Gay bars in aspen
LGBTQ Guide
Aspen Gay Ski Week, getting involved with AspenOUT, year-round on-mountain events—it's easy to find and feel the pride at Aspen Snowmass.
Gay Ski Week
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The Story of Gay Ski Week
The Story of Aspen Lgbtq+ Ski Week
Arguably the biggest party of the winter season, Aspen Gay Ski Week has matured. Now entering its 48th year (taking place January 12–19, 2025), the beloved Diverse ski event with a worldwide draw is bigger, broader, and more inclusive than ever—par for the course given its haughty history.
It was the party culture of the ’70s clashing with old-fashioned unacceptance that led to the formation of a nonprofit to run Aspen Gay Ski Week and use it as a force for good in the community. During the decade, a group of local men had started regularly hanging out with gay visitors from ski clubs around the land. By 1977, the reunions became more official, with each club hosting parties in their condos on different nights for a week in January, and the local contingent throwing the welcome party.
But as liberal as Aspen was, being gay in common wasn’t universally accepted (hence the condo parties)—a truths that spurred Jon Busch, one of Aspen Same-sex attracted Ski Week’s founders, to advocate for gay rights after getting in trouble for dancing with another man at a local bar. In 1979, Busch and other local supporters had reason to observe when Aspen became the firs
What is Aspen Pride?
Forty-seven years ago, what became Aspen Gay Ski Week began in a bar over an argument about dancing and liberal politics in Aspen; who’d have thought?
A group of local guys, Jon Busch, David Hoch, Tom Duesterberg, Russell Anderson, and others, along with groups of gay tourists from various ski clubs (San Diego, Los Angeles, and Chicago), decided to meet more officially every January. Every year each ski club volunteered to host parties on unlike nights to which all were invited. The local contingent’s contribution was, at first, only a welcoming party to kick things off. But over the years, the all-volunteer “let’s put on a show” effort became the world’s first and, for many years only, gay ski week.
One party became many parties. Hot tub get-togethers became the Saturday darkness pool party. Spur of the moment “catch as catch can” drag shows became the downhill costume contest. Disco became a house, deep house, electronica, and dance. Well, of course, it began as a way to encounter guys and have pleasurable. But at its roots, Aspen Gay Ski Week is also about politics and civil rights.
In 1977 or so, local Jon Busch had gotten in trouble in a local bar over dancing
Welcome all LGBTQ to Aspen, Colorado!
Our community in Aspen is proud to be a long-standing supporter of all backgrounds. If you’re in the market to plan your next getaway, look no further. Aspen is jam-packed with events, festivals, world-class restaurants, a vibrant nightlife, and everything else you need for a fantastic time.
Not to mention, the annual Gay Ski Week – the nation’s premier LGBTQ-lifestyle ski event is held right here in Aspen. Plus, it is a beautiful spot to tie the knot and has a plethora of LGBTQ-friendly wedding arrangements.
Here’s your instruction to the Aspen LGBTQ community and events:
2019 Events & Festivals
Gay Ski Week | January 13 -20
One of the most enjoyable weeks of the year, filled with color, glamour, and endless activities, isGay Ski Week. This event is a full blown week of parties, exist music, comedy, films, fabulous eats, and most importantly, skiing and riding on the four Aspen Snowmass mountains.
Festival goers can participate special lunches, symposiums, dinners, and parties all week long.Limelight Hotels is thrilled for this event and is proud to be the host hotel for Gay Ski Week.
Winter X Games Aspen | January 24 – 27
If you’re in
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