Happy New Year, Holiday Season Hrs & Late Nite

*Today is Monday, New Years Eve Day - December 31 and we open at 10 am and close at 6 pm. I really hope everyone will be safe and smart tonight. Happy New Year everyone!

*Then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week (that would be January 1, 2, 3, 2008) our hours are 10 am to 6 pm.

*Friday January 4, 2008 we are open from 10 am to 9 pm.

*After that we are on our regular winter hours. When in doubt check our calendar!

Our first Late Nite is this Saturday Nite January 5, 2008. We reopen at 9:30 pm and play until 1:00 am. Yep, your season pass gets you in free.

Keep it White and enjoy these pics. Anybody know these shredders??

Friday after Five

Friday, December 28 and we open at 10 am this morning with closing time at 9 pm. And our Friday after Five is tonite as well.

We are getting the snow that was predicted. Great to get another fresh layer. I will sign off with a couple more photos from last weekend.

Learning to ski and ride

Thursday, December 27 and our hours today are open at 10 am and close at 6 pm

When and Where did you learn to ski or snowboard? At Seven Oaks, the mini lessons are free and the School Yard is a large area with just the right slope. All the Seven Oaks instructors wear yellow "instructor arm bands" which makes them more visible. Never hesitate to ask them for assistance.

Here are a couple photos of people learning to ski this past Sunday. By the way, mom thought the skis were easier than the board!

And when you are a former ski instructor at a sister area, like in this photo, teaching someone else is a snap! Kinda like riding a bike, you just don't seem to ever forget.

Then after you have got it down, you can take it up, like this shot provided by Ryan. thanks for the photo and if anyone else wants to send their shots we will see if we can get them worked into the blog as well.

Keep it White........more snow in the forecast for tonite and friday morning!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas

Most of the gifts have been opened now so those of you getting new boards and skis are probably anxious to try them out.

We open today at 10 am and go to 6 pm.

Everything was groomed last night and ....and it started snowing at Seven Oaks at 7:30 this morning and still is......and it is not snow from the guns either.

Looks to be a beautiful day for spending time on the snow.

Here are a couple pics from this past weekend of families having fun at Seven Oaks. Snow was Great Sunday too!

Ride Smart and Keep it White!

Best Ever and Merry Christmas

Comments received all weekend were that the park was set up the best it had ever been designed. We will keep adding (got three more features to get out) and we are going to make the table top a little less before you hit the landing.
Missed all the snow Saturday so we made great powder ourselves Saturday night and Sunday night. The warm weather Thursday and Friday with FOG made it tough to keep the trails in the condition both you and we like but with all the grooming, over and over, then the freshly made snow.....everyone who visited over the weekend said it was still very good snow. We want the best for YOU.
We are closed today, Christmas Eve Day and tomorrow, Christmas Day but will open Wednesday December 26 at 10 am. Looks like great weather all week and a couple chances for snow!
Did you know if you get a snowboard package (lift and rental), later in the day you can change once to skis and at 4 pm you can snowtube........all for the one price of the snowboard rental package!
Took some neat family photos Sunday, will try to get them on our web very soon and I will use a couple in the blog.
Merry Christmas Everyone and we will see you on WEDNESDAY!

London Fog

Fog rolled in at about 7 pm then broke up a little and is breaking up this morning. Made setting up the park last night a bit strange but got it done and everyone was out of here by 11:30. Will include a couple pics on todays blog once the fog lifts and we can get a decent shot or two.

Two schools here today for ski and tube, then open for ski and ride at 4, then Friday after Five at 5, then tubing opens at 6....so it's gonna be another busy day.

Still need a stocking stuffer or straight up Christmas gift for someone???? A Seven Oaks Gift Certificate is a popular item as it can be used for skiing, snow tubing, snowboarding, canoeing, kayaking, river tubing or paintball. Even tho there are only four shopping days left, there is still time to get er done!

Looks like we are going to get more snow tomorrow for a while. Awesome, unbelievable, great!

see you on the slopes

Working Tonight on the Park

Several employees and regular riders are coming out tonite to help design and set up the park. All the snow needs pushed out and hits created as well. If you stop by we will listen to your input .......but can't guarantee we will all agree with your ideas. Too warm last night to make more snow but looks like Saturday night will be cold enough.

