WCUA Projects and Action

Warm Lake Road Update Post-December 22, 2025 County Commissioners Meeting:

We attended the Monday, December 22nd Valley County Commissioners meeting. There, they chose a meeting time for the gate discussion.

The gate discussion will occur starting at about 10:30/10:45-Noon on Monday, January 12, 2026. The public is invited to attend and there will be a comment period during that timeslot. Chairman Maupin urged the public to come with constructive ideas/solutions vs. complaints.

Between now and January 12th, WCUA will be meeting as part of a working group with a number of stakeholders that include Perpetua and the county, to discuss the gate.

WCUA will be communicating with the commissioners prior to the meeting and will also reiterate our thoughts during the public comment period in the meeting.

Based on the meeting Monday and previous discussions, here are some things to understand as you think about the Warm Lake Road and the gate issue (this list is not exhaustive):

  1. The road is being plowed by Perpetua from the east side of Warm Lake over the Warm Lake Summit to Landmark. That is not up for negotiation. That has already been decided, and the county does not have any authority over that. The plowing up and over the summit will aim to leave a 3-4 inch snow floor and sand and gravel will go down over that for traction. Perpetua will be plowing as-needed as 3-4 inches of fresh snow falls, 7 days/week and around the clock.

  2. A gate is almost 100% likely to go in. The gate would ONLY be used in the winter. Public safety is understandably at the forefront of everyone’s mind and wheeled vehicles/trailers going over the Warm Lake Summit presents significant safety concerns. The county sheriff’s office, EMS, and search and rescue do not have the capacity to manage a large increase in emergencies in that area. However, the LOCATION and USE of the gate is still up for discussion.

  3. The permanent gate will not go in this year. It takes four months to get the parts and install them and that isn’t going to happen this year. That said, there were some suggestions of the potential for a temp gate/blockade this year.

  4. Perpetua has been directed to add signage along the road letting people know about road conditions/closures for avalanche mitigation up and over Warm Lake Summit, but nothing is in place yet.

  5. The Cabin Creek/Trout Creek over-snow vehicle (OSV) reroute will not happen this year. Additionally, there is no guarantee that it will happen next year/no way to predict timing right now as it’s in litigation.

  6. The terrain near the location for the proposed gate makes it difficult for backcountry foot traffic (backcountry skiers and snowboarders and pedestrians) to travel off the side of the road as it’s marshy and there has not been an environmental assessment of that area.

You can watch the full meeting here: Valley County Board of County Commissioner Meeting December 22, 2025

You are of course welcome to comment at the meeting. We also encourage you to email us with any thoughts/ideas in advance as we work with stakeholders to find solutions suitable for the human-powered backcountry ski/board community. When we spoke briefly at the meeting to ask a question, Chairman Maupin clearly knew who we were and acknowledged the >150 emails they all received based on our call to action. Perpetua’s community relations manager also spoke and acknowledged her own misstep in not including us in their discussion sooner and noted that she had no idea there was such a large and powerful voice in the backcountry ski/board community in this area! While this is the issue before us right now, we anticipate there may be a need to continue this dialogue with the county and Perpetua in the coming years as Warm Lake Road continues to be used for mining operations. Establishing a professional relationship with both is to our advantage.

We hope to see you at the meeting on Jan. 12th. Numbers in the room are impactful.

Thank you for caring about local, human-powered backcountry access and your continued support of WCUA.

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The West Central Uphill Alliance (WCUA) is a 501(c)(3) approved non-profit organization.