"sleeper" pow day?

Why does everyone use this expression now? Been hearing this all season, in lift lines on social media, etc... I always thought a sleeper was when you see a 1982 Volvo station wagon that looks like a rust bucket but actually packs a supercharged engine under the hood... Guess it just means a pow day where there aren't crowds now? So if it snows on a weekday its a "sleeper" pow day or something? Any day it snows not on a weekend is "sleeper" now? Or is it for people who never check the weather and wake up and realize it's snowed?

Any you rad dudes have any epic sleeper pow day stories from this year?

Bro. Get with the times. Sleeper days are when it dumps without being forecasted so no ones there, or when they report a few inches and it turns out to be deeeeeep. Caught those fuckers sleepin! You don't know until you go!

best i can offer---

it's saturday night at JHMR, it's lightly snowing at the Franti concert. Many people have mucho fun.

Next morning, they call in a foot of fresh. And there's nobody on the lifts...

On the same day that massive red shitstorm puked all over Colorado's snowpack (Monday 3/31/14), I skiied boot-top powder straight down the middle of the Highlands Bowl without stopping and it felt awesome. Go figure.

Checking the weather is good for entertainment, bad for planning. Either you're going skiing or you're not. Ullr rewards commitment.

Why do skiers make such good boyfriends? "They know how to make six inches feel like nine."

I understand when it snows more than its supposed to. I think the expression is being highly over used though. I live in the mountains, less than 10 minutes away from the resorts/trail heads, so I just get up early and peek out my window for the mornings forecast. I guess if your a weekend warrior from the city this term is used a lot more, which I am not. And I guess those are the people who over use the term in lift lines, on social media or whatever.

I guess I had a "sleeper pow day" once. It was at Anthony Lakes, Oregon. Smallest mom and pop resort you could ever imagine. 1 lift, 900 vert but some good short side country hikes. It was my first day ever skiing this mountain, happened to hear it got some snow before everyone else and I was staying in Boise, Idaho a few hours away. Had no clue what to expect... but the lift ticket was a whooping $17 and they had powder. Obviously there were only about 20 people skiing the whole mountain and I doubt they ever see crowds of more than 100 even on non "sleeper" days. Well this is what happened:

https://vimeo.com/55249669

It was a sleeper pow day at the wood today. People sitting 3 abreast on chair 6. Slower skiers moving aside on the traverse. Nobody walking over my skis to join their long lost friends in line.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Toad

Nobody walking over my skis to join their long lost friends in line.

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People who do that to me get an earful. Inadvertent is one thing, but...

kungpow, I hear you. It's being overused. I've noticed it too, although I hadn't really thought much about it until you mentioned it.

It's really supposed to only apply when the weather outperforms the forecast and nobody shows up.

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Originally Posted by Tye 1on

best i can offer---

it's saturday night at JHMR, it's lightly snowing at the Franti concert. Many people have mucho fun.

Next morning, they call in a foot of fresh. And there's nobody on the lifts...

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I was pretty frickin shocked, zero lines, super deep. Total sleeper day.

The last time I got back home from a Jackson trip the expression "crushing it" had me laughing out loud. This was over a year ago. It could have been used for an out of control drinking game while hanging out at the Jxn bars.

I'm becoming increasingly partial to the phrase "country club conditions" over "sleeper" to refer to the crowd or lack thereof.

Been making a lot of great turns lately on country club-like days. Tends to happen around these parts after the first few warm, sunny days of spring. Suddenly the day ticket-buying public stops thinking about skiing and starts leaning towards warmer weather sports. Of course, that makes the daily bike commute a nightmare, but at least an entertaining one. Further proof that every sport/activity has its gapers...

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Originally Posted by kungpow

I guess I had a "sleeper pow day" once. It was at Anthony Lakes, Oregon. Smallest mom and pop resort you could ever imagine. 1 lift, 900 vert but some good short side country hikes. It was my first day ever skiing this mountain, happened to hear it got some snow before everyone else and I was staying in Boise, Idaho a few hours away. Had no clue what to expect... but the lift ticket was a whooping $17 and they had powder. Obviously there were only about 20 people skiing the whole mountain and I doubt they ever see crowds of more than 100 even on non "sleeper" days. Well this is what happened:

https://vimeo.com/55249669

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Haha well every powder day is a sleeper day at the old ATL. I've put in around 80 days there over the past 2 seasons and usually you can get first chair if you're in line 10min before open.

Nice video, looks like a fun day. Off of poster ridge? You must've been there on a Thursday if the ticket was $17. The resort is closed mon-wed so Thursdays can be pretty deep if things line up.

2 years 900vert will make you crazy. Big motivating factor for me to get into the backcountry more.

