The Great Gay West

Slopes, spas, and Sundance put Park City on the map, but a palpable ?60s vibe keeps it there. Sure, Salt Lake City?s shockingly fun gay scene is just 30 miles away, but with the world?s only ski-in whiskey distillery, High West Saloon, Utah?s first new distillery since 1870, why would you want to leave?

The de facto capital of the American southwest, Phoenix is sun and sprawl and a surprisingly gay oasis (30-plus bars and counting) baking in the Sonoran Desert. Check into Scottsdale?s Hotel Valley Ho, a mod nod to mid-century design kitsch, and conduct a cultural opus at the new Musical Instrument Museum.

Never mind that Brokeback Mountain was filmed in Calgary, tiny Jackson Hole is where it?s at: a pine-scented outdoor adventure town with killer cowboy bars on the edge of the magnificent Grand Teton National Park. For the second time, Hotel Terra will host a mini gay ski week when international LGBT ski club Ski Bums comes to town in early 2011.