The Blog

Kevin Dennis

An Afternoon at Dear Valet

Other than skiing, I have no religious background. But I have heard over the years that confession is good for the soul. Readers of this blog have no doubt noticed our use of the phrase Dear Valet in reference to a certain ski area in Utah.  And, yes, occasionally you may have seen us make […]
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Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

A Tribute. Thanks, Quino.

February 22, 2005 Skiing is a safe sport. We wrote about that last year – Is Skiing Dangerous?  And the data hasn’t changed since then. Studies have shown that the injury rate is roughly 2-3 injuries for every 1,000 skier days. The most common injuries are those to knee ligaments and head injuries. Fortunately more than […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Vote With Your Skis

February 15, 2025 You may have noticed recently we are on a rampage about Vail Resorts and Alterra (aka Aspen) controlling the ski industry. They essentially fix the prices; they force us into buying their multi-area passes; they pay their employees squat while the executives take down millions and do little to preserve the uniqueness […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

It's Broke (yes, the Ski Industry); We Need to Fix It

February 7, 2025 As much as we like skiing, we are fearful that the light at the end of the tunnel for the industry is actually from a train headed our way. The reasons abound as to why the industry may be headed into avalanche terrain. We would site three primary ones: the exorbitant costs, […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Vail Update and Who Has the Snow

January 27, 2025 We know you are still trying to figure out what that large exhale was you heard on the morning of Monday, January 6th.  As usual, we are here for you to solve that mystery. It was a stupendously large long sigh of relief coming from those that work in the ski industry […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Skiing Meets the Real World -The Park City Patrollers' Strike

January 17, 2025 Although we call it the Ski Industry, we don’t typically think of it that way – as a business. We think of blue skies with powder underfoot shared with friends. We think of road trips to explore new mountains. We take risks in skiing that make us feel vibrant and allow us […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Get Speed; Stay High

Skiing has been a blessing for our family. While our kids didn’t grow up in the era of cell phones attached to their bodies, there were plenty of distractions for them and, frankly, for us, to splinter the family unit. One experience that pulled each of us away from personal distractions and brought us together […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Odds and Ends to Close Out 2024

It’s that time of year when news about the ski industry comes fast and furious. Ski areas are keen to pump out what’s new and the arrival of the season generally gives the media a new topic. Perhaps they are even getting tired of repeatedly covering the world on the brink of exploding. We canvas […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Do We "Need" New Ski Areas?

^photo of proposed location of Bridal Veil Mountain Resort in the Fraser Valley seventy five miles east of Vancouver, BC December 15, 2024 We know the perhaps “politically correct” answer is of course we don’t! Despite a significant decrease in the absolute number of ski areas in North America over the last couple decades, don’t […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Ski Area Rankings Are Foolish But...

November 22, 2024 We undertake two activities every year. First, we ridicule the fact that numerous publications rank ski resorts. Then we analyze the rankings. First the ridicule. It’s crazy, right? The variables are numerous both on the skier side and the resort side. Some skiers want Dear Valet $50 burgers, and others could care […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Need Ski Trip Advice?

You can feel it! Mornings have a bracing chill, leaves are off the trees and you have seen pics of snow on high peaks both east and west. Winter is on the doorstep! That means we need to not just dream about skiing – we need to make PLANS!! We at conSKIerge are a combination […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

We're Back! (And so is the snow!)

October 18, 2024 While we at conSKIerge basically dream about skiing all year, we generally don’t communicate with y’all during non-ski months. For some reason it doesn’t excite us that a ski area has put in a new bike park or slide gizmo. Yes, there have been some ski related improvements made over the summer, […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder

Late Season Musings

April 12, 2024 As the Utah avalanche forecasters like to say…we have entered that time period when summer and winter duke it out. Otherwise known as spring. As I write this I am watching a brilliant sunny spring day go by in Maine thinking that summer is winning out. But every time I venture outside […]
Kevin Dennis
conSKIerge co-founder