Mt Jupiter, N gully

Mt Jupiter is unmistakable on the eastern skyline of the Olympics as you look west from Seattle, or any viewpoint in the Puget Sound region. Though small in stature, this beast is huge in personality and prominence, rising up 5000’ from the Duckabush river to the south and the Dosewallips to the north. The summit sits at around 5640’. Yesterday, 2/17, I believe I made the first snowboard descent of this mountain. Starting from the closure of forest road 2610-12 off the Dosewallips road, I battled deadfall and washout heading west along the closed road for 1.5 miles. I then turned due south and began bushwacking up the hill directly below Jupiter lakes. Rhododendrons were pushed aside, logs were ducked and hopped, curse words were uttered, snow deepened, and finally skins were donned at around 3400 feet. I skinned from here to the summit (5640’), up a north facing gully that runs from the top to the second largest lake. I was able to skin to and snowboard directly off the summit, into a fine raincloud. I began descending in boots back at 3400’ and I enjoyed downhill bushwacking, fully soaked, but glad to not have any reason to return. Two pieces of flagging were spotted in the woods, along with no sign whatsoever of any trail or previous traffic. Rumor has it that this hill has been skied before, by members of the Olympic Mountain Rescue. Anyone got any clues? Regardless, I’m fairly certain no one has visited this place with a snowboard, and winter ascents in general are seldom accomplished. The standard route climbs the long ridge up high heading due west to the summit, and with current snow levels would be a very long and arduous adventure. My route, though unpleasant, was a direct up and down. It took me 11 hours car to car. Cheers and happy shredding! A long YouTube video of this adventure is linked below. https://youtu.be/FbqLHnnqEZs