It is a beautiful day.......

.....wow, is it a beautiful day or what.........sunshine........pure white beautiful groomed snow.......light west wind.......and the parking lot is filling with people ready to have a good day......

.......got the snowmaking pump repaired early this morning........so.......snowmaking in full force tonight...........gonna hammer Elwoods Hideout...........if temps stay down low we should have the three west trails opened with three nights of snowmaking.........stay tuned.......

.....and snow in the forecast Sunday night and Monday........as much as 2.5".......so say some.......great!

Wed, Thur, Fri

Got the snow pushed out ........pretty much......on tubing runs Wednesday.......plus pushed snow on the RailYard too.....then after 11 hours in the groomer, I called it quits for the day.....but it was cool to groom in the little snow shower at the end of the day.........

.....had company Christmas parties in the lodge Wednesday night and again Thursday night.......food smelled good.......but I didn't yield to the temptations.......

......then on Thursday, put the finishing touches to the RailYard so a crew could set features Thursday night.......which they did........and pretty much got the tubing runs leveled out ....... always makes me buggy trying to get that much snow leveled..........but pretty well got it.......better than years past when I handed it over to Joel to create the lanes........

.......got all set up to blow more snow on Elwoods Hideout.......and the pump went down......the main pump for the entire water system decided to die.........so shut everything down, wiped away some tears ......due to not being able to make snow.......and got ready to tackle it Friday.....

...Friday.......set another feature.......big box........in the Rail Yard and then did a complete groom today..........park looks good........snow was wonderful.........got a couple little snowfalls that helped freshen everything up.........

....then a service tech from Des Moines came to help diagnose the problem on the pump........and it looks like it is NOT a major issue......hope to have it back together Saturday afternoon.......so we can make snow Saturday night..........whew.......

.......good group assembling tonight.......we opened at 4..........crew is out putting the final shovel to the tubing load ramp and unload ramp.......so it will be ready tomorrow.........

......hope to see you this weekend........

How much snow.........

.......can Seven Oaks make running continuously from Sunday morning to 4 am Wednesday morning??.........answer>>>>>>>A LOT............Wow.......just arrived to start pushing snow on the Rail Yard and on snow tubing...........I won't be done soon.........lots and lots of deep snow to get groomed.........

......caught up on the water supply so we shut down........will turn everything back on Thursday so we can get Elwoods open this weekend.........

......better get to work...........

It keeps getting whiter and whiter........

Started making snow again yesterday about........well I don't remember for sure ........I think about 10 am but it might have been closer to 11..........but anyway........blowing snow on the Rail Yard and on tubing.........and it is getting deep............so here is the plan as it stands right now.....

keep the guns on the Rail Yard again all day today.......and all night tonight.........so we can have several features in place for next friday night...........and probably move one gun to Willet's Way to get started on access to Elwoods Hideout.........which we really........really want to have open for Friday night too........and if we miss Friday night........then have it for Saturday open........

.......and we will keep the guns on tubing til we can't make there no more........well that might be an exageration but it does take a LOT of snow on tubing.......and we have a great start on it too......we want to open tubing for Friday night as well..........

......so that's the plan........that's the hope........stay tuned for updates through the week.....right here on the Seven Oaks Blog.........

.......it really was great to have two cats on the hill Saturday afternoon when the temps dropped.......which allowed us to SAVE the snow.........yep........it is still snow.........NOT ice.......and the couple from Kansas City said yesterday when they were leaving for home that the snow on Sunday was awesome......they said there was NO ice to be found.........and for them to say that meant a lot to us...........

......work hard.........play hard

Wow....it was windy.......

We made the decision to shutdown last night at 7 pm as the wind was soooo strong we ran the risk of damage to the chair lift...........and let employees go home as the conditions were pretty tough.........and it was a good decision..........

......today, the wind is much less than last night, the sun is shining, it is cold...........and we are going to start making snow in a couple hours.........start grooming at 10 this morning..........and DELAY opening til 12 noon today..........

.......the Delayed Opening will let the roads get a little cleaner, the wind to settle down a little more and the temps to rise........although not much........but rise just the same..........

......we will only be operating the Valley View chairlift and the Slow Poke .......today.......which will still give access to all the open trails........

.......speaking of trails.......after we did the complete groom yesterday afternoon.......so many of you stopped us to say the snow was then GREAT and how much you appreciated the extra groom.........you are welcome..........we stand by our repeated statement that Seven Oaks will give you the best snow conditions possible..........it is important to us........and you.......

.....it was good to see Vince and Kevin friday night as well........and really neat they brought their foreign exchange student out to ski with them......!

......better get to work.........see you soon.......

Great opening last night......

.......it finally arrived........opening day for the season......and it went smooth........lots of folks came out to get the snow legs back under them.......snow was good........got to see a LOT of patrons that I hadn't seen for a while.......which was also good.......

......groomed everything this morning.........quite a mixed bag of weather that mother nature threw our way last night and today........had some light rain before we opened........didn't hurt the snow though......then a fast but heavy snowfall .......but didn't last long.......

......temps finally started dropping at about 3 so we did another full groom which will keep the snow being snow........

......even though we had a lot of different weather today............ still had a lot of folks come ski and ride today too...and more coming as I type........

......here is a pic taken during the light snow this afternoon when we did the full groom......

......takes a lot less time with two units.......uhmmm.......maybe we should get three ?? :)

About 24 HOURS AWAY........

........the new season is soooo close to beginning........about 24 hours from now. We open for ski and snowboard at 4 pm on Friday December 10..............snow tubing should be ready next weekend.......

.......here are some pics as promised........making snow Monday morning........

......shut the guns off and ready to start the grooming........

.......little Bombi taking a break after moving all the guns........

.....School Yard getting some snow moved and groomed.......

.....lots and lots of snow waiting for you to enjoy.........

And look what the team did to the rental shop...........we like it...........


.........boots on the right........skis in the middle.........snowboards on the left.......

.......we will groom one more time friday morning to get the fresh cordouroy......

...hope to see you Friday at 4 pm !