Rick and I headed up for a late August ascent of Mt Baker. The North side was not an option this year as the road has been destroyed by flood so we went South.
I heard all sorts of rumors that the mountain was in unusually late season conditions due to the warm and dry conditions this summer. I was excited to see this part of the mountain that I hadn’t seen since my days of slogging for AAI in 2002. I could not believe how far we could ascend on rock. We did not touch snow until 6700′. And then there were not too many ways around the crevasses. The upper mountain was particularly broken up. For a couple crossings- I placed ice screws for a belay- and the upper headwall consisted of water pouring over ice. 
It was incredible. But alas, the basic shape of the mountain remained familiar- and the long walk to the actual summit made me smile with memories.
Rick put up a good fight and thoroughly deserved the elation that came with standing on top.
He worked very hard to get there not just physically but by making time in his demanding schedule.
We topped off the trip with a lovely lunch in Bellingham before “real life” had to take over again . . .
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