The new owners of the Telemark Lodge in Cable have announced they're turning off the power of the historic resort and letting nature take its course.
After buying the property in October, a group called Mount Telemark Partners said it had no interest in running the 214-room lodge but would let someone else manage it. For a while, it seemed the Central Cross Country Ski Association, or CXC, was interested in running the lodge as an Olympic training facility.
Mount Telemark Partners spokesman Rick Carpenter said lodge upkeep was too much for them.
"As they did their due diligence and looked at the disrepair of the lodge, they decided that it was just too big of a mountain to climb," he said.
Carpenter said Telemark needs a complete overhaul and renovating the heating and cooling system alone will cost $1 million.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Unless there's an 11th-hour Hail Mary where another group comes in and wants to tackle the restoration or renovation of Telemark Lodge, yes, it will freeze and become almost fatally damaged," Carpenter said. The three-story grand hall will be preserved by draining pipes and winterizing the structure.
James Bolen, executive director of the Cable Area Chamber of Commerce, said his group isn't giving up on Telemark as a resort.
"There's still potential hope for the building," Bolen said. "Some new attachments could be attached to the core and a new facility built, but obviously the folks at CXC want to bring an Olympic training site to the Cable area, to the trails that are there."
While the lodge won't be open, Telemark's owners have agreed to lease the property for this year's American Birkebeiner cross country ski race.
