Jan 18, 2008  |  By: ZACK ROSEN  | COMMENTS     

have a great time and you find all these different types of people to ski with,” she says. “Just come up and ski. And have fun and look great [doing it.]”

THERE ARE A NUMBER of American gay ski weeks also planned for this year, with Colorado being a hotbed. Aspen gay ski week ends on Jan. 20 and Vail’s takes place between Jan. 30 and Feb. 4.
 
The Telluride gay ski week, in Colorado between Feb. 23 and March 1, has taken pains to attract randy male skiers, most notably through the booking of two cute gay celebrity guests, Charlie David and Reichen Lehmkuhl. David had an arc on Here! TV’s supernatural soap opera “Dante’s Cove” and currently hosts gay travel program “Bump!” on the same network. Lehmkuhl also spent some time on “Dante’s Cove,” but is currently most well known for dating Lance Bass and being muscular.

Both celebrities will be hosting their own events — David a “Bump!” skiing expedition and Lehmkuhl a party — and a number of other programs have been scheduled to keep the post-slope time just as interesting as the sport itself. There are late night events scheduled for each night, including main event parties like a “Mad Hatter” ski party, a White Night party and an Oscar party, which organizer Betsy Adler calls their “signature event.”

The town itself, which is actually two towns, is a notable attraction. The historic mining town of Telluride sits next to the newer, more developed Mountain Village. Gay ski weeks hosted there also help raise money for the Telluride AIDS Benefit, an organization that has given more than $1 million to AIDS groups over the last 15 years.

“It’s amazing, a little town like Telluride attracting so many people [for gay ski week,]” says Adler, who expects between 2,000 to 4,000 visitors. “People like coming here and the community is really awesome, and to have a little town like this make a difference is really neat.”