Soda Springs, CA – Royal Gorge on Donner Summit near Lake Tahoe has been placed in receivership after the cross country ski resort, the nation’s largest and one of its most popular, defaulted on a loan.

The 40-year-old ski resort, adjacent to the alpine skiing available at Sugar Bowl, has been struggling under stifling debt and development of a 900-residence housing project stalled by reduced demand as a result of the current economic downturn, as well as regulatory and environmental opposition from groups including Sierra Watch. Its facilities and 195km (121 miles) of trails were placed last month under control of a court-ordered receiver after defaulting on a $16.7 million loan issued by Armed Forces Bank.

Royal Gorge’s owners acquired the resort in 2005 at the height of the real estate bubble at a cost estimated at $35 million. The current proceedings include the 2,900-acre resort’s separate 19th-century Rainbow Lodge inn and restaurant operations, located alongside the Yuba River near Interstate 80, but do not include the property’s ski-in/ski-out Ice Lakes Lodge, which is under separate ownership.

Representatives of the receiver have stressed that it will be business as usual for the resort while the legal and financial matters are sorted out.