The good: Kayaking/canoeing was about $40 per person, which is a great price for entertainment these days. The river itself was stunning, we had gorgeous weather, and they had a small concession stand with necessities like bug spray available for purchase. Unfortunately, I still wouldn't recommend this experience when there are other options around Iowa for a similar price. We were told when reserving that if the river was too low, we would have the option to reschedule, which I think is a great policy. However, our reservation was on the last day of the season, so realistically rescheduling wasn't an option for us. My biggest issue wasn't even the low river level as the kayaks were doing great in the water- it was that the representative checking us in allowed us to take out a single canoe for our group knowing we would be dealing with less than a foot of water in some areas. This was our first time canoeing and kayaking, so we were relying on the staff's expertise. I really would have appreciated someone recommending that we switch from the canoe to a more maneuverable kayak given the conditions that day. Instead, we ended up having to get out and push the canoe for a large portion of the trip. It was exhausting, and for some customers, it may not even be physically possible. As a first-time floater who brought out-of-state friends specifically for this activity, I wasn't expecting the river conditions to be perfect. We were prepared to make the best of it. What I did expect was some guidance from the company about how to have the best experience possible given the conditions that day. I'd recommend choosing Seven Oaks to be more proactive about advising inexperienced customers, matching the right equipment to the river conditions, and allowing some flexibility to switch boats once you arrive. read more

What a great small ski hill. Excellent instructors and learning environment. Not crowded. Priced right.

Only slope in Iowa pretty much. Snow is ice and runs are not long at all. They have done work to it in the past year or 2. Just not enough snow in the area to make it a desirable place to board or ski. read more

What an awesome place! We did tubing 4-6pm; not super busy and kids had a blast. Everyone working there were interacted with were friendly and welcoming! Facilities were well maintained and clean. Can't say enough good things about this place! read more

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Snow is "firm" lol more like sheet of ice. Only place to ski or board in the state. Super short runs and a okay terrain Park they have added run in the past years just not enough snow for it to be desirable place been coming for past 5/6 years never been impressed staff is not friendly. read more

Honestly a great little place to enjoy some winter sports in Central Iowa! Obviously there is no mountains here so the slopes are as to be expected. The lodge area isn't anything fancy but it was actually larger than I expected. They also offer rentals for an additional fee to your lift ticket - skis, boards, boots, helmets, poles, etc. I am extremely impressed with the staff. I had only been snowboarding once about ten years ago and my husband never had. We were extremely nervous if we were going to pick it up and debated on paying for a private lesson. I would not advise paying for a lesson...Seven Oaks has many instructors perched on the learning/bunny hill. They offer group lessons on the hour but if you can find a free instructor and ask, they will give you their own sort of private lesson. That is what we did. An awesome board instructor spent about 15-20 minutes with us one-on-one, explained the basics and did some hands on instructing. After that, we both picked it up very quickly and could make it over to the more legit, but beginner hill. As I mentioned the lodge was more than I was anticipating. They have a concession stand, bar with pizza by the slice, and coffee shop. Lots of ample seating and even a large TV in the coffee shop area, we caught some of the Iowa State game while we were eating lunch. We would go back. It is a great option for the flat plains of Iowa.k read more

Seven Oaks Recreation - Ski Resorts Near Me - Boone, Iowa

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Great lil place to ski, snowboard, and go tubing located in central Iowa- which obviously cues you in that this is no ski resort in the mountains. They have rentals and lift tickets for sale separately. A bunny hill is well surround by staff who is willing to take the time and give beginner lessons so you can learn the basics at no cost. I saw people of all ages learning there. They have about 7 hills to go down for skiing or snowboarding and lifts to take you up. There are varying levels of difficulty with the hardest having several jumps and rails. Tubing can get quite popular at times, but is a good option for families. The staff was very helpful and were enough to make the whole operation run smoothly. Concessions are available inside the lodge which has lots of tables and chairs for when you need to take a break. read more

Seven Oaks Recreation - Ski lift - Ski Resorts Near Me - Boone, Iowa

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Had a great day with a bunch of friends going tubing down the river. Sevenoaks was a great place to go and get the tubes and rides to the river and back. The only negative part of the river float was it took several hours due to a slow river flow. read more

If you are looking for a place to sharpen your skiing or snowboarding skills and you live in central Iowa, Seven Oaks is a good choice. If you are looking for a great sledding adventure for your whole family, seven oaks delivers. It's not Vail, but they make their own snow and there are some quality structures for the snowboarders to have fun. My favorite part about coming here is the huge lodge and bar. You can easily see your kids from the many windows overlooking the runs. There are plenty of chair lifts, and noticed a good number of ski patrol people actively helping kids and keeping things safe. The prices are reasonable, especially at night or on Sunday evenings. They have rentals and instructions. Seven Oaks is actually ideal for getting your kids trained up before a ski vacation. Overall, it's a great family activity in the winter. Its 45 mins from the metro, but only 15 mins from Ames. read more

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Great workers great hills and the rental boards are good recommend for new skiers and snowboarders the hill for sledding is great.

