ATW Agenda: Wintersköl, Gay Ski Week & more
Our picks for the best Aspen area events, Jan. 13-19
FESTIVAL
You can’t keep a good ‘sköl down.
Aspen’s annual toast to the season, Wintersköl, returns for its 71st year with a scaled-back schedule events running Jan. 13 to 16.
The annual awards luncheon has been canceled due to the local coronavirus surge, but the king and queen will still be crowned – educator Beth Wille and Aspen Animal Shelter Director Seth Sachson – and snow sculptures will be on view on the Mill St. pedestrian mall throughout the festival. The annual Apple Strudel Downhill will run at Aspen Highlands on Friday and there will be free ice skating in both Aspen and Snowmass Base Village on Saturday.
The main event is Saturday on Aspen Mountain with the torchlight descent and fireworks at 8 p.m. aspenchamber.org
FESTIVAL
Gay Ski Week is back or 2022, opening on Sunday, Jan. 16 with the traditional mix of mountain du jour skiing, après-skiing and partying through Jan. 23.
Special events in the early days include Drag Queen Bingo with Mariam T at the W Hotel on Tuesday, Jan. 18 ($20 per card) and the annual Fashion & Art Night Out in downtown Aspen on Wednesday, Jan. 19 followed by the Gay Ski Week Benefit at the Caribou Club (sold-out). gayskiweek.com
POP MUSIC
Much of this winter’s run of concerts at Belly Up Aspen have been familiar names and local favorites, returning stars celebrating the club’s post-vaccine reopening. Among the most exciting debuts of the season, though, is the Wednesday, Jan. 19 performance by Goth Babe, the stage name for songwriter Griff Washburn. The show is sold out, waitlist open at bellyupaspen.com
POP MUSIC
The always-cozy JAS Café series has moved for this winter into the even more intimate performance space at Here House/Local Coffee on Cooper Ave., giving smaller crowds some hard-to-believe musical experiences. For example, on Friday and Saturday night, the series has Grammy-nominated guitarist Diego Figueiredo, the jazz/bossa nova innovator, with guest Adrian Cunningham. Two shows nightly, 7 and 9:15 p.m. jazzaspensnowmass.org
WineInk: The 2023 vintage
“2023 predicted to be the Vintage of a Lifetime in Napa Valley,” proclaimed the headline this week in a press release sent out by the Napa Valley Vintners, the trade organization that represents the growers and producers in America’s most famed wine region. If there is anyone more optimistic than winemakers, it is the group that represents them.
