Bobby Hoyt is the ski patrol director at Mammoth Mountain Ski Center in California. He grew up in Saranac Lake and got his start as a patroller at Whiteface Mountain Ski Center, working there from 1978-1980.

He still has family in this area, including his father Jim, who has been a ski patroller at Whiteface Mountain for more than 50 years, and his brother, J.R., who is Whiteface’s ski patrol director.

The one-page Powder Magazine article is called “Dropping Bombs: Running routes with Mammoth Patrol Director Bobby Hoyt.”

The article follows Hoyt and his staff on a morning after the mountain received 15 inches of snow overnight, requiring patrollers to perform avalanche control duties. That included using dynamite to trigger slides before the crowds arrived.

Mammoth is a 11,053-foot high volcano that receives more than 400 inches of snow annually. Its ski season runs from November to June.

“The morning light illuminates the room at the top of the mountain as the sky turns blue and the slopes refresh,” states Powder writer Ryan Copenhagen. “Hoyt, 57, stands behind a counter, backpacks filled with dynamite on the couch behind him.”

The article also references Hoyt’s association to Whiteface Mountain, where a trail, Hoyt’s High, bears his family’s name.

In an email to the Enterprise, Hoyt said he enjoyed the article.

“I liked the article in Powder, it was short and sweet and a honor to have been written about,” he wrote.