Sunday, January 17, 2027
Downtown Aspen & Aspen Mountain — daily home base at the Limelight
355 S Monarch St, Aspen, CO 81611The circuit parties, afterhours and official events happening across Aspen Gay Ski Week (50th Anniversary) in Aspen — dates, venues and tickets.
Drag brunches, circuit nights & every party worth knowing in Aspen — in your inbox every week.
Fifty years ago, a group of gay skiers got in trouble for dancing together in an Aspen bar. In January 2027, the party they started celebrates its Golden Jubilee. Aspen Gay Ski Week runs Sunday, January 17 through Sunday, January 24, 2027 — the 50th anniversary of the world's first gay ski week, and still the standard every other one is measured against.
This is the full guide: the 2027 schedule with every party, where to stay, how the week actually works, and the genuinely remarkable civil-rights history behind what looks, from the outside, like a very good costume party on skis.
Pro Tip
The 50th anniversary will be the most in-demand Ski Week in years. Aspen hotel inventory is small and January is peak season — book lodging the moment your dates are firm, and grab tickets for the Little Nell brunch and pool party early. The free après ski needs no ticket at all.
Aspen Gay Ski Week didn't start as a festival. In the mid-1970s, a group of Aspen locals — Jon Busch, David Hoch, Tom Duesterberg, Russell Anderson, and friends — had been hosting gay skiers visiting from ski clubs in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Chicago. By 1977 the January reunions became a tradition: each visiting club hosted a party in their condos on a different night, and the locals threw the welcome party.
The spark underneath it was political. In 1977, Busch got in trouble at a Y bar for dancing with another man — this just a few years after Stonewall, in a town that prided itself on liberal thought but still drew the line at two men on a dance floor. Busch and other locals pushed back, and in 1979 Aspen passed gay rights protections — the first in Colorado. Boulder and Denver followed.
Then came 1992, when Colorado voters passed Amendment 2, a constitutional amendment that repealed every existing gay rights law in the state — including Aspen's — and banned any new ones. The national response was the "Boycott Colorado" movement, which hammered the state's tourism economy and hurt Ski Week itself. But Aspen, Boulder, and Denver challenged the amendment in court, and the case — Romer v. Evans — went all the way up. In 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court struck Amendment 2 down, the court's first major gay rights ruling in a decade and a stepping stone toward Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 and, eventually, marriage equality.
That same year, the all-volunteer Ski Week incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit — today's AspenOUT — and the week has been the organization's primary fundraiser ever since. The hot tub get-togethers became Saturday pool parties. The spur-of-the-moment drag shows became the Downhill Costume Contest. And a week that started as condo parties became, in the organizers' words, a movement rich in civil rights history.
Here's the official calendar as announced — more events are still being added, so check gayskiweek.com as the week approaches. Every day also includes the two constants: the free après ski at the Limelight from 3–7 PM (no cover, all week) and the hot tub and pool soak alongside it.
Sunday, January 17 — Opening Day The week opens with the Drag Bingo Brunch with Mariam T at The Little Nell, 11 AM–1 PM — open bar, curated eats from Aspen's only five-star hotel, and the week's first sellout at $165. Then the first après ski of the week at the Limelight.
Monday, January 18 — Locals' Night Late Night Dancing at Stranahan's Whiskey Lodge, 9:30 PM–12:30 AM ($25). Organizers call it the lifers-and-locals party — the night the valley's own community comes out. Go, and meet the people who live here.
Tuesday, January 19 — The Golden Jubilee The anniversary centerpiece: Golden Jubilee: Legacy & Honors at the Paul JAS Center, 7–10 PM — an honors evening celebrating 50 years of Ski Week history and the founders who started it, with bites and bingo.
Wednesday, January 20 — Caribou Club Benefit The Wednesday Night Benefit throws open the doors of the Caribou Club — Aspen's famously exclusive private members' club — for a late-night dance party, 9:30 PM–1:30 AM. Proceeds fund AspenOUT's one-on-one LGBTQ+ mental health services.
Thursday, January 21 — Belly Up The Thursday Night Dance at Belly Up, 9 PM–1:30 AM, with hosted cocktails at the world-famous 450-capacity club where arena acts play a room the size of a living room.
