COLORADO -- Columnist Philip Potempa is reporting from Vail this week.

The naked truth

Hugh Hefner allowed his three favorite girlfriends time away from the hutch, aka the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, to hit the slopes of Vail for snowboarding lessons.

Of course, 80-year-old Hefner's permission was also part of a plan that included a trademark promotion for his Playboy Enterprises.

Holly Madison, 27, Bridget Marquardt, 33, and Kendra Wilkinson, 21, were in Vail to tape an episode of the E! network's "The Girls Next Door," which premiered the first episode of its third season Sunday.

The three blