I have climbed Baker several times, once with a rather inexperienced rope mate and other times with more experienced partners. It's more a matter of your confidence level than your experience for choosing a guided trip rather than hitching a ride with some other climbers. If you have absolutely no glacier experience then go with the guides, but if you have some or little experience the Colemand-Deming route is fairly safe. Of course, any glacier travel has it's inherant dangers but the Coleman-Deming route will have a very visible trail all the way up to the top at any given time in the summer (baring any heavy snowfall of course). Just make sure to have a good time and try to get in a hand stand on the summit.