Friday, January 22 — The Big Day Two icons in one day. At noon, the Downhill Costume Contest sends skiers in full drag and costume down Aspen Mountain before a judging panel hosted by AGSW legend Mariam T — free to watch from the base, and the most photographed three hours of the week. Then at 8 PM, the Top of the Mountain Dance Party takes over the Sundeck at 11,000 feet — a gondola ride to a dance floor above the clouds, golden-themed for the 50th.
Saturday, January 23 — The Flagship Finale The ARC Pool Party closes the week at the Aspen Recreation Center, 8:30 PM–1 AM — DJs, cocktails, and yes, indoor waterslides. Five decades of hot-tub get-togethers, fully grown up.
Pro Tip
The Sundeck party and the ARC finale are both a schlep from downtown — the Sundeck is literally a gondola ride up the mountain. Layer up, plan the ride down before you're tired, and don't be the person trying to hail a ride on Maroon Creek Road at 1 AM without a plan.
Aspen has no dedicated gay bar — and during Ski Week it doesn't need one, because the whole town shows up. The week takes over Aspen's best rooms: the Limelight lounge every afternoon, a whiskey lodge, a private members' club, a legendary music venue, and the top of the mountain itself.
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
Your lift ticket unlocks four very different mountains, all covered by the same Aspen Snowmass pass:
Rentals, lessons, and lift tickets are all bookable through the official gayskiweek.com partner links, often with event discounts.
Pro Tip
Lift tickets bought day-of at the window are the most expensive way to ski in America. Buy in advance online — and if you're skiing four or more days, price out the multi-day products before buying singles.
Book early — this is Aspen in peak January, and the 50th will strain the town's small inventory. The strategic choice is walking distance to the Limelight, since the daily après ski is the week's center of gravity.
Snowmass Village (25 minutes by free shuttle) runs meaningfully cheaper and ski-in/ski-out — a real option if downtown prices sting, at the cost of late-night logistics.
Plan the whole trip
Flying through Denver before or after Ski Week? Find the bars, events, and gay-friendly spots for your Colorado stopover on Out x Out.
Pro Tip
January in the Rockies swings from bluebird sunshine to dumping snow in an afternoon. Pack a real parka for the mountain-top party, sunscreen for the slopes (high-altitude sun burns fast), and shoes with grip — downtown sidewalks ice over at night.
Sunday, January 17 through Sunday, January 24, 2027. It's the 50th anniversary — the "Golden Jubilee" — of the event that began in 1977.
The daily après ski at the Limelight is completely free, and watching the Downhill Costume Contest costs nothing. Ticketed events run from about $25 (Stranahan's late night) to $165 (the Little Nell drag bingo brunch), with premium options up to about $475. Passes and single tickets are sold at gayskiweek.com. Lodging is the real cost — this is Aspen in peak season.
No. Plenty of attendees don't ski at all, and Buttermilk exists precisely for beginners. The social calendar — brunch, après, parties — is a full week on its own.
Ski Week's signature event: skiers and snowboarders in full drag and costume descend Aspen Mountain before a judging panel, hosted in 2027 by Mariam T. It evolved from the spontaneous drag shows of the week's early condo-party years and runs Friday, January 22, from noon to 3 PM — free to watch from the base of the mountain.
As close to the Limelight Aspen as budget allows — it hosts the free daily après ski and the pool soak, making it the week's de facto headquarters. The Little Nell, Hotel Jerome, and W Aspen are all within a few blocks of the week's venues. Snowmass Village is the cheaper alternative, connected by free shuttle.
Aspen Gay Ski Week is the primary fundraiser for AspenOUT, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ mental health services and education. The Wednesday Night Benefit at the Caribou Club funds its one-on-one mental health program directly.
Fly nonstop into Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE, 10 minutes from town), fly into Eagle County (EGE, ~70 minutes), or fly to Denver (DEN) and drive about 3.5–4 hours. Once in town you won't need a car — downtown is walkable and free shuttles cover Snowmass.
Yes — it began in 1977 as January condo parties among Aspen locals and visiting gay ski clubs, making it the world's first gay ski week, and it has run every year since. Other gay ski weeks (Whistler, Mammoth's Elevation, and events across Europe) followed the model Aspen created.
Let people know you're going, see who else is attending, and share the event with friends.
