For October weather, I recommend boots and warm socks for the cold morning approach and up/down scramble, runners for descending from 7FJ-LeroyCreek trail junction back to the TH.
Chelan County, Washington, United States
time : Oct 3, 2024 3:36 AM
duration : 14h 54m 4s
distance : 22 km
total_ascent : 2532 m
highest_point : 2773 m
avg_speed : 1.5 km/h
user_id : QiangLuo
user_firstname : Qiang
user_lastname : Luo
About the Mountain and climbing info:
https://www.summitpost.org/mountain/150428
GPX tracks:
https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=2013
"Seven Fingered Jack (7FJ) is the second highest of the three 9,000 foot peaks that make up the Entiat Cirque. The other two are Mt. Maude and Mt. Fernow". Their ridges are connected forming a horseshoes shaped bowl feeding the Entiat River. At 9,100 ft, 7FJ is ranked #12 on the Washington Bulger List.
Due to the long drive and the shared approach, climbers usually plan 2- or 3-day overnight trips that tag 7FJ+Maude or 7FJ+Maude+South Spectacle Butt (SSB) or 7FJ+Fenow together.
A few years ago, I did an overnight trip with 2 friends for Maude+SSB. One member summited both, the other turned back without summiting any and I made to the base of the summit block but failed to summit SSB.
This year I decided to tag 7FJ and redo SSB. Early October is defiantly the best time to attempt them in cool weather with beautiful fall colors. 7FJ was my first c2c-solo-fall-color-photo-hike this season. I enjoyed the trip very much even though the larch forest was still 1 week away from their peak colors.
Trip summary:
13.7 mi round trip
8,307 ft total elevation gain
15 hours duration (ascent 7.5 hours, easy pace; decent 7.5 hours, with a lot of photo stops)
My take about the standard route
Route finding:
Route finding challenge was often exaggerated in many reports. Just download a few gpx tracks to your gps device and follow them (Don't pick and download any gpx tracks from the submitters who noted in their reports that they were off route). The key is to resist the urge to climb the visually highest finger and get screwed by 7FJ's middle finger. The true summit finger is the far-north little finger, so keep going to the last tower.
Route difficult level:
The scramble is class-2 with no exposure if you stay on the route.