We were able to have our earliest opening in history...NOVEMBER 30th!!  We opened with 5 runs, 2 chairlifts and a terrain park.  WOW... all the new improvements to our snowmaking system really helped us out.  This week we will be open Friday 4 pm to 9 pm, Saturday 10 am to 9 pm and Sunday 11 am to 8 pm for skiing and snowboarding  Snow tubing is closed at this time...we plan to start making snow on the tubing park this weekend. For complete hours of operation please use this link http://www.sevenoaksrec.com/calendar.html .
We will see YOU on the slopes!!

Birthdays at Seven Oaks.

Birthday Special

It's your birthday!! Come play with us the week of your birthday (Monday-Sunday) and the birthday boy/girl plays for FREE. Must have a minimum of 6 regular paying guests. Offer good for river floats, paintball and winter activities. Must show valid drivers license or birth certificate. Not valid with other offers.

Seven Oaks is a great place to celebrate your birthday.  Here are some pics from this past weekends birthday outing....I think we had 5 or 6 groups on the water Saturday celebrating their birthdays!

Past, Present and Future

As I sat down this morning to decide what tasks I needed and wanted to accomplish today I started to get a bit overwhelmed. So,  I took a few minutes to reflect on the past several years.  What have we done to improve our business, what employees really stand out from the others with their work ethic, how many smiles and memories did we help create, what improvements need to be done before winter season, what will we do for future improvements???????  WOW!!!
Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that I arrived at Seven Oaks, and thought to myself ...how in the world are we going to make this place a ski area?  And when we do make it a ski area, will we get the support from the local people to keep us moving forward.  Boy was I simple minded then...who would have guessed we would be much much more than just a ski area.  We now offer ski, snowboard, snow tube, canoe, kayak, river tube, paintball, hike and mt bike trails, bar, caterer, facility rentals, mud run and tent camping..... AND that is just the list of the activities that have continued to work for us...there is a looong list of things that we tried and did not work...anyone remember "Jesus Fest"?  Unfortunately I still do...never thought we could lose so much money in one weekend!  It took years to recover from that one!  I guess that it was a learning experience and those experiences have allowed us to make smart decisions and allow us to be what we are today.

Want to look back in the past with me?  It does not go way back to 1997 but it does go back a few years...take a look at our photo section of our Facebook page.. .https://www.facebook.com/SevenOaksRecreation/photos_stream ...filled with a lot of great memories!

What does the future bring for me and Seven Oaks???  Only time will tell.  I look forward to continuing the Seven Oaks story!

A GREAT TIME FOR A FAMILY FLOAT!

The hot days and no rain to the north of us is allowing the river to drop everyday.  The sandbars are all out and that normally means we start seeing more families with small children.  I love the fact that floating the river can truly be a family activity that everyone can participate in.  We have always had small black tubes for kids but now we have a great tube for smaller children...this tube has a bottom built into it.  The tube can double as a cooler tube for those odd sized coolers and a kids tube.  We had a few families this past weekend use this new style tube for their kids and it worked great!  Here is a great picture of a child in one of these tubes (in a pool).

It was a great weekend with lot's of smiles on the river and in the paintball field.  AND even more smiles today.  Several families and couples found the time midweek to get a little float time in.

We float 7 days a week and recommend advanced reservations any day of the week.  The section of river that we float offers flat water floating and we consider beginner and family friendly...especially when the sandbars are out.  The river is running about 3-5 feet in the channel with a bunch of the river even lower.

Weekdays and Sundays are normally a lot calmer than Saturdays and holidays....that makes for "A GREAT TIME FOR A FAMILY FLOAT!"

HEAT WAVE!!

What a great 4th of July week.  Thank you to all that came out and joined us for river floats, camping, paintball and mt biking.  Speaking of mt biking...there was a x country race held at Seven Oaks this past Sunday and almost 100 riders showed up to race...AWESOME!!!  Great job Kyle and Ron for putting on such an awesome race!

The river was full of people floating canoes, kayaks and river tubes.  I heard a lot of positive comments about how great our staff and service is.  I LOVE hearing comments like this...we try very hard to offer the BEST customer service in the business!  If our business can be know for one thing I say let it be GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!  Thank you to all of the Seven Oaks staff that helps make positive memories for soooo many good people!

Until next Monday....See YOU on the water!

Sandbars will be out soon!!!!

The river continues to drop about 6-10 inches a day.  We have been told a few of the rock bars are starting to show so the sandbars should start to appear in the next few days...a good chance they will be out for the 4th of July!  YEA!!!!  It's about time!
The phone continues to ring off the hook and several of you are sending in your online reservations.  It finally feels like summer is here.  We love being busy and seeing all the smiles.
Still lot's of room for your and your group... see you on the water!

Do you have plans for the 4th of July?

