Guest speaker Dec. 8, 2014, was Bill Anderson, General Manager of Poley Mountain who spoke to the Club Members on the operations and plans for Poley Mountain this year and in the future.
o Poley Mountain is privately held by 100 shareholders with a 16 member board of Directors.
o One of 10 ski hill operations in Atlantic Canada, the largest hill operations in Eastern Canada.
o The Poley Mountain operation employs 185 full-time and part-time employees
o Lift capacity of 3,000 persons per hour.
o Food capacity of 400 persons per hour.
o Lodge capacity is the next issue necessary to be solved by the Board of Directors/Owners.
o Over 2,00 early bird passes sold this year.
o Poley Mountain sees 90,000 ski visits annually.
Bruce Northrup thanked Mr. Anderson for his interesting insight on the operations and upgrade plans for Poley Mountain and presented Mr. Anderson with a gift from the club as a token of our appreciation.
Bruce Northrup thanked Mr. Anderson for his interesting insight on the operations and upgrade plans for Poley Mountain and presented Mr. Anderson with a gift from the club as a token of our appreciation.
It was with sadness that the Club members heard that Poley Mountain had a devastating fire the next evening, and the Clubhouse was a complete loss.
As reported in the Kings County Record on Dec. 9:
“It was shortly before 7 p.m. when firefighters were called to the main lodge of Poley Mountain, about 10 minutes southeast of Sussex. The building is the main hub of activity for the resort and is where kitchen facilities and the cafeteria are located, ski and snowboarding equipment is rented and staff offices are housed.
General manager Bill Anderson estimates about $3 million in losses – including the lodge, and the equipment and contents inside. All the food and alcohol for the start of the season had been stocked, staff hired and new rental equipment placed in inventory.
“We’ve lost nearly everything, but we still have the ski hill,” Anderson said, “and people will be skiing on it this winter.”
Anderson said he was watching the news at his nearby Waterford home when he got a call from the resort’s security company saying a fire alarm was sounding. The security company’s dispatch had already called 911.
“As soon as I came around the corner the roof was on fire,” said Anderson, who has worked at Poley since it opened with its modest lodge in 1970.
Since then Poley Mountain has become what it markets as the Mountain of Fun, drawing big crowds to the Sussex region every winter. It’s success revolves around the ski hill’s continual improvements in state-of-the art snowmaking equipment that allows the mountain to be open longer than many others in the business, and with premium ski conditions.”
“There’s no question we will rebuild,” longtime member of the Poley Mountain board of directors, Stephen Moffett said. “It will be bigger and better in time for next season but for now we have to find a way to salvage the season, that’s all there is to it.”