First Baker Ascent of the Season!

Hik­ing in under sun­ny skies. All pho­tos Vin­cent Lamphier

“I just fin­ished up a great 3 days on the Eas­t­on Glac­i­er route of Mt. Bak­er! I was for­tu­nate enough to have 2 great clients, Dave Cham­ber­lain and Flor Apari­cio as well as pro­fes­sion­al pho­tog­ra­ph­er Vin­cent Lam­phi­er, who was there to take pho­tos for Moun­tain Mad­ness. This was my first time guid­ing a trip on Bak­er for MM.

“With spliter weath­er, Dave and Flor got a great intro­duc­tion to the Cas­cades on the first day with a beau­ti­ful hike up to the base of the Squak Glac­i­er on the south side of the moun­tain. Weath­er was expect­ed to come in so we decid­ed to make a break for the sum­mit start­ing ear­ly on the day two. In mixed con­di­tions, they showed what a cou­ple of ​“city slick­ers” from Phoenix can do with some deter­mi­na­tion. With an 11 hour round trip sum­mit push, we ​“crushed” it! Dave and Flor nev­er missed a step and always had smiles on their faces!

Ear­ly morn­ing start

Dave and Flor on the summit!

“We returned to camp after enjoy­ing some prop­er ​“Cas­ca­di­an” con­di­tions, a mix of pre­cip­i­ta­tions types, and clouds com­ing and going, to devour a high calo­rie meal. We dis­cussed the days adven­ture and reaped in the suc­cess as we head­ed to our tents for some well need­ed rest. Gid­dy with excite­ment about our suc­cess­ful sum­mit the day before, we enjoyed a nice relaxed hike out to the van on the last day of the trip. Thanks for a great adven­ture guys!”

~ MM Guide Mark Pugliese

View off the sum­mit of the Twin Sisters