Aspen Gay Ski Week | Aspen Snowmass

Contents:

• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK: DRK IT IN
• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK: DRK IT IN
• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE HISTORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• WTER PRI: GAY SKI WEEK DTATNS 2018
• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE INSIR’S GUI TO ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK: DRK IT IN

Aspen Gay Ski Week celebrat s 41st anniversary this wter, takg over town and the slop wh fect energy and fun. Aspen Gay Ski WeekTim & lotns vary through Sunday. But ’s not jt fun and gam: beneficiari this year are the Tyler Clementi Foundatn and the grant-makg Roarg Fork Gay & Lbian Communy Fund.

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.

And, tth be told, Aspen Gay Ski Week is a lot of fun and gam (Drag Queen Bgo, anyone? “We see this as a great way to support the gay and lbian muny workg toward equaly, ” says Chris Sherman, regnal sal manager for Cutwater Spirs, one of several beverage sponsors of this year’s Ski Week.

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK: DRK IT IN

In fact, Cutwater jos a list of lol and natnal spir sponsors — Suerte tequila, Woody Creek Distillers, Bud Light, Marble Distillery, Whisperg Angel, the Green Rsell and others — to throw their llective cktail-makg weight behd Gay Ski Week’s goal of fun wh a msage.

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

Germa, whe cranberry juice, lime juice and served wh an ice sphere wh prsed flowers, this special Gay Ski Week libatn is sure to be a wner at $10 per cktail. Fd Cutwater Spirs nned cktails — ma wh Fugu Vodka, Old Grove G, Three Sheets Rum and the new Black Skimmer Bourbon — at var Gay Ski Week events.

An Aspen favore at the Food & We Classic, Whisperg Angel is brgg home at Gay Ski Week 2018: “Whisperg Angel has a strong and loyal followg Aspen throughout the summer season, so only seemed natural to partner up wh Aspen Gay Ski Week to help support this event, ” says Châte D’Esclans’ Pl Chevalier, who reprents Gay Ski Week’s official rosé sponsor. A longtime supporter of Gay Ski Week (and untls other Aspen events), Woody Creek Distillers has offered up s vodka, rye and g to the 2018 mixologists. One of Aspen’s newt bars promis to be Ground Zero durg Gay Ski Week.

THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

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. 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.

THE HISTORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

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.

WTER PRI: GAY SKI WEEK DTATNS 2018

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. 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. 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. While we have a soft spot for Mammoth, gay ski weeks were really creaed by Aspen Snowmass.

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

This year marks the rort’s 41st Gay Ski Week, the largt and longt-nng annual gay ski week event the untry. The story of Aspen’s gay ski week dat back to eh 1970s. Several lols were hangg out wh a group of gay tourists om var ski clubs om around the untry—San Diego, Los Angel, and Chigo.

Jon Bch, a gay man the lol muny, was ved back to their ndos for parti durg their stay. “It was jt beers and gay guys hangg out, ” he told The New York Tim  2006.

THE INSIR’S GUI TO ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

While Aspen may be known as a haven for liberal ias and polics, was not always the most welg place for the gay muny. We have to remember—beg gay 1970s Ameri was not somethg to celebrate.

THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD

Spurred by this prejudice, Bch and his iends phed for an ordance that secured gay rights protectns Aspen. Aspen Gay Ski Week is a great time for parti and skig, but also played an sential role both state and feral human rights legislatn. In stayg te to s roots, the Gay Ski Week anizers raise money for the Roarg Fork Gay and Lbian Communy Fund, workg hard to give back to the muny that supported their efforts for so long.