Switchbacking around a crevasse.
Day 3 started dark and early with a 1:30 a.m. wake-up time. Wired by the upcoming day's climb, I had been awake since midnight and could not get back to sleep. Once I heard activity outside the tent at about 1:15 a.m. (the guides getting breakfast started), I was outside getting ready in a matter of minutes.
Conditions were ideal! The clear night sky was filled with stars. Over the horizon to the south the lights of Seattle glowed dimly while to the west, the lights of what was probably Bellingham also glowed. We took about an hour and a half to chow down some breakfast and get the team geared up and ready to climb. By 3:00 a.m., we were climbing!
Active sulphur vents at approximately 9500 feet (give or take).
Those aren't clouds!
Climbing the Easton Glacier, we ascended past a variety of crevasses. Some were very narrow, literally just a few inches across, which were easily jumped over. Others still were cavernous, to which we gave very wide berth. Most were apparently bottomless, seemingly dropping off into a void.
As we approached the Roman Wall, the last steep pitch of snow before the summit, we climbed past Baker's active sulphur vents, spewing their foul rotton-egg smelling smoke into the air (see above pic). Doug, our guide, indicated that it is expected Baker will be the next mountain in the Cascades to erupt. It seems to be only a question of when, not if. Moderately disconcerted, we pressed on.