Mount Baker Climb - Up to the Summit

The next day we got up very early and left camp at 5:30. There were four of us on the climb, but we didn't have a long enough rope for one team so we went in two rope teams, Steve and Craig on one and Eric and I on the other. The climb would have been a straight hike up the Easton Glacier if it wasn't for expanse of several crevasses. As a result we had zig zag up the mountain. We were above the cloud level which made for a beautiful sunny hike. Behind us the tops of the lower peaks pushed out amongst a sea of clouds.

At 9700 feet we reached the crater rim where the occasional puff of steam would appear. From here we had to traverse across to the higher summit plateau. The route soon got steeper and the elevation starting making the climb very laborious. Though we were in no danger of falling we were still a bit nervous as a large crevasse stretched out below waiting to catch us if we were to fall and slide. Eventually we made it over the steep section and onto the wide flat summit plateau. A couple hundred yards along the plateau was the true summit. Though we were tired it wasn't too difficult to climb the last 100 feet to make it to the summit at 10,778'. Great views could be seen of the North Cascades, Glacier Peak and a distant Mount Rainier.

We soon headed down to camp during which my marathon conditioning finally gave out. My knees and ankles which had been havocked by the marathon started hurting again which made for a painful hike down. Still it was a great hike and I was happy to of finally climbed Baker. My brother reminded me that I had now climbed all the volcanic peaks in Washington. I wonder what goal I should have now?