The only days I call sleeper are days when the 5am snow report is an inch or two but it's been dumping since the report so it's actually like 8-10 inches.

I had a weekday mid December sleeper pow day at Alta. I think they reported about 8" at 6AM but it puked all day. By the time the lifts started spinning, and we discharged to attack the mtn. there was probably closer to a foot to play in. And when the lifts stopped spinning, it had snowed another 6"-8". We had the mountain pretty much to share with about 100 other folks. Best day of the season, and one of my favorite days in the past 10 years because I got to share it with my older brother.

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Earlier in March there was a day at Squaw where the 6:30am snow report was a dusting up top and rain at the base. Not exactly inspiring. But then it snowed hard for the next 2.5 hours and suddenly we had 8+ inches and no lines. That's a sleeper day.

Anywhere in Tahoe yesterday: not a sleeper day at all. You could see that coming days ahead of time.

the terms that have sprung up in skiing the last few years are totally stupid. sleeper day is one of them.

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Originally Posted by kungpow

I guess if your a weekend warrior from the city this term is used a lot more, which I am not. And I guess those are the people who over use the term in lift lines, on social media or whatever.

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This is sociology 101 stuff. When 'locals' start using a new term, whether it's regarding skiing, surfing, climbing, etc., the weekenders catch onto it. They usually either misunderstand it or just start using it to sound more 'local' so they can escalate their stature.

Whoa - the plot only got 2" but loads blew into a back bowl and it was deep? The storm arrived AFTER 6am (or whatever your hill's first report time is) weather report? Who could have guessed? :rolleyes:

In my mind, it's just a term that is now popular on social media useful for the masses that show up without a clue/don't pay attention to what's happened overnight, over the week, the forecast, etc.

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Originally Posted by cuseo

On the same day that massive red shitstorm puked all over Colorado's snowpack (Monday 3/31/14), I skiied boot-top powder straight down the middle of the Highlands Bowl without stopping and it felt awesome. Go figure.

Checking the weather is good for entertainment, bad for planning. Either you're going skiing or you're not. Ullr rewards commitment.

Why do skiers make such good boyfriends? "They know how to make six inches feel like nine."

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^ Chock full O'win.

First I'm hearing the term "sleeper pow day" .... I understand the concept.... Guess I've been sleeping.

this thread is quite the sleeper

Here's a sleeper story from this winter at Snowbowl, near Missoula...snow report said 3 inches after days of big dumps...so nobody bothers to show up (a Tuesday). But there was a ton of snow still sitting in the trees (Snowbowl is primarily tree skiing), and at about 8 a.m. the wind kicks up ferociously for a couple hours and dumps another ten inches off the trees and onto the mountain. I don't even think the folks who run the mountain were aware of it.

After Ski Santa Fe got 90 inches in 30 days, and I managed to hit 27 of them; I awoke on the last day of my free January pass. The sky was blue, and the report showed zero fresh so I almost bagged. But free skiing was not to be ignored, so I saddled up to the mountain, where they had gotten about 6 more inches of fresh between 6am (when the report is posted) to around 9:30 when I got there. That was sleeper.

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Originally Posted by gpetrics

the terms that have sprung up in skiing the last few years are totally stupid. sleeper day is one of them.

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last few years? Please, sleeper has been tossed around since the 90's. Mostly because it's a term used for many other things other than skiing that can be related.

Monday was a total sleeper day on good ole Silver. Dumped on and off all day sunday and went full on blue bird Monday. Resort only reported an inch, it was mucho deeper, myself and about 30 other people showed for the day. Fresh tracks all day at warp looney in the sun!! SLEEPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you fuckers didn't get up so damned early I'd be able to sleep in and have a real sleeper pow day!


First tracks at noon, now that's a concept!

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Originally Posted by wildmanwillie

Haha well every powder day is a sleeper day at the old ATL. I've put in around 80 days there over the past 2 seasons and usually you can get first chair if you're in line 10min before open.

Nice video, looks like a fun day. Off of poster ridge? You must've been there on a Thursday if the ticket was $17. The resort is closed mon-wed so Thursdays can be pretty deep if things line up.

2 years 900vert will make you crazy. Big motivating factor for me to get into the backcountry more.

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Not sure of the ridge name... lookers left of the lift, hiked that first bowl then kept creeping up a little higher up the ridge and dropping in. Didn't need to go very far, only one maybe two others besides my group were hiking. Yep, it was a half price ticket day. ATL is so rad, seriously it's everything that's right in a ski resort. No big corporate shit, robots don't scan your ticket, the nicest people, cheap local beers, champagne pow, no douche bags whatso ever, great place to teach the little ones... the list goes on...

That place is also an awesome sidecountry resort, easy skin up to some epic stuff, I'd love to go back and ski those chutes that are in the distance.