The river continues to drop and we anticipate having lot's of sandbars out ...the week of July 4th should be a perfect week to float canoes, kayaks and river tubes.

Three against One

Our instructors are pretty tough.......hour after hour of instructions......different weather conditions........and.....well.........it did take all THREE of them to take him down!!

Snow tube.......River tube

This picture was not taken today!  Remember last July when we were not thinking snow tubing...........but were all over river tubing?!

Volunteers

I think if the truth were known, volunteers are as much responsible for the general vitality of our communities and state and nation as most anything else is.  Yep..... tourism, industry, governments at all levels all have a role in our society.........but where would we be without the volunteers.

Volunteers do a ton of work for various research fundraisers. They are generally the back bone of most churches.  They clean ditches along the highways of America, they coach kids in a host of sports, volunteers serve on library and landfill committees, they give directions at the state fair and in most hospitals you will find a volunteer delivering flowers and helping you find your way through the maze of hallways.

They even spend time skiing and snowboarding at resorts across this great country to come to the aid of anyone needing any medical assistance.  Regardless of the temperatures outdoors, you will find a National Ski Patrol volunteer available to help you should the need arise with anything from a band aid to a sprain or more.  It is their passion.

Yesterday, our patrol conducted their annual refresher.  Starting at 7 am with a breakfast and short meeting in the lodge they then broke into two groups.  One group performed their CPR refresher while the other group went outdoors to perform their practice chair lift evacuation..........and then the groups switched.  A break was taken for lunch and then it was time for each to pass their annual tests of running the toboggan from the top of the steepest trail to the bottom and from the top of the most gentle trail to the bottom.  Everyone passed their annual tests!  These volunteers put in a lot of hours studying and practicing their skills so they are ready when needed.  Thank you to each of them.  

They congregate as one coming from all walks of life.........mechanics, IT technicians, sales, chiropractors  dentists, para medics, factory workers, nurses, and more........it makes no difference.  They are part of the National Ski Patrol.

These 26 in addition to 4 who were unable to attend yesterday, make up the Seven Oaks ski patrol.


Ken Slaba, Seven Oaks Area Manager and also a volunteer on the Ski Patrol, took this picture as he and several others rode a chairlift to the top to begin their toboggan tests.  I thought it was a really cool picture.

So be sure to thank a Patroller for doing what they do, when you are on the slopes.  If you are interested in joining this elite group......let us know and we will put you in touch with the right people.

Love to Ski !!

Creative thinkers we have out here on the slopes!

A picture is worth.......a lot of memories

So many.............. young and old alike......... came to Seven Oaks to learn how to ski and snowboard over Christmas break.  The smiles were everywhere you looked as their sport of choice was grasped .....you could almost see the little lights come on.......I can Stop........I can Turn.......I didn't even Fall!

And then the next level of  fun began.........riding one of the chairlifts to the top for their maiden trip down Abby's Alley.........Success.........Hooray......Let's do it again. This time let's go through Carter's Crossing!

And a lot of the smiles were on the parents and grandparents faces as they watched someone in their family successfully ride.  As I have heard before....."some of those smiles were so big........they could eat a banana sideways!"

I am glad many capture those moments via a picture, cause they will be GREAT memories to share and re share through the years.

What is there to do today?

What is there to do today?........asked by many on a regular basis.  Well, we certainly think there is a lot to do at Seven Oaks but we know you can't come here everyday.......even though you might like to..........so I am including the "Boone County Bucket List: Top Ten things to do before you kick it"......taken from the Chamber of Commerce website.  I think you will find it informative.  A lot of people make a weekend trip to the Boone area and take in a lot of these things........

1. Zipline at Sunstream Retreat
2. Bike across the 1/2 mile long, 130' high, High Trestle Trail Bridge
3. Ride the Boone and Scenic Valley train out into the valley
4. Float the Des Moines River, or ski the slopes with Seven Oaks
5. Marvel at the 40 acre Living Library, the Iowa Arboretum
6. Witness the IMCA Supernationals in September at Boone Speedway
7. Gawk at the 190' high, double-track Kate Shelley Memorial High Bridge
8. Catch a meal at Jimmy's BBQ, the Gigglin Goat, or the Lucky Pig
9. Wash it down with a classic ale from Boone Valley Brewery or sip a crisp red from Snus Hill Winery
10. Shop til you drop in Boone's downtown specialty stores

Come see us in Boone County..........

Hear Ye .....Hear Ye.....

As of fifteen minutes ago Willett's Way, Elwood's Hideout, Central Park, Kenzie's Korner, the terrain park and the snow tubing park are added to the  list of trails now open at Seven Oaks.  There is only the top of Drop Zone that is not yet open............and it will be opened when we groom tonight!  Hoooooray!

A BIG Thank You to the team that made snow and pushed snow and groomed snow on Christmas Eve Day and Christmas Day........You made it happen!

