Aspen Gay Ski Week | Aspen

Contents:

• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• 46TH ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK EXPANDS ENTERTAMENT AND EVENT OFFERGS
• THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD
• GAY SKI WEEKS: COLOR THE SLOP
• MOUNTA MAYHEM: ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK 2023
• GAY SKI WEEK RETURNS TO ASPEN FOR THE 45TH YEAR
• 10 GAY SKI WEEKS AND WTER PRI CELEBRATNS

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

Some might say ASGW (Aspen Gay Ski Week) was and is the first form of LGBTQ+ Pri Aspen.

Fd out why Condé Naste lls “The alpha and the omega of gay ski weeks.

THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

Aspen Gay Ski Week. Aspen Gay Ski Week (AGSW) is the olst annual, week-long gay ski event the natn. A mol for other gay ski weeks, AGSW offers a unique vatn experience the scenic and historic mounta town of Aspen, Colorado.

Aspen Gay Ski Week is also the annual fundraisg event for AspenOUT, a lol non-prof and 501C3 anizatn foced on anti-bullyg and tolerance.

46TH ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK EXPANDS ENTERTAMENT AND EVENT OFFERGS

Arguably the biggt party of the wter season, Aspen Gay Ski Week has matured. It was the party culture of the ’70s clashg wh old-fashned unacceptance that led to the formatn of a nonprof to n Aspen Gay Ski Week and e as a force for good the muny.

Durg the , a group of lol men had started regularly hangg out wh gay visors om ski clubs around the untry.

THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD

By 1977, the rnns beme more official, wh each club hostg parti their ndos on different nights for a week January, and the lol ntgent throwg the wele as liberal as Aspen was, beg gay public wasn’t universally accepted (hence the ndo parti)—a realy that spurred Jon Bch, one of Aspen Gay Ski Week’s founrs, to advote for gay rights after gettg trouble for dancg wh another man at a lol bar. In 1979, Bch and other lol supporters had reason to celebrate when Aspen beme the first municipaly Colorado to pass an anti-discrimatn policy for gays and lbians. Boulr and Denver followed Aspen’s example, but 1992, Colorado voters passed Amendment 2 to the state nstutn, which revoked gay protectns and prohibed any new on om beg enacted at lol and state levels.

Women celebrate Aspen Gay Ski Week at the base of Aspen Mounta 2022. This anti-gay policy triggered a wispread and effective boytt of Colorado tourism, particularly pafully felt Aspen, where Gay Ski Week had bee a major wter event and talyst for gay tourism year-round. A legal challenge ensued, and shortly after the US Supreme Court led that Amendment 2 was unnstutnal 1996, Aspen Gay Ski Week was fold to a new 501c3 nonprof: the Aspen Gay and Lbian Communy Fund (now AspenOUT) olst and largt gay ski event the untry (more than 3, 000 people are expected this year), Aspen Gay Ski Week has evolved far beyond ndo parti.

A wboy dance party at the Belly Up and boy band ver group at the Wheeler are exampl of events put on by other enti wh Gay Ski Week atten md.

GAY SKI WEEKS: COLOR THE SLOP

But as AspenOUT’s ma annual fundraiser, Aspen Gay Ski Week is much more than a good time— mak possible the anizatn’s growg mental health and tn work. Wh funds om Gay Ski Week, for example, AspenOUT provis facilators to Roarg Fork Valley schools’ gay stunt allianc (GSAs) and onle mental health trag for unselors and teachers. “Aspen Snowmass is very clive and has always been very supportive of Aspen Gay Ski Week, not only bee ’s good for the enomy, but bee ’s good for the muny, ” says McManamon.

A group of skiers and hikers celebrate Aspen Gay Ski Week atop Highland Peak. Aspen Snowmass is one of many proud sponsors of Aspen Gay Ski Week, but the pany’s support of the LGBTQ+ muny don’t stop there. And on a state and natnal level, the pany speaks out on policy—notably signg the amic brief the 2015 US Supreme Court se that legalized gay while there’s still work to be done, the progrs that’s been fostered by Aspen Gay Ski Week and the broar Aspen Snowmass muny is somethg to be proud of.

MOUNTA MAYHEM: ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK 2023

In 2019, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, the untry’s first openly gay ernor, signed a proclamatn regnizg the event’s role beg “a cril part of the fight for civil rights the LGBTQ muny Colorado and across the natn. People ski down the Ltle Nell n on Aspen Mounta wh a giant pri flag to end the downhill stume ntt and party durg Gay Ski Week.

What began as an argument over two men dancg wh one another a lol Aspen bar cir 1977, Aspen Gay Ski Week has morphed om rmal annual meetups and parti to the biggt and most fluential non-prof LGBTQ+ ski week the world.

“Aspen Gay Ski Week is the most popular week of the year, hands down, ” said Melissa Temple, print of AspenOUT. “No one knows how to have a party like gay people. AspenOUT Executive Director Kev McManamon and board Print Melissa Temple durg Aspen Gay Ski Week’s annual Downhill Costume Contt last Sun Photography/Aspen Skig Company.

GAY SKI WEEK RETURNS TO ASPEN FOR THE 45TH YEAR

Six years ago, when Temple was approached to jo the board of AspenOUT and take the helm of Gay Ski Week, she was reluctant bee she “didn’t want to take on an anizatn that was for beard men, by beard men.

10 GAY SKI WEEKS AND WTER PRI CELEBRATNS

She ultimately accepted, aimg to make the event more clive “gay, male, female, straight, whatever.

A dachsund stays warm last year on a snowy afternoon at the base of Aspen Mounta watchg the Gay Ski Week stume Stonehoe/The Aspen Tim. She creded the team she enlisted, led by event director Kimberly Kuglia, for expertly executg that visn and turng Gay Ski Week to a sexy premium event and brand, notg that “the event was seamls last year” and she was lookg forward to next week’s ftivi.