{"id":808263,"date":"2020-06-10T18:30:51","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T00:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=384763"},"modified":"2020-06-10T18:30:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T00:30:51","slug":"summit-skiers-find-cold-smoke-powder-in-the-backcountry-during-tuesdays-june-snowstorm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-skiers-find-cold-smoke-powder-in-the-backcountry-during-tuesdays-june-snowstorm\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit skiers find \u2018cold smoke\u2019 powder in the backcountry during Tuesday\u2019s June snowstorm"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>DILLON \u2014 Frisco local Gary Fondl, known in the local backcountry skiing community as the &#8220;Mayor of Pow Town,&#8221; extended his consecutive ski streak to 88 weeks Tuesday thanks to the sudden June snowstorm that dropped more than half a foot of powder above 11,000 feet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was probably some of the best June powder in my 26 seasons here,&#8221; Fondl said Wednesday. &#8220;We had that storm late June last year, but it just wasn\u2019t as deep as (Tuesday&#8217;s) skiing was. There was a good 8-plus inches. The winds were really blowing, and we were skiing some old cross-loads leftover from last season to have a base underneath. It was about boot deep.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Out skiing a location in the Loveland Pass area with Breckenridge adventure sports photographer Liam Doran, the pair skied a spot Fondl typically skis in corn conditions each June. He&#8217;d skied it for the past couple of weeks, leading to his knowledge of where snow coverage remained in advance of Tuesday&#8217;s storm.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You definitely have to know what\u2019s underneath there when skiing in a storm like that,&#8221; Fondl said. <\/p>\n<p>Doran, an accomplished photographer, typically switches to mountain biking and other summertime sports this time of year. Following a recent four-day commercial backcountry ski shoot for an outerwear brand deep in the Gore Range, Doran has opted for mountain biking dry, lower-elevation trails near his home in Breckenridge, like the Flume trails and Aspen Alley. <\/p>\n<p>But on Monday night, Fondl called to ask Doran if he was down to shoot a powder day the following morning. Having kept an eye on the forecast, Doran knew Idaho had gotten hit with a bunch of snow and knew Tuesday morning could be special \u2014 but not 6-12 inches of &#8220;cold smoke&#8221; powder special.<\/p>\n<p>So Doran ran through his house to gather the ski gear he stored up after the Gore Range trip, packing his go-to setup of Atomic Backland 107 skis with Atomic Backland bindings for the conditions he anticipated the next morning.<\/p>\n<p>After getting up at 5:30 a.m., Doran met Fondl an hour later and drove to a high-mountain road in the Loveland Pass area where there was a quick boot-pack hike to the steep, 1,200-foot zone Fondl knew would be prime conditions.<\/p>\n<p> <script> jQuery(document).ready(function($) { $('#imageGallery-384763-254').lightSlider({ gallery:true, item:1, loop:true, thumbItem:9, slideMargin:0, enableTouch:true, enableDrag: false, currentPagerPosition:'left', onSliderLoad: function(el) { \/\/$( '.gallery-loading' ).hide(); $( '.swift-gallery' ).css( 'opacity', 1 ); \/*var maxHeight = 0, container = $(el), children = container.children(); children.each(function () { var childHeight = $(this).prop( 'scrollHeight' ); if (childHeight > maxHeight) { maxHeight = childHeight; } }); container.height(maxHeight);*\/ } }); }); <\/script> <!--\n\n<div class=\"row gallery-loading\"> \n\n<div class=\"col\"> \n\n<p class=\"text-center\"><i class=\"fas fa-circle-notch fa-spin\"><\/i><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" style=\"opacity: 0;\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-384763-254\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled gallery-container\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-3-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Liam Doran Photography | Gary Fondl skis deep powder Tuesday morning in the Loveland Pass area.\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\">\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><strong>Gary Fondl skis deep powder Tuesday morning in the Loveland Pass area.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Liam Doran Photography<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <!--<a href=\"--><!--\">--> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-3-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"\" \/> <!--<\/a>--> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .col --> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .row --> <\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Liam Doran Photography | Gary Fondl, nicknamed he \"Mayor of Pow Town,\" hikes to his ski line in the Loveland Pass area during Tuesday's spring snowstorm.\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\">\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><strong>Gary Fondl, nicknamed he &#8220;Mayor of Pow Town,&#8221; hikes to his ski line in the Loveland Pass area during Tuesday&#8217;s spring snowstorm.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Liam Doran Photography<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <!--<a href=\"--><!--\">--> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-2-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"\" \/> <!--<\/a>--> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .col --> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .row --> <\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-1-1024x683.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Courtesy Liam Doran Photography | Gary Fondl skis deep powder Tuesday morning in the Loveland Pass area.\" class=\"swift-gallery-slide h-100\">\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p><strong>Gary Fondl skis deep powder Tuesday morning in the Loveland Pass area.<\/strong><br \/>Courtesy Liam Doran Photography<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <!--<a href=\"--><!--\">--> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/06\/SpringSki-SDN-061120-1-1024x683.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"\" \/> <!--<\/a>--> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .col --> <\/div>\n<p><!-- END .row --> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The snow at the spot was coming down much heavier, and the weather was colder than Doran experienced driving out of Breckenridge. The adventure-sports veteran found himself underdressed with light gloves and a light fleece under his shell for what he described as a &#8220;full-on winter morning.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The duo hiked straight up and \u2014 to Doran&#8217;s surprise \u2014 found Old Man Winter&#8217;s best powder. At the end of his first run, Doran quickly realized he mixed up East Coast and mountain time and rushed home for a New York City-based video conference meeting. Fondl headed up again for another lap.<\/p>\n<p>Dropping into the line featuring 1,000 feet of continuous turns from the gusty winds up at about 12,200 feet, the &#8220;Mayor of Pow Town&#8221; enjoyed what he described as awesome June skiing where the powder got deeper the farther down the line he skied, with some of the best turns at the very bottom.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Just another day of skiing in Summit County,&#8221; Fondl said.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-skiers-find-cold-smoke-powder-in-the-backcountry-during-tuesdays-june-snowstorm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DILLON \u2014 Frisco local Gary Fondl, known in the local backcountry skiing community as the &#8220;Mayor of Pow Town,&#8221; extended his consecutive ski streak to 88 weeks Tuesday thanks to the sudden June snowstorm that dropped more than half a foot of powder above 11,000 feet. &#8220;That was probably some of the best June powder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-808263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-06 17:13:23","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}