Telemark talks collapse, but lodge will re-open until March 1

Telemark Lodge and Resort is re-opening…but only for the rest of the winter season.

Telemark owner Dick Short spent the last three days in the Cable area negotiating the sale of the historic 1000 acre resort but he says this afternoon (Friday) that talks have collapsed.

A source close to the negotiations, James Bolen with the Cable Chamber of Commerce, says efforts to buy the resort by Telemark Partners have ended. Telemark Partners had planned to build an Olympic snowboard training facility and retirement homes.

Short says his options include bulldozing the facility or continuing efforts to sell it and re-open it so it can be used during the American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in February. That race runs between the Telemark Lodge and Hayward.

Short says another alternative in the works is partnering with the Birkebeiner, the Telemark Interval Owners Association, the town of Cable and Bayfield County to keep it open five years or longer. No details have been worked out in that partnership.

Short says his will know in 45 days whether Telemark will be sold or he’ll sell the land piecemeal. Short says without a plan by then, quote: “Telemark and its trail system could be gone forever.”

Reported by:  BusinessNorth.com