Mount Baker — Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017

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.