ELEVATION: TAHOE 1ST ANNUAL
ELEVATION: UTAH 4TH ANNUAL PARK CITY
LAKE TAHOE GAY SKI WEEK February 6 through 9 For tickets and more information go to:
tahoegayski.com
GAY SKI WEEK February 20 through 23 For tickets and more information go to:
utahgayski.com
ELEVATION: MAMMOTH 12TH ANNUAL GAY SKI WEEK March 12 through 16 For tickets and more information go to:
mammothgayski.com
rustic, has cute stores and great shopping and yet it’s not totally glammed up like Vail or Aspen. It’s not Ro- deo Drive, but it’s lovely and quaint, just big enough so that there are wonderful restaurants, with plenty of things to do.” After four years of success there, the bug (or should
I say snow-bunny?) to grow continued, hence the lat- est in the Elevation series beginning in 2014—Lake Tahoe. “Tahoe literally came about very last minute, North Lake Tahoe actually reached out to me. They said they had heard stories for years about my other events and asked if I would consider doing one up there.” He wasn’t sure about doing it because it was so late in the game to start planning such an event. “Having learned my lessons throughout the years, I understand that there is a lot that goes into putting these together successfully, including community support, things like that.” Squaw Valley and Northstar were the two options
and both resorts made the experience easy for him, flying him up, setting up all the necessary meetings and as he said, “made it pretty much impossible for me to say no.” Whitman continued, “They were really into it and convinced me because of their commit- ment to the idea. Both are amazing venues and would have been great, but Squaw Valley seemed to be just a little more gung-ho about it. I also had a little bit of personal history with Squaw and knew the mountain so I think that might have helped the decision along.” He and his team decided “let’s do it”
and as he said, “we’ve been running ever since then!” I was curious about the similarities so I asked him
to draw some comparisons around each event. “Squaw Valley is very much like Mammoth in that it’s a contained village, you can have all your events within walking distance to the mountain. It makes for a much more fun, localized experience because you end up seeing the same people.” He predicts that they’ll have about 500-600 people to start, but like the others it will grow, “Mammoth started small but has grown way beyond that now.” Continuing with the comparison he had this to say, “Mammoth is largely a local event, it’s probably about 65 percent Californian and the rest are from out of state. Utah is completely different in that people are from all over the place; there really is no specific feeder market for it. Sure, there are locals whot come but it’s not the majority. It’s filled with people from the South, the East and West Coast and international visitors. It’s a much more diverse crowd geographically. We had a bunch from Australia last year, some from Argentina, all over the world really.” Regarding the demographics of the newest of his
mountain escapes, Lake Tahoe, “Tahoe I think is going to be a combination of both Northern and Southern Californians, since Los Angeles and San Francisco are the feeder markets. It’s easier to get to than Mam- moth because of the Reno airport, because of that there will be a broader range of visitors.” There was a fondness in his voice when he talked
about what it was like to start these events, “It’s really kind of fun in the beginning when it’s a bit intermit- tent to start. Those people who start coming early on kind of claim some ownership to the event because they start out with the first year. I say this all the time, ‘the people who come back every year, come back because they make such great friends they keep after the ski week.’” As usual at his events, Whitman has great DJs set
up and as of press time, he was working on final- izing performers. But like the other Elevation events, Lake Tahoe’s schedule will be very full—Après Ski party in the afternoon, meet ups and then of course the legendary nighttime events. Squaw Valley is a huge mountain with a beautiful resort, so like at Mammoth, white bandanas are given outto identify festivalgoers. Whitman chuckled and said, “Look for them, people tie them around their arms, on their heads, or legs so you can tell how many LGBTs are up there. You can tell he really enjoys the process and is looking forward to what people have to say, “I’m so excited to see how people respond to Lake Tahoe, to see how they compare it to the other two events. I’ve really committed to the mountain, we’re not going to do just a one-year deal, we’re looking at it long-term.” Lucky for those of us who love this particular winter
sport. It’s time to dust off that snowboard and those skis, which ever you prefer and,“hit the slopes.”
For details on all three Elevation events, see listing above. JANUARY 2014 | RAGE monthlyRAGEmonthly JANUARY 2014 | 35
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