IS ROYAL GORGE LLC'S "SKI CAMP" CONCEPT AS DEAD AS A DODO?

The Union newspaper reported yesterday that Sugar Bowl Ski Resort had decided to back out of their agreement to have a lift link to Royal Gorge LLC's "ski camp," saying, "the full impact of the proposed project was not fully evaluated." The Sierra Sun reported Robert Kautz, Sugar Bowl's CEO's as saying, "Our position is we think development is needed for the vitality of the Summit, but it needs to be sound, well-planned development."

How will this news affect Royal Gorge LLC's investors, who had been assured by Royal Gorge LLC in their glossy publication, "Introducing the Vision-Royal Gorge-A Wilderness Edge Community," that "with the board-certified, signed letter of intent between Royal Gorge and Sugar Bowl, Royal Gorge will offer the largest combined cross-country and downhill ski experience in North America", and "Ski Camp will connect the entire existing Sugar Bowl downhill resort to Royal Gorge"?

Sugar Bowl's decision, announced yesterday, was greeted with an enormous sigh of relief from many in the Serene Lakes/Donner Summit community. It made it clear  that Sugar Bowl, in it's efforts to be a green ski resort, isn't just talking the talk- they're also walking the walk. 

What made them change their minds? Here's a few conjectures- maybe Sugar Bowl looked at all the trees that would have to be clearcut for the trails and lifts to connect to "Ski Camp", and realized what an environmental nightmare that would be. And, while their decision seems to deal only with the connecting lifts/runs, perhaps they didn't want to be associated with the new "bunny slopes" Royal Gorge  LLC plans on scraping out of Razor Back Ridge.  Those very tame slopes will require at least 100 acres of clearcut to produce runs with a maximum of 500 feet of vertical- not exactly world class downhill terrain, and a bit superfluous when there is already plenty of beginner/intermediate slopes to ski on Donner Summit.

It's not unlikely that Sugar Bowl crunched the numbers, and saw that the cost of the connector was disproportionate to the return.  Since Royal Gorge LLC's "Ski Camp" portal was to be extremely limited in use, it wouldn't bring in that many skiers, and might end up a financial wash, or worse. 

Plus, there was that problem that skiers would have to able to navigate a double black diamond run to use the connector, something that might shut out quite a few families, not to mention beginning skiers. As parents skiing with their children often juggle day care/ski lessons throughout the day, a portal of this level of difficulty would have been completely impractical.

Also, perhaps Sugar Bowl took a hard look at our present economy, where construction loans are difficult to procure, and municipal bonds and Mello-Roos bonds are as well regarded as toxic waste by most investors, and figured out that Royal Gorge LLC might be faced with an uphill battle in terms of financing the huge infrastructure required for their proposed project.

Whatever Sugar Bowl's rationale, it's encouraging to see a large corporation step back, and reconsider decisions in the light of present circumstances, instead of plodding forward, no matter the cost.  Let's hope this motivates Kirk Syme, Todd Foster and cousins, and Royal Gorge LLC to take a harder look at all their plans- a "Ski Camp" that will have no ski in it, unless they stubbornly pursue a rather circumscribed ski facility, and a cross country resort they're planning to pave to save.  Wouldn't it be a grand new day to hear Royal Gorge LLC has gone back to the drawing board, and instead of trying to turn the cross country area into a sprawling suburb, they come up with something more rational like a modest hotel condo operation, limited to the Summit Station area, that preserves all the lovely cross country ski terrain?

One can hope.