Poley Mountain enjoys great skiing after devastating fire

As March Break kicks off in New Brunswick, Poley Mountaingeneral manager Bill Anderson says conditions are the best he has seen in years.

The "tremendous" snow this season has been a welcome bit of good news after fire destroyed the lodge at the ski hill just before Poley Mountain opened in December.

"It's been a challenging season but the crew, the staff, all pulled together 100 per cent and our guests allunderstandwhat we've gone through andI guess it really tells the type of people we are," Anderson said.

The nearly two-metre snow base is three times what the ski hill had last year at this time.

Alex Swartman, a terrain worker at Poley Mountain, says so much snow has kept him busy.

"It's been good, but it's hard to maintain with so much snow sometimes."

Anderson says attendance so far this season has been upand down.

He said he expectsthe frigid temperatures and the lack of alodge are behind thedips in numbers but says it could have been worse.

"We didn't lose the ski hill, we lost the lodge. And the trailers are working really well for us and the skiing conditions areprobably the best it's been for years."

Plans underway for new lodge

Anderson says plans for the new and improved ski lodge are just about finished.

"The blueprints are prettywelldone and in two weeks we'regoing to shareholders to explain what we're doing," he says.

Anderson says the lodge that was lost was built in 1988 to accommodate65,000 skiersand the lodge currently welcomes about90,000 skiers every season.

"The new one will be more modern, we will take full advantage of the sun so this is an opportunity to build what we really need," he says.

Anderson says the temporary trailers will start to be dismantled at the end of March and work will begin on the new lodge as soon as possible.

"We've got about a 12-to 15-month project to get done in nine. We're going to start the day we're done here," he says.

Anderson says the price tag for the new lodge will be in the millions.