Gay men giving makeovers are all the rage on television, and now even Gay Whistler Ski Week is getting one. This year’s event, which takes place this Sunday to next (February 4 to 11) at Whistler, even has a new name. It’s now called Gay Whistler WinterPRIDE, to reflect its new direction.

“We really feel this is more of a festival,” says Dean Nelson, WinterPRIDE’s creative and community director. “This is a lot like a Pride festival, but it takes place in the winter in the mountains.” That feeling of a party with something for everyone will run through the activities. “It’s still Gay Ski Week, but it’s the evolution of Gay Ski Week. It’s growing up; it’s maturing.”

Nelson tells the Straight in a phone interview that for 13 years, the event was known as Altitude. He recounts that in 2006, Altitude was cancelled 12 days before guests were scheduled to arrive. Nelson was working for the Pan Pacific hotel at the time, and he and others stepped in and staged the event as Gay Whistler Ski Week. “We actually produced the whole event in 12 days,” he recalls. When it was over, the organizers decided to come together to form Alpenglow Productions, which took on the Gay Whistler brand and renamed it.

This year’s event has three streams: culinary activities, health and wellness activities, and health education. Nelson says a survey of last year’s participants found they wanted more activities beyond skiing and snowboarding. “There’s quite a few partners out there where one person skis and the other one doesn’t,” he explains. “Now there’s many different options for people to be engaged in, on or off the slopes.”

On the serious side is continuing medical education, consisting of seminars for health-care professionals. The three-day conference starts Monday (February 5) and will address health issues in the LGBT community.

Foodwise, there will be cooking classes, wine tastings, a martini party, and group dining activities. At a Singles and Sex Food party, participants will identify themselves only by writing the name of a food item on a chef’s hat—no names or occupations allowed. The group will prepare aphrodisiac canapés such as oysters and chocolate-dipped strawberries amid drinking and dancing.

In the health-and-wellness realm, Cat Smiley will stage “no-wimps workouts”, boot camp–style. Of course, there will still be skiing and snowboarding, as well as free guided ski groups for all levels. Zip-line activities, snowshoeing, dogsledding, and snowmobile tours are also scheduled.

In addition to all this, Michael J. Losier will give a seminar on abundance and attracting more money, and there will be a seminar on the art of flirtation, plus aprí¨s-ski parties, sex-toy parties, dances, comedy shows, speed dating, and more. Passes allowing admittance to various events, either for the whole week or a couple of days, run from $145 to $455, or you can buy single-event tickets.

Nelson says last year saw 1,600 people over the week, and this year they’re expecting 2,500. It’s not just a local festival; last year, over half the attendees came from the U.S. Of the 29 percent of attendees who drove up from Vancouver, most came in groups of about four.

Like Vancouver’s Pride Week, held in the summer, WinterPRIDE welcomes straight folk as well. “WinterPRIDE is a celebration of diversity, of inclusiveness,” Nelson says. “It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, white, black, purple, blue”¦we’re just here to have fun and celebrate being us and who we are.” That goes for on and off the slopes.