Aspen Gay Ski Week preview, plus a guide to other gay ski weeks around the world

BY CAMPER ENGLISH

The ski season began later than expected in Aspen this year, with anxious hospitality industry workers—nearly all of whom are skiers or snowboarders—praying for snow up through Thanksgiving. Luckily the white stuff had finally arrived before I did in the first week of December, and everyone was in a terrific mood because of it.

I was there to check out the cosmetic updates to the Sky Hotel, a former ski lodge that still looks like one on the outside, but was turned into a hip design hotel indoors and “freshened up” with some improvements recently.

Coincidentally, the Sky Hotel is the Aspen Gay Ski Week host hotel for 2008, which gave me the perfect excuse to get a room there and preview the other restaurants, ski slopes, spas, and shopping venues on the agenda. Gay Ski Week (www.gayskiweek.com) is January 13- 20. This is my report.

Where to Stay and Ski

Aspen has four skiing/snowboarding areas: Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Aspen Snowmass. During Gay Ski Week, three of them (excluding Buttermilk) are on the winter sports agenda. Each day, attendees gather at the base of one of the ski lifts to get acquainted. After some skiing, they join up again for lunch at one of the mountain-top restaurants on the slope, then split up and ski/board again until après-ski party time begins in the early afternoon.

Most après-ski events and dinners during the week take place in the town of Aspen, so for most people going to Gay Ski Week it will be the most convenient place to stay. Shuttle busses connect Aspen to the other slopes, so you can get to them without renting a car while you’re there. (And with the prices in Aspen, you’ll need the money.)

That said, the group is also booking rooms at the many lodging options at Aspen Snowmass (866/564-8398 or www.gayskiweek.bookaspensnowmass.com). Snowmass is the place to stay in Aspen if you’re bringing kids. The amazing Tree House Kids’ Adventure Center provides daycare for kids as young as eight weeks and ski lessons, rentals, and lifts for even the tiniest skiers. Beyond that, people in Aspen agree that Snowmass has the widest range of slopes from beginner to expert, a ton of trails, and lots and lots of snow. (Lack of snow shouldn’t be a problem in January, but the beginning and end of the season is the safest bet.)

Back in Aspen, there are tons of hotel options but I have a feeling none are as much fun as the Sky Hotel (800/882-2582; www.theskyhotel.com). The property is managed by the Kimpton Group, a gay-friendly (and pet-friendly) corporation if there ever was one. The hotel’s 39 Degrees Lounge, lobby, and some room furnishings have been “freshened up” in recent months—with bright and cheery colors, animal print carpets, iPod alarm clocks, and other amenities like free Wi-fi to make them comfy. The hotel also has an outdoor heated pool and hot tub (you can wear the zebra-print robe from your room on the way through the lobby), with a surrounding outdoor bar. The pool is visible from the lobby and lounge and some of the rooms, so it won’t be seemly to get too friendly in there with your new friends, okay?

The 39 Degrees Lounge is one of the hottest après-ski spots in town, it has a fine cocktail program to keep your whistle wet all evening, and food is served all day to keep your belly full. And since après-ski drinking starts around 3 p.m., lazy people can skip the physical activity and make it to après-brunch cocktails. Gay Ski Week visits the 39 Degrees Lounge several times for après-ski meet-ups and nighttime parties, so you’ll be spending a lot of time there whether you’re staying at the hotel or not.

High-Altitude Eating

I wasn’t able to eat at every restaurant listed on the Gay Ski Week website as I was only in town for a couple of days, but I took note of the dining scene in town. After all, it’s the only thing to do between après-ski parties and… the other parties that start later. Each night during ski week, visitors can meet up for a “Friendship Dinner” at the chosen restaurant, or just dine out on their own.

