Just in Time on 7FJ

I've lived in the Leavenworth area for about 15 years now. My early days living in Leavy had me up in the Stuart Range quite a bit. While I still love those mountains, these days I'm also captivated by another part of my backyard...the endless terrain north of Lake Wenatchee. The Chiwawa River Road, while long and bumpy, is a portal to bigger mountains and glaciers. It is a tradition for my crew to head to that area once the road opens each summer. By the time that happens 7 Fingered Jack is almost always melted out. So this year, my friend Ryan and I decided to bike 12 miles of closed road to the Phelps Creek Trailhead to see if we could get the coverage for a ski of 7FJ's south face. The biking on the road is not a grind, but rather a pleasant flow through the forest and 7FJ is close to the trailhead and very straightforward. It lends itself to a high mileage day when gates still block the way. We probably skied the mountain on the last reasonable day as the snow was disappearing fast. We had to take skis off for one 100 foot section and another 50 foot section which was a bummer, but we still skied over 3,000 feet of exceptional corn. The bike out was a nice wind down from a beautiful day. When we got back to our car the gate was open! haha Still, we enjoyed the whole package and I'd multisport this area again anyday!