And........I am told that snow is in the forecast for Thursday night.........some say 2 to 3 inches............bring it on!

Going to be an awesome 2012 - 2013 Holiday Ski, Snowboard and Snow Tube season.........and don't forget we are open til 11 pm on New Years Eve......

Let's talk about snow......

I sit here waiting in great anticipation for our FIRST recognizable snow event in a long, long time.....hoping each meteorologist is right and that we get about ten inches.....10"..........oh my gosh won't that be great on Friday  Even with this much snow coming, we plan to turn on our snow machines tonight as soon as the conditions allow it.  Which brings me to the question we are often asked............

Q: How cold does it have to be to make SNOW?

A: The humidity is just as important as the air temperature when we consider making snow. 

As a rule of thumb, if you add the air temperature to the relative humidity together that sum total needs to equal 100 or less for us to make decent snow. 

We will typically start making snow at 105 IF we know the temps and or humidity will continue to drop. The lower that sum total number is, the more water we can flow to each machine and the more snow per hour we can produce.

Example: If it is 24 degrees with 88% humidity ...112...we will not try making snow. If it was 24 degrees with 75% humidity, which when added together equals 99,  we would be making snow. 

When the humidity is 60 or less and the air temps are in the low teens, we have the maximum amount of water flowing through the snow machines.........and are making a LOT of snow per hour with those conditions........

So we'll set here tonight........waiting for the right temps and humidity and hope we can add to what mother nature is giving us.........during the snow storm.........and we like it.........

Opening Day is Here!

We open today at 4 pm for day one of the 2012-13 season.....and we are anxious to see all our winter friends and especially YOU!

The snow is made, pushed into place and groomed.........



The chairlift is ready to carry you to the top....for a fun ride down.........



Some features have been set for the adventurous.......



The new approach to Abby's Alley and Freeway is covered with snow.............



.......and check out the new pipe.........

















........employees are trained, instructors are ready, the rental shop with the new boots is ready, Snow Joe's has plenty of food and Coal Creek Lounge is stocked......

.....IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT SEASON!

Getting Ready........You and Us

As we are rapidly approaching the end of November....... and since early December is the usual time that Seven Oaks opens for the winter season, we have had multiple lists of things we have to accomplish to be ready.  And those lists are dwindling down to almost nothing left......which is a good thing.

And speaking of lists, let's review another check list to make sure you too are ready for opening day.  It's been about nine months since you were last on the snow and you put your winter stuff in the closet or maybe the basement or even the garage.

• So first things first........find your equipment!  Where exactly did you store it?  Can you locate your skis,  snowboards, boots, ski poles, helmet and goggles?
• Once you have relocated your equipment, check it over to make sure you have no surprises when you're ready to go out the door and hit the slopes.  Might be time to wax the board or skis ....and maybe a tune up as well.
• Kids especially need to make sure they didn't outgrow their equipment over the summer.  Try on those boots and helmets. 
• Might as well get clothing located too.  If you think remembering where you stored your boots is challenging, wait til you try to remember where you put all your winter clothing!  Jackets, pants or bibs...........got 'em..........but where did you put the favorite socks.......and your classy beanie and the gloves or mittens?  
• Once again........those kids in the family might have grown some since they last had their winter clothes on so to avoid the last minute panic, they should be tried on to make sure they still fit.  And hey......that big Thanksgiving meal might have changed your size too..........so to be on the safe side, maybe everyone needs to try on the clothing.
• We know everyone uses their legs a lot when skiing or snowboarding.......so a few extra minutes of walking, climbing, stretching and general exercising will pay dividends on day one.

Taking a few moments to run through the checklist will help you be ready to enjoy your first of many days on the slopes this winter.  Let's have some fun!

Unique

Today is one of those unique days that only happens once in a while...............October 11, 2012...................or 10-11-12.........we'll have to see if something special happens.......

Speaking of special........last week was special to me......ran a dozer for six straight days.....We decided it only made sense to enlarge the upper pond to create more water holding capacity for snowmaking during the winter months.  I think we now have enough water to make it through any normal cold snap early on the season and not run out of water when the temps are still low enough to be blowing snow.  All that dirt Joel excavated wasn't relocated very far from it's origin.  We moved it to the Valley View......Riblet........chairlift unload to make the top section larger........both the east side and the west side.........but especially the east side..............and we made the profile of the unload better for skiing at a uniform angle all the way to Abby's Alley and more uniform leading into Freeway as well.......think you will like it.........

We are getting real close to the annual Season Pass Sale and Equipment Swap........Sunday October 21 from 10 to 5.............we are looking forward to seeing all the equipment Matt from Waynes Ski and Bike in Mason City brings to sell.