Some of the venues listed in the preliminary agenda on www.gayskiweek.com include Takah Sushi (420 E. Hyman Ave.), which offers sushi in addition to small and large seafood plates, and Piñons Restaurant (105 S. Mill St.), a 20-year old restaurant that also had a recent makeover of the dining room and serves local rustic cuisine like pheasant, lamb, and bass. Also on the list are Jimmy’s American Grill (205 S. Mill St.; 970-925-6020), serving steak and seafood, and Dish Aspen (430 E. Hyman Ave.; 970-925-7119), a slow food-supporting, low-ceilinged, downstairs restaurant that looks like a tavern but serves dishes like lobster corn dogs and truffle, and brie grilled cheese.

Plenty of restaurants not on the list might make yours. Matsuhisa (as in Nobu Matsuhisa of Nobu fame, corner of Main and Monarch streets, 970/544-6628) serves sushi and other Japanese food to the local and visiting celebs. Fellow reporters raved about The Wild Fig’s (315 E. Hyman St., 970/925-5160) Mediterranean food and LuLu Wilson’s (316 East Hopkins St.; 970/920-1893) New York-style atmosphere. I had a terrific meal in the vegetarian restaurant Explore Bistro (221 E. Main St.; 970-925-5336), which is located on the second floor of a bookstore, as well as at D19 (305 S. Mill St.; 970/925-6019), a pan-Italian restaurant where one inventive dish is sliced prosciutto over rosemary donuts in the shape of a mountain.

Hit the Shops

If you noticed that many of the street names are repeated, it’s because the town is tiny and there are only so many streets. You won’t need a car to drive anywhere and you can walk from one end of town to the other in 20 minutes or less. That is, if you ignore the shops, galleries, and restaurants on your way.

Boutiques in town include Gucci, Dior, Fendi, Zegna, Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Ralph Lauren. There are also a ton of sportswear and ski shops, as you’d expect, and an inordinate number of stores selling soap and bath supplies, which I didn’t know of.

You won’t need to use those bath supplies during a stay in Aspen, because there are several full-service spas to keep you clean and relaxed. The biggie is Aspen Club and Spa (866/484-8254; www.aspenclub.com), a giant gym and spa nestled in the woods a short ways from town (with a free shuttle), for which you can book discounted appointments through the Sky and other hotels in town. I had an amazing facial there and others raved about their massages. Besides treatments, the club offers a pool, tennis courts, racquetball and squash courts, and a two-story open gym that will make your local one seem like a dump in comparison. Monday, Jan. 14 is spa day for Gay Ski Week attendees.

Aspen is also host to many art galleries if you’re in the mood (and money) for high-priced cultural purchases. The gay group is doing a gallery walk on the Tuesday night of the week, as well as a boutique night stroll on Wednesday. Other events happening include a party at the Belly Up Nightclub, which usually hosts live music, and a “Battle of Sexual Orientation” gay versus straight ice hockey game on Saturday. This is hosted at the Aspen Recreation Center (The ARC, 861 Maroon Creek Rd.; 970/544-4100, aspenrecreation.com), a venue that also hosts a pool, ice skating venue, and climbing tower; located on the way to Aspen Highlands. The closing party for Gay Ski Week is also hosted there on Saturday night.

My Aspen visit was short—just a couple of nights—yet sweet, and it started snowing on the last one. The cute little downtown was lit up with Christmas lights, and looked like a scene out of a holiday movie in the snow. The storm also brought excitement in town, as people sensed the end of the slow-starting season that had prevented all the ski runs from being operational. The cocktail chatter back at the hotel was about where everyone was skiing the next morning, and when morning came some stores had posted “Gone Skiing” signs on the windows and closed for part of the day. This town loves its snow.

However, when I had to get out of Aspen the local airport had closed, as I hear happens frequently in the snowy weather. The shuttle to the large Denver airport can take up to five hours, but the smaller Vail airport is less than two hours away and the flights are more reliable than in Aspen. (There are van shuttles between these airports and Aspen to get you there and back.) As I flew through Vail I made it out of town without any delays, unlike many others who had to spend an extra night in the hotel and a full extra day in Aspen. While I was happy to get home without a hitch, I was jealous of those who were “forced” to stay, ski, shop, and play one more day.