Open tomorrow night at 4 pm..........and Friday after Five starts at ........well........5 !

See you on the slopes

oh, yeah, looks like the freezing rain followed by snow is going to be south of us.....maybe even south of Iowa.........that's okay .....we'll make more.

Keep it white until next time

Now not just White but Deeper

Made more snow on Kenzies Korner last night til the Christmas Party was done tubing then moved four of the guns to tubing where they are still running this morning. Groomed everything last night.....except Kenzie's Korner. Gonna push out Kenzies Korner on Thursday night, build more jumps and set the rest of the features in the park.

Large group of school kids from South Hamilton arrive at 9:30 this morning for a day of skiing. Looks like they will have a beautiful day. Then two more schools on Friday.

Weatherman talks like more snow on Friday night and Saturday. Hey, we'll take it!

Make sure you comment to our great snowmaking crew......they have stayed up all night....night after night making great powder.....Twig, Catfish, Joe, Snow, Steve, Shrek and Joel.

We are closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.......open this Friday at four pm.

Keep it white.

It Snowed On Kenzie's Korner Yesterday!

Not much doubt this trail will be open Friday night!



Keep it White and see you on the slopes.

It was AWESOME

WOW, what a great weekend. It was awesome to see so many of you for the first time this season and to meet a whole lot more of you that were visiting Seven Oaks for the first time!

Shut down snowmaking Friday night and then started pushing huge piles of powder. Got Central Park opened and groomed out by 2 AM Saturday morning. Put in a couple of pretty small hits and started adding rails. We will build the hits bigger as the season progresses but everyone needs to start small and slow at the beginning of the season.

Guns got turned on last night at about 6 pm or so and are still producing as of five minutes ago. For sure there is enough made last night (got cold!) to open Kenzie's Korner and Rail Yard this week, with more hits and features.

Have schools here Wednesday and Friday - according to the weather forecast they should have PERFECT ski conditions - low 30's, sunshine and lots of snow.

Keep it white and we will see you on the slopes when we open Friday night. Remember to check out Holiday Season calendar (on our web) for hours and days during the Christmas/New Years time period.

Cool Comments From You Guys

Getting lots of cool comments in the blog from you and we appreciate it. It really gets the Seven Oaks staff pumped to do more and do it better and better.


Here's a quick photo of the Seven Oaks Team attending the summer MSAA meetings and trade show where we attend a bunch of industry-related seminars to learn about current trends in the industry, etc.


.......bet you thought I was gonna put in a pic of todays snow.........nope......gotta come this weekend to see it yourself!


Wanted to make sure everyone remembers we are rapidly approaching our Holiday Season - - starting December 26 thru January 6 we are open daily. Be sure to check our calendar for the operating hours cause we change them a little bit.


Made good snow all night, will continue to make more today and more tonite.........and it looks for sure that the terrain park, at least Central Park, will be open Saturday morning at 10 am. Rails, boxes AND WE WILL get a minimum of one kicker built....going for two.


Open at 4 pm today (Drop Zone is ready to go and Freeway is bigger than last week), Friday after Five and two Christmas parties tonite.


Keep it white and play safe!

Snow making stopped at 4 am this morning but...

.....there was a whole lot more made and the weather forecast has good temps again tonite and into the immediate future.

Did you know Fun Valley Ski Area closed, so their National Ski Patrol is going to join the Seven Oaks Ski Patrol. Also six Patrollers from Kansas City will be patrolling the Seven Oaks slopes this winter as well.

Did you know Seven Oaks bought the triple seat chair lift from Fun Valley and is moving it to Seven Oaks for install next summer?

That will be another huge improvement for all of us!

think white, see you tomorrow night - open at 4 pm.

Got some - Made some more

Yesterdays system dropped about 2" of snow before it moved out of our area. Got the guns running about 6 pm and they are still running as this is written. Drop Zone and Freeway are getting wider, deeper and whiter. Moved guns to Central Park this morning.