The best place (or as I like to call it, the only place) to go snowboarding if you live in Des Moines. The slopes are short but decent - respectable for Iowa being as flat as it is. Don't compare it to any of the amazing resorts you've been to and you'll be a happy camper. Just wished it were a little bit closer to the city! Current discounts (as of 1/11/17): Wednesdays and Thursdays, 4pm - 9pm Lift tickets $12, rentals $21 (excluding 7% tax) Fridays, 4pm - 9pm BOGO on $20 regular priced lift tickets read more

Seven Oaks Recreation - Ski Resorts Near Me - Boone, Iowa

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Awesome facility. Went tubing, the employees are all friendly and helpful and uber patient and great with all the young kids (at least on the tubing side). They have two hour shifts of the tubing, and then a reduced hourly rate after that. But looked like they also had skiing and snowboarding with some pretty sizable jumps. They have a good area with stadium food options, nachos, cheese balls, pizza, etc. they also have a bar with local beers on tap and others in the fridge. Awesome place for family or adult night. Fabricated snow so can go at anytime during their season. I've heard they also have a lazy river deal in the summer time. Check it out! read more

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We spent a great morning canoeing and kayaking on the river with Seven Oaks. They transported us via bus to the starting point. We listened to instructions and safety while on the bus and then they helped us into our canoes and kayaks. My one and only complaint is that they only had one person kayaks. Most of our party would have preferred kayaking, but since we had kids with us, the only options for two people were canoes. We took a cooler with drinks and snacks and we stopped at two of the sand bars along the way to stretch our legs and skip rocks. The trip down the river took a little over 3 hours, which was perfect. The staff was at the pick up point to help us out of the water and transport us back to our cars at Seven Oaks. It was such a fun morning, kids and adults all had a great time. I look forward to tubing sometime in the future! read more

What a fantastic place to learn to ski! The instructors are so patient. They know exactly how to handle your kiddo after you get them to the top of the bunny slope and realize that even though you were a skier at one time in your life, you haven't actually skied for 20 years and really have no idea what to tell your kid to do. So, as my kid was melting down, and I was pontificating about pizza wedges and such, Instructor Kyle skies on over and gets right on her level, asks her why she's crying, makes her take 4 or 5 deep breaths, helps her down the bunny slope to Instructor Bob. Bob then gives her a private lesson and took her from a puddle of mush to a pretty proficient little snowplow ski kid. These guys are awesome!!! read more

Seven Oaks Recreation - Ski Resorts Near Me - Boone, Iowa

Poorly run facility. My family and I skied here on 12/30/20, and found it to be a frustrating experience because it seemed as though they oversell the amount of rental equipment they have available. The rental building was jammed with people (forget social distancing), and they had sold so many rentals, they were out of the size boots we needed for my son. When I asked where poles were, the kid working in the rental equipment area told me they were outside "if there were any left", what?! This place was not cheap, so I expected a bit more. I get it...money is good, so they want to sell as many lift tickets as possible, but aside from COVID, at least make sure you don't oversell your re tsk equipment. Would not recommend this place. read more

Web site and phone conversation lead you to believe you MUST have life jacket to tube. They don't tell you it's optional until after you are on the bus. They do not enforce their own COVID mask use on the bus. We were all given the masks if you didn't have your own and told to fill the bus from the back forward. A group of "Karen's" got on after the first family and sat at the front of the bus with no masks on. Nothing was said. Getting tubes at the river was a joke. Apparently the group before us took most of the tubes even though they were signed up for kayaks. The trip down the river was great but unfortunately a bad start. read more

This place has the longest ski season in this area opening in early December and closing in March. The sleds are fast, but you have to drag it half way back to the top although on a busy day, that is where the line starts anyway. The groomers do a good job of preventing the ice patches that are common in low snow volume areas. read more

Considering that the local area of central iowa is predominantly pretty FLAT, I'd have to say that Seven Oaks is actually a pretty great place to fulfill the itches for hitting the slopes. The staff is really friendly, the runs are actually decent and very family friendly. The cost for a half day (330pm - 9pm...cant remember if they stayed open later when I went)...was only $35 for lift + rental. Obviously the more avid skiers and boarders would probably venture outside of Iowa to find more challenging runs. read more

I have been leaning to snowboard here and so far it's been pretty great (especially student discounts at night). Definitely too small for anyone better than average. I especially love that I can come in and have an old main beer when I'm beat. Although this is listed as a ski resort, the tubing/camping/canoeing is pretty fun too. Maybe a bit pricey for what you get though. Final say: decent read more

