BY Chad Callaghan
If you’re anything like me, you’re already itching to be on the slopes. Luckily, Daddy Christmas has been good to his boys this year and blessed us with plenty of early-season snow and…drumroll please…a brand new ELEVATION Gay Ski Week! (*waits patiently for a chorus of “Yas Kweens”*)
Producer Tom Whitman is bringing his Midas touch to the slopes of Tremblant, Quebec, the #1 ski resort on the East Coast. ELEVATION MAMMOTH has long been the gay ski week gold standard out West, so you’ll understand my excitement that the event is heading East. I know, I know, Canada sounds so exotic and distant, but it’s actually only a couple of hours’ drive from NYC to Quebec’s “trembling mountain.” (Yes, I Googled it—that’s actually what Tremblant means in Algonquin, k?)
Plus, who doesn’t love a man from Montreal?
Whitman says he’s always wanted to expand East, and Tremblant checks all the boxes. “It’s one of the best ski towns in North America, and Quebec is famously welcoming to the LGBTQ community. It’s a great place to taste a little Quebecois culture, drink in some natural beauty and hang out with sexy, friendly boys and girls from Toronto and Montreal. Oh yeah, and our East Coast.”
This year, Whitman’s three ELEVATION events, the “Triple-Crown of Gay Ski,” are well-spaced enough that you could conquer them all.
First up is the freshman event in Tremblant. Taking place January 31 to February 3, it’s just far enough after New Year’s that you’ll be ready for a midwinter gay getaway. In its inaugural year, ELEVATION TREMBLANT is sure to draw a massive crowd of ELEVATION enthusiasts, sporty New Yorkers and Canadian first-timers (be gentle, they’ve never done this before).
Next up is the 9th annual ELEVATION Utah. Set February 21 to 24, that gives you three weeks to recover from your Canadian kiki before you meet up with 1,000+ bromos and slope sisters for the annual invasion of the gays in Park City, home of Sundance, the Salt Lake Olympics and plenty of former-Mormons who just wanna let loose.
ELEVATION season ends with a little spring skiing. March 13 to 17 (St. Patrick’s Weekend) marks the 17th annual Mammoth Gay Ski Week, the crown jewel for ski huntys and board bros alike. This year, they’re expecting almost 3,000 guys and gals to take over the village, transforming this sleepy ski town into a bona fide boy buffet.
While each ELEVATION event has its own local flavor and flair, there are a few events I personally look forward to every year: The Onesie Apres Ski, a classic (seriously, don’t forget your onesie—if you don’t have one, you’re doing life wrong); the Mammoth Aprés at 10K, the only time I’ve seen someone twerk in ski boots; and the all-new main event at each of the ski weeks, GEAR, perhaps the sexiest party of the week. It’s like a warehouse party at altitude (don’t think about it too hard). The dress code is in the name: Transform your ski equipment into something a little kinkier, just put some THOT into it… or go ahead and pack your harness. I know you’ve got one.
My body is ready. Let’s have a ski-ski.
