Successful Summit of Baker via the Easton Glacier route! Overall the route is in pretty good shape, couple icy sections however none were too bad. Lots of open crevasses open however they all have good routes around or solid snow bridges. Route will become harder and harder every day, try to get out there soon!
ROAD:
Road is in pretty good shape, a couple of potholes but nothing that was too bad. We arrived at the trailhead on 7/24 at around 11:30, 200+ cars at the trailhead. Had to park about 1/2 mile down the road.
TRAIL:
Trail is in very good shape, and had several WTA work parties working while we were there. Thanks for all the work you guys do! Once you hit the junction of the Park Butte/Railroad grade trail, crowds drop off however still lots of people day hiking railroad grade and climbing Baker. Arrived at Sandy Camp around 3, lots of people camping everywhere. We wanted to camp higher up however better water sources at Sandy Camp. Talked to lots of people at Sandy Camp who had just climbed Baker and got some extra beta from them. Lots of guided groups everywhere. Tried to get some sleep before an early wake up the next day. We left Sandy camp at ~11:30pm, snow was pretty nice and solid on the way up, one icy section that was slightly sketchy but not too bad. We slowly moved up the mountain and summited around ~6. Saw a gorgeous sunrise on the Roman Wall. Saw several people come over from the CD route to join with the Easton for the Roman wall section, supposedly much more ice on the CD route. Summit plateau is stunning, best views I have ever seen. Snow was nice and soft for the descent.
SUMMARY:
Go get this mountain quick, in a couple weeks I could imagine this mountain being impassable. Make sure you get an early start to avoid slushy snow, be very careful with snow bridges some are getting pretty thin. Make sure you make smart decisions if you try climbing it. Don't follow the main path blindly, make sure you check snow bridges, ice, etc. However, it was an amazing trip ended up being around ~16 miles RT with 7,200 feet elevation gain.
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