A well-known face at Poley Mountain is hanging up his skis after five decades at the hill.
Bill Anderson recently retired as general manager of the ski hill, located about 20 minutes from Sussex.
Anderson got his start in Grade 10 when his neighbour, who was in charge of operations, asked for a helping hand one Saturday.
“I said ‘oh yeah, I’ll go up and give you a hand.’ I did and that night, I said ‘why would anybody want to work at a place that they’re freezing to death?'” Anderson recalled.
Anderson said he was asked to go back to the ski hill the next day — and he has never looked back.
He went on to become operations manager and served as general manager for the past 12 to 15 years.
Anderson said he has witnessed many changes at the ski hill over the past 50 years — all for the better.
“We put snowmaking in in the early 70s, we put a chairlift in in the late 80s, went to night skiing, we put another chairlift in,” he said.
The ski hill also installed a carpet, which allowed children to begin skiing at an even younger age.
Anderson said the thing he will miss most is the people he met and those he had the pleasure of working with.
“One of my first bosses was a gentleman that’s still living today, he’ll be 100 this summer, Arthur Lee White that lives in Rothesay. To this day, I talk to him probably once a week,” he said.
“I’m really fortunate in the type of people you meet, that customers that you meet, the people that work for you.”
Most people tend to slow down when they retire, but Anderson has no intention of doing that.
Anderson still plans on spending 20 to 25 hours a week helping out with things around the hill.
“We’re getting into mountain biking on the hill so there’s going to be trail stuff to do, so I told them I’d help them out wherever I can,” he said.
Anderson, who is also a small farmer, said he will also spend more time tending to his cattle and horses.
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