Ski Martock owner Heather Boylan expects the hills should be covered in white fluffy stuff before Christmas — just in time for the start of a rush that will last until the end of March.
About 7,500 season passes are sold at the busy ski and snowboard facility annually.
Boylan says playing host to the 2011 Canada Winter Games has left a lasting legacy that may draw more season pass holders to Ski Martock by enhancing the facility’s snow-making capabilities, sprucing up the snowboarding halfpipe and creating a biathlon range that is booked for a national event scheduled for March 2012.
“It made more people aware of Ski Martock,” she says.
Boylan signed on as a Ski Martock employee in 1983. When the previous owner decided to retire in 2003, she decided to take Ski Martock, which started as a single trail with one surface lift in 1965, under her wing.
“It was something that I knew,” she says, adding that she still works with some of the same people she started with. “We have a lot of fun here.”
While Ski Martock continues to grow and offer more winter sport options, including Nordic trails, Boylan says the atmosphere has hardly changed since she landed there.
“We try to have an atmosphere here that’s sort of family oriented,” Boylan said.
“Everybody knows everybody and it just gives (visitors) a chance to feel more welcome.”
Ski Martock employs about 200 people in the on season, from December to the end of March. They start accepting bookings for weekend events, and selling season passes, in June.
Boylan says business is good at the Annapolis Valley’s ski hill, but she doesn’t anticipate any major expansions to Martock’s grounds in the near future.
“Right now we’re at our property lines so we really can’t go any further without purchasing land, but I want to renovate the lodge.”
