Gay Ski Week Returns To Aspen For The 45th Year - Unofficial Networks

Contents:

• THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD
• THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK
• 46TH ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK EXPANDS ENTERTAMENT AND EVENT OFFERGS
• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK 2022
• GAY SKI WEEK RETURNS TO ASPEN FOR THE 45TH YEAR
• ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK TO WELE FAI NEXT MONTH

THE ULTIMATE GUI TO GAY SKI WEEKS AROUND THE WORLD

When I talk to iends about potentially attendg a Gay Ski Week this year, they still ask, “What is a Gay Ski Week? "Gay ski weeks” origated the 1970s, when queer ski clubs Chigo and var California ci started ngregatg annually Aspen. In those tim, the events were not much more than a sual get together over some après-ski beers, gay ski weeks over time veloped to more flhed-out happengs wh full-blown parti, drag shows, edy nights, live mic, and charable fundraisg ponents.

If you’re terted learng a b more about diversy on the slop this season, here are a few gay ski weeks to check out. Miguel Mendoza/ElevatnElevatn Ski Week: MammothMammoth, California, USA“It’s a whole vibe, ” said Eric Bog, a skier om Los Angel who has attend Mammoth Gay Ski Week multiple tim. ” Put on by gay party productn pany Elevatn for over twenty years, Mammoth Gay Ski Week attracts a large Southern California ntgent ( part bee ’s pretty ted to get there om the East Coast).

Karsten Wegeart/UnsplashAspen Gay Ski WeekAspen, Colorado, USAThe alpha and the omega of gay ski weeks, Aspen Gay Ski Week has been nng for over forty-five years, and grew out of those sual gathergs that began the 1970’s. Aspen Gay Ski Week is also the annual fundraisg event for AspenOUT, a non-prof muny anizatn that provis support and servic to LGBTQ+ people across the Aspen valley.

THE STORY OF ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK

Telluri Gay Ski WeekTelluri, Colorado, USAIf Aspen is the OG of gay ski weeks, then Telluri is the up-and-er. And if you’re a fan of Olympic etyle skier and Telluri lol G Kenworthy, you may want to add this gay ski week to your erary—mor has he mak an unofficial appearance most years. Arosa Gay Ski WeekArosa, SwzerlandIf you aren’t faiar wh the idyllic Swiss village of Arosa, then get wh the program—while don’t offer the most thrillg terra relative to the rt of the Alps, ’s large enough to explore over multiple days, is easily nnected via tram to the neighborg village of Lenzerhei, and is easily accsed via a two-hour tra om the Zürich airport.

46TH ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK EXPANDS ENTERTAMENT AND EVENT OFFERGS

Pl, wh only about six hundred atten, has a much more timate atmosphere than some of the larger, longer-nng gay ski weeks. Leo Mens/UnsplashGay Ski Week HakubaHakuba, JapanJapan’s legendary powr dumps and rich après-ski culture (onsen dip then steamg hot ramen, anyone?

This gay ski week also offers plenty of activi for non-skiers, as well, cludg yoga, snowmobilg, and, of urse, karaoke. Ntled high the French Alps and wh over 1, 000 participants each year, Europe’s largt gay ski week has bee somethg of an stutn—’s even sponsored by the gay datg app, Scff. Après-ski ssns and eveng parti are a particular strength for this gay ski week, which attracts a roster of top ejays and drag queens to keep the party gog late to the Pri QueenstownQueenstown, New ZealandSki season only to an end if you let .

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.

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK 2022

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.

GAY SKI WEEK RETURNS TO ASPEN FOR THE 45TH YEAR

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.

ASPEN GAY SKI WEEK TO WELE FAI NEXT MONTH

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.