Fire destroys historic Royal Gorge Wildnerness Lodge at cross-country ski resort

Fire destroys historic Royal Gorge Wildnerness Lodge at cross-country ski resort{mosimage}An investigation continues into the cause of last week’s fire that destroyed the Royal Gorge Wilderness Lodge near Donner Summit west of Truckee, California.

The 14,000-square-foot building at the Royal Gorge cross-country ski area was fully engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived early on the morning of October 31. “It’s a devastating loss for us, but we’re going to deal with it,” said resort owner John Soluber. “We’ll rebuild it.”

Some sections of the lodge dated back to 1865, and the building underwent renovations about a decade ago. Royal Gorge employees began moving into the lodge for the winter just the night before.

Fire officials said the blaze was caused by something inside the lodge, but they were unsure what. The blaze was unrelated to the wild fires that were raging last week in Southern California.

Because the only access road to the lodge is long and unpaved, it took the first fire crews about 20 minutes to arrive at the scene.