We know that the Paradise weekday closure is a huge loss for the community. That is why we are working with a colaititon of stakeholders, including the Mountaineers, Winter Wildlands Alliance, and local businesses to find creative solutions to this problem and prevent it from happening in the future.

The Sno-Park program provides a mechanism for finding funding and contractors to plow new access points that could provide value to backcountry users. We are actively gathering feedback about helpful potential access points, meeting with the Forest Service, and learning about the process of proposing new Sno-Parks for next winter.

We believe that educating the community about access updates and underutilized access opportunities is a big part of our mission. Check out our blog for updates, backcountry resources, learning opportunities, and other news. We are also working on recreation guides to highlight underutilized spots and spread users out.

Backcountry advocacy in Washington is an extremely complicated space with dozens of relevant organizations - NWAC, State Parks, Forest Service, DOT, ski areas, just to name a few. We have met with many different organizations to introduce our mission, learn about theirs, and figure out how we could collaborate. This will be an ongoing process.

Advocacy is a complicated topic, with many different related groups and legal processes. We are prioritizing research into legal proceedings, land use documents, and the lessons from other backcountry advocacy groups. This will ensure we are part of the processes that enable us to express the unified voice of winter backcountry users and bring about real change.

As a new and fast-moving organization, we are figuring out the most effective way for us to collaborate and work together. We are also in the process of reactivating the original Washington State non-profit from 2017 and will be moving towards 501c3 status in the coming year.