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(Boone, IA) -- Two of Iowa's three ski areas are wrapping up their first weekend of business for the 2024-25 season. Seven Oaks Recreation in Boone County and Sundown Mountain Resort in Dubuque County opened on Saturday. They can do that because of their ability to make their own snow.
In Boone, that process began last Monday, when the conditions were just right. Joel Bryan is the owner at Seven Oaks Recreation.
"Any time that you take the humidity and the air temperature and it equals 100, close to that or below, we're making snow," Bryan says. "We could be 28 degrees and 40% humidity and we're making snow. But, it could also be 20 degrees with 100% humidity and we're not making snow."
The latter happens because the air is already saturated and doesn't allow for moisture in the air to freeze and stick as snow. He says it only takes a couple days of the right conditions to open due to their snow making infrastructure.
"We've heavily invested for the last 15 years in snow making," Bryan says. "It has allowed us to get to a point where if we have three to four really cold days with 24-hour snow making we can open. We can go from green grass to 100% open."
Bryan says it's not just Iowa that has to create it though. Some places that are known for their volumes of snow are in on it, too.
"About every ski area now in the U.S. has snow making," Bryan says. "It's pretty wild to look at northern Minnesota and up in the U.P. The amount of money they're spending on capital for snow making just because [snow] isn't a guarantee any more."
Mt. Crescent, Iowa's other ski area, says they've started the process of making snow. They haven't announced an opening date quite yet.