Mountain High

Hitting the slopes with Picabo Street, and why Utah offers the most pure ski experience around

BY BETT WILLIAMS

At Park City Mountain Resort (www.parkcitymountain.com) I ride on the lift with Picabo Street, the Olympic medal winning skier and one of the most soulful and poetic women in all of sports. At the height of her career she suffered a devastating injury. During a World Cup downhill race in Switzerland, she misread a bump and slammed into a fence at 70 mph. She tore the ACL in her right knee and broke her femur in nine places. She came back and raced in the Salt Lake City Olympics but finished 16th, a disappointing end to one of the most fabled stories in all of skiing.

She surveys her mountain with the protective, fierce gaze of a mother lion. We ski down together and she watches the little kids with a particular fondness. Her emotion is on the surface and this is how she lives. We cruise along an old mining trail that passes a historic wooden structure once only accessible to those on skis and snowshoes. “This is the first place I skied after my injury,” she says.

We pause at the top of a hill and take in the view. It’s a vista of pointy, white mountains and craggy rocks, comforting ski lodges below that scream burgers and hot chocolate. I am in a heaven I can’t take all the way in because it’s too new and beautiful, but for Picabo, this is not only home, it is the arena of her soul’s deepest drama.

I follow her carefully down her slope and when I think about what this place means to her, I tear up under my six-dollar sunglasses.

I haven’t done much skiing since I was a kid. The crowds at Mammoth got to me. When I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the slopes were too puny to offer much of a rush. Skiing was something I was ready to put aside until Alta Utah (801/359-1078; www.alta.com) a resort not far from Park City. I put in my earphones and zoom down the slopes to a guitar riff by Dick Dale. This is a bullshit-free, kinda-sacred, super high mountain that gets to the point. When I do the exhausted, booted lope to my room at the Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge (801/742-2300; www.goldminersdaughterlodge.com), passing the ’70s style photographs of past residents displayed over the warm wood paneling, I realize that Utah is the best place to experience the heart of what skiing is really about—the pure primal rush of velocity and the mountain.

My first night in Alta I devour a buffalo steak at the Shallow Shaft Restaurant (801/742-2177; www.shallowshaft.com). In Park City, the Deer Valley Resort’s Seafood Buffet (435/645-6632; www.deervalley.com) marks the only time I ever follow a plate of desert with a sampling of cheeses. The Mormons may be square but they are on to something by claiming much of this territory as their own. No other vacation has ever left me feeling more badass and wholesome at the same time. I’d almost forgotten the singular power that skiing has for profound psychic and physical renewal.

2008 Gay Ski Week Schedule

Arosa Gay Ski Week
Arosa, Switzerland
Jan. 5-11
www.arosa-gayskiweek.com

Utah Gay and Lesbian Ski Week
Park City, Utah
Jan. 9-13
www.communityvisions.org/SKIING/indexu.htm

Aspen Gay Ski Week
Jan. 13–20
www.gayskiweek.com

Blue Gay-la
South Lake Tahoe, NV
Jan. 23-27
www.ltva.org/glski

Winter Pride
Whistler, BC, Canada
Feb. 3-10
www.gaywhistler.com

Vail Gay and Lesbian Ski Week
Vail, Co
Jan. 30-Feb. 3
www.communityvisions.org/SKIING/indexv.htm

Queer Utah Aquatic Club
Ski N Swim 2008
Feb. 15-17
www.quacquac.org/ski-n-swim

Winter Explosion
Hudson Valley, NY
Feb. 15-18
www.winterexplosion.com

Telluride Gay Ski Week
Telluride, CO
Feb. 23-March 1
www.telluridegayskiweek.com

SWING, Swiss Gay Skiing and Snowboarding
Lenzerheide, Switzerland
March 1-8
www.swing-on.ch

Lake Tahoe Winterfest
March 2-9
laketahoewinterfest.com

Mammoth Gay Ski Week
Mammoth Lakes, CA
March 12-16
www.mammothgayski.com

Outboard (Snowboarding)
Breckenridge, CO
April 2-6
www.outboard.org

Gay Ski Week
New Zealand
August 29-Sept. 7
www.gayskiweeknz.com