We did the river floating on tubes. The staff was so nice and helpful. They explained everything thoroughly and even told us some cool things to look out for like a train on the train bridge. The first 3 hours were awesome and we had a blast. Then, there was a freak thunderstorm that crept up on us. The staff was still so great, though. We were so worried about getting out of the water before the storm hit, especially when lightning struck within a few hundred feet. We started swimming and made it close to the pick up point where we saw a staff member flagging us down. He helped us carry all of our stuff and get to safety. We will definitely be checking out Seven Oaks for any future adventures! They've got cool events year round! read more

KAYAKING My husband, son, and I had a relaxing afternoon kayaking down the DesMoines River. The staff were friendly and helpful and made our adventure easy. The kayaks were equipped to take a small cooler, which came in handy to hold snacks. At the end of the trip we didn't have to wait long to be driven back to the parking lot. Virginia read more

Everyone is so nice and helpful. The owners walk around thanking people for coming, the instructors are fantastic, the ladies where you can buy food are wonderful, the lift operators are right there is a problem comes up and are super friendly. read more

The staff is really cool/helpful, the price is good and as far as the runs being short or any thing like that, it is what you make it. I enjoy it and have a blast. Yea you can go to colorado (time/gas/money) go for it. Iam hangin at 7 oaks. read more

This is a review for a wedding.... We had a long journey with Seven Oaks throughout the planning process of our wedding as we worked with 3 different event coordinators. We loved the middle one (Rebecca) but less so the one we ended up with (Heather). She was very quick to shoot down some ideas with a condescending tone and gave some unnecessary comments. We loved the look of the place- the price was pretty reasonable but things add up pretty quickly and make it not as cheap as you would think. We ended up being able to add on the conference room space but only paid the price of the contingency space- so that was very nice of the event planner to offer. There were just many instances where communication was very unclear or it took many many emails to clarify something simple- at times I felt that I knew the information better than her or that information had changed but nothing had been relayed to me or updated on the website which was frustrating. There was a deer head up on the wall that we had asked if it could be taken down---she instantly told me that it could not because it was bolted heavily to the wall because there was an issue with it and then at the rehearsal dinner we noticed it was gone. I did have to stay on my toes because some costs were updated and then reverted back on later bills due to a computer error. Many of my family and bridal party were shocked to hear that the bartender at the rehearsal was the event planner as she was absolutely no help and was taking selfies in the back while people were waiting on drinks. On the wedding day I walked past her for the first time that day and she didn't even acknowledge me which I found very rude (not even a smile or eye contact). Also on the night of our wedding we had paid for a campfire and a ways into the night it had still not been started---when my personal attendant and I went up to the staff at the bar they told us that she had never said anything about it to them but they gladly went to get it started right away. The staff behind the bar were immensely nice and wonderful, the kept cups of water coming for all our guests on our very warm wedding day and had nothing but nice things to say about our event. Tracy was a huge help and wonderful at the end of the night with wrapping things up and helping us out. This is overall a very pretty venue for a reasonable price (anything wedding is super expensive to begin with!) but stay on your toes and double check everything and stay very organized. It was a beautiful and wonderful day for us be we had TONS of help from family and friends and that was ESSENTIAL. read more

I was so pleased with this place. I had reservations for a friend and I to go out on kayaks at 930am. We had an unforseen situation on our way out where we witnessed a terrible auto accident. I called the place to let them know I'd be late but I'd try to be there as soon as I could (either to catch the bus or reschedule). When we got there the bus had already left, but they still took us! I was so happy they let us continue to do this. The service was awesome and the staff is super helpful and friendly. The river is nice and it flows pretty fast so there isn't too much struggle getting down it. I highly recommend renting kayaks with a friend, it was a fantastic morning! read more

Their kayaks are very poor quality and very small. I went kayaking with two of my friends who are football-linemen sized. What they didn't tell us before we went was the kayaks they offer are probably not for people over 250 lb. Since they were much too big for the kayaks they gave us, they both spent most of the time swimming and pulling their kayaks rather than enjoying their day. If they would have told us a weight limit on the kayaks, we would have said no problem and gotten a canoe instead. I would be shocked if we were they only ones to encounter this problem. I also thought it was a little pricey for what you get. read more

Awesome place for tubing! The staff is very FRIENDLY and HELPFUL! They are on top of everything to make your tubing, kayaking, and canoeing experience very relaxing! Everything was at the river ready to go they help you into the water and at the end of your trip you just grab your things and they do the rest! I would totally recommend people to stop by Seven Oaks and take a river float, you wont be disappointed! The scenery is awesome on the float trip and Seven Oaks has great rates also! read more