then we hit another huge crevasse about 9000, it was one thin almost melted out bridge, 100% not safe, at this point we decided to go back as well.

Great climb and great experience. 

Summited Mount Baker today . . Crazy hard climb. Elevation Gain‎: ‎7,500 ft‎,
10,778 ft‎, 14.0 mi‎ . . Up the Easton Glacier route. 2 day climb. First day to high camp. 2nd day: summit and back down. Do not disrespect Baker. Perfect 2 days on the mtn . .blue sky, temp above 32f, little wind. Our group summited first and no other teams were close to the rim when we descended . . unsure if other teams made it that day or not . .met many at high camp that turned around for various reasons. The route is not wanded. Two large crevasses that will not be passable in a week or two . . Unsure if there would be away around. The descent is much like Rainier . .long slog down. Awesome views. I have not spent that much time on the south side of Baker . . Epic Mountain views . .Wow! I know it's only 10,778 ft . .then go do it . .its truly a Northwest Classic. Make sure ya train for it . .much much harder than you think!

First time for my brother and I up in the Baker area. We left Tacoma around 4 am and stopped for a big breakfast at Billy's Cafe in Sedro Wooley, great spot. Made it to the Heliotrope trail head by 12. Headed up to make camp at Hogsback, very popular spot for day hikers as wildflower are in full bloom. Got to camp at 230 and talked to some of the folks heading down, besides the snow getting softer later in the day it didn't sound like there were any issues making the summit. Set our alarms for 2 Am and hit the sack at 6 that night. Even though I didn't get too much sleep awaking to stars is an exilirating way to start the day. As we headed up the crevasses were easy to maneuver. After being on glacier for most the climb we hit a long portion of sandy dirt. Once beyond this the Roman head wall was the last push before the plateau. Being the only one s up there was surreal, summiting was truly awesome. On the descent we had no problems. We stayed roped together the whole way, ice axes, crampons and pickets are all essential.