Nevada Schools are the first school for the season to get on the slopes at about 9 am this morning. Hope they like the new shaped skis. If you are still in school and yours doesn't do a winter trip to Seven Oaks, put a bug in someone's ear. When you learn to ski you are learning a sport for life.

You can save a lot of time at the ticket window by going on line right here on our web site and pre-printing/pre-signing the release.

And thanks for the compliments Freeski. I think we do have more snow than ever pre Christmas. Winter 2000-01, we saw a lot of natural snow but we couldn't make as much as we have this season. Let's keep a good thing going!

Looking forward to seeing everybody on the slopes this weekend. We open at 4 pm Friday.

Think White

Winter storm here and there

I know a lot of our patrons around Des Moines and surrounding areas, especially south are getting sleet and freezing rain from last night's and todays storm but fyi - Seven Oaks so far is getting snow. Let's keep it that way!

Temps and humidity caused snowmaking to halt at midnight last night - after about 17 hours of making. Have enough made to open the Drop Zone for this coming weekend.

Comment on the blog was "forget the tubing , more snow on ski-able terrain". My reply is we are trying to do both and in fact are having success in doing so. Committed to having some tubing lanes open for the scheduled Birthday and Christmas parties so we got two of three open Saturday - then we opened the Freeway on Sunday. Added the rainbow rail to Abbys Alley Sunday and we will put a few more features out for this weekend - probably at the bottom of Freeway.

Did you know we about doubled our pond size for more snowmaking water capacity?
Did you know we added 275 pair of shaped skis to our rental department this year?

Keep it white and see you on the slopes.....and here are a couple fresh pics from this morning. First one looking at Freeway and second looking at Drop Zone .

Awesome Weekend

Just finished our first full weekend and it was awesome. Lots of skiers, riders and tubers. Snow tubing opened with two lanes Saturday, the Freeway was opened Sunday as was Keaston Rope. This week we will make more snow on the Drop Zone so it's ready this coming Friday night and then we are going to make more snow on the Freeway so it is wider and deeper!

We have several Corporate Christmas Parties at the Lodge this week and weekend plus our first school group for the season making for a busy week.

Got the rainbow rail set yesterday on Abby's Alley along with a short box and a short rail.

More snow in the forecast for Tuesday.........ain't it great! Will try to get fresh pics posted this week.

See you on the slopes this weekend.

Friday After Five

Tonight we open for skiing and riding at 4 pm. So what's Friday After Five got to do with opening at 4 you ask.......nothing I answered. During the non-skiing months we open the lodge and Coal Creek Lounge on Fridays for a short menu and beverages and that will be continued tonight.......in addition to the skiing and riding.

Yesterday delivered just short of four fresh inches from the system that moved thru....this was while we had all the snow machines still running. Snow tubing looks to be ready to open on Saturday. see pic below

See you on the slopes or at Friday after Five!

Getting Whiter by the Hour

It's 8 am on Dec. 6 as this entry is being made and we have been making snow wide open, non stop since 4 am Dec 5 just pounding tubing to get it open this weekend as well as Abby's Alley and the School Yard to get more depth. After tubing is sufficiently covered we move the guns to the Freeway.......and we are predicted to get 4 or 5" from the system that is already in Iowa today! Isn't it Wonderful?!

The full time Seven Oaks staff (Joel, Steve, Ken and Shrek) conducted a four hour training session last night for employees so they are ready to serve you when we open the doors again Friday (tomorrow) at 4 pm. Be sure to check out our calendar on the web to KNOW what days and hours we are open during the upcoming Holiday Season.

Also did you see the article in this mornings Des Moines Register about Seven Oaks?

See you on the slopes - - - smart style makes sense -- start slow, get in shape before you hit it hard!

Time to get on with WINTER

What we are seeing for snow and temps kinda reminds me of the 2000-01 winter where we had early snow and lasted til March. Hope so, but time will tell. Opened last Sunday after postponing our opening day from Saturday - lots of sleet but the snow was GREAT on Sunday. We should get about 3 inches tomorrow and more this coming Saturday night! Guns are blasting snow as fast as they will churn too. Our goal is to open snow tubing this weekend. We open at 4 pm this Friday night! See you on the slopes!