Believe it or not............canoes and kayaks are still floating the river..........leaves are still colorful but were probably at peak about ten days ago............they were so beautiful for several days.............then we had the windy day and it was like a blizzard of leaves for several hours............

Paintball continues to be active........weather is so conducive to playing......fifty and sixty degrees is pretty ideal.........

The lodge continues to be as busy as ever too.............still a lot of weddings, wedding receptions, birthday parties, anniversary celebrations and business meetings ...........and ISU house parties too...........our event planner Brandie is so good at keeping all the details straight and helping each group hold a successful event.

Winter is coming..........we are getting ready and excited at Seven Oaks............when Wild Mountain got a trail open last weekend..........first in the nation............it really got us pumped...........

See YOU at the swap.........

A quick update

I haven't posted for a while but it doesn't mean we are not here.  Quite the contrary.  Yep canoes and kayaks are still floating despite the drought.  We shut off river tubes a while back due to low flow more than low depth of water.  The rain we got two nights ago is causing the river to rise a little........not a raging river by any means but we'll take every inch we can get!

Paintball groups keep on coming and the campgrounds still have campers every weekend.  Last weekend was the 24 & 12 & 6 hour mountain bike race........

Tomorrow is the Dragoon River Romp with about 200 volunteers picking up garbage in and along the river from Highway 30 boat ramp to the E57 boat ramp.........followed by a meal in the lodge.  Looks like the weather is going to be ideal tomorrow.  Geez I wish people would NOT throw their old tires and old stoves into the river!!!!

Had a meeting today with 41 North Racing........you know the guys that put on the Adventure Race consisting of canoeing, trekking and running....oh and orienting too.......with participants choosing the 8 hour course or the 12 hour course that takes them all over the county!  Their second Boonecrusher is being planned for April 2013.

Loaded all the materials from the Gladiator race that was here this past spring onto a semi..........destined for Wisconsin for their Gladiator Challenge coming up in a couple weeks.        Yep.......we will be hosting another Gladiator Challenge here in May 2013.........WOW.......

Kris finished servicing all the snow making guns.........chairlift grips have all been tested for this year.........and we spent a couple hours today planning the Annual Seven Oaks Season Pass Sale and Equipment Swap that will be held on Sunday October 21............which will be here before you know it.  Check out the other resorts that are part of the Seven Oaks Sister Ski Program this season.........

Later..........

High Trestle Trail Bridge

Have you had the chance to visit the High Trestle Trail Bridge..........located just a little south and east of Seven Oaks?  It is an awesome piece of art and a heck of an accomplishment...........and it is right here in our back yard.  The bridge is a half mile long and thirteen stories high over the Des Moines River.........about 3 miles west of Madrid and 3 miles east of Woodward.

As we spent the eleven days in the Boone CVB booth at the Iowa State Fair, the bridge was one of the destinations a lot of people wanted more information on..........and a lot of people stopped to tell us how awesome the bridge was and shared their experiences of either walking across or riding across.  Seems more have visited during the daytime.........but if it works for you, you should consider an evening visit too.........the lights are quite the sight.

Speaking of night visits.........one piece of information that was shared at the booth was that while the bridge is lighted..........the trail is not...........so be sure to bring a light with you for the trail.  Good advice.

There are several web sites that offer pictures, history, specs and maps of the bridge.....but I liked this one to get you started.

http://raccoonrivervalleytrail.org/2011/04/wow-our-new-neighbor-the-high-trestle-trail-with-its-amazing-half-mile-long-bridge-that-is-13-stories-high-is-even-better-than-people-were-saying-its-going-to-be-dignitaries-and-the-media-got/

Seven Oaks was the host site for the West Central Coop customer appreciation following day one of the Farm Progress Show last night..............and wow........as usual.......West Central put on a good spread for their 400 invited guests.......it was a lot of fun.....

Brandie just returned from a five day trip to visit her daughter in Texas..........military graduation...... and said she had nine email and phone message inquiries for wedding receptions in 2013 to follow up on when she was gone.......wow........that's a lot of weddings..........a lot of people beyond us missed you Brandie......glad you had a safe and enjoyable trip............

A quick reminder that the 24 hour mt bike race is coming right up........Saturday and Sunday,  September 8 and 9.......plus the Dragoon River Romp is right behind it on Saturday, September 15.......

And believe it or not...........we are still floating canoes and kayaks...........river is really as low and slow as I can remember but the group that took kayaks out yesterday told us it was still a blast.  Man oh man it is going to be hot again today and tomorrow...........

I feel like one of the luckiest guys around..........great people I get to work with .......Ken, Joel, Dee, Brandie, Kris, Steve, Nick, Mike, Lynne, Aaron..........and so many great guests too...........many becoming friends that we see repeatedly after their first visit......

A shout out to our neighbor Donnie that had a hip replacement yesterday.........Get Well Soon!