ROYAL GORGE'S CROWN JEWELS- WILL THE TREASURE TROVE BE STRIPPED?

By Kathryn Gray

Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort has long been considered the "crown jewel" of cross country skiing in the United States. The stellar views, the seemingly endless trails, the varied terrain, and the immense solitude have continued to attract cross country skiers of all levels.  Many groups of friends don't consider their winter complete without an annual ski trip to Royal Gorge.

Royal Gorge LLC, despite having reassured skiers, "we plan on business as usual out there", has recently submitted new project maps to Placer County detailing their schemes for the area around Summit Lodge.  Where once a network of trails reached out in all directions, reservoirs are planned. High density housing, with accompanying tangles of roads, driveways, and parking lots will be overlaid on popular cross country ski trails.

The old Royal Gorge deftly interwove leased forest service lands with their own private lands to create a treasure of trails; now this will be squandered to manufacture second homes and hotels.

In the area east of the little Serene Lakes, Royal Gorge has proposed to put over 30 large condominium blocks, and runs and lifts for downhill skiing.  Cross country ski trails, as they don't provide the economic return of time-shares and condominiums, will be a thing of the past. When a puzzled skier asked , "how will I ski across the roads, parking lots, and driveways?", he was reassured by a Royal Gorge employee, "we'll put rubber mats out." Indeed. 

Cross country skiers, who have treasured their skiing experiences at the soon to be historic Royal Gorge, might wish we could wrap Royal Gorge up, and miraculously transport it to Scotland.  In Scotland, you see, by the ancient law of treasure trove, all finds of importance are the property of the crown, to be held in the public domain for the benefit of the nation.  

Let's play that word game.  I say, "treasure", and you say the first thing that pops into your mind.  Was it "pirates?"  Or was it, "save?"  If it was "save", maybe we should look to Scotland for example, and start thinking about treasure in terms of public benefit.  Maybe we should start paying very close attention to Royal Gorge LLC's development proposals in Placer County.  If we do so, perhaps we'll keep the historic Royal Gorge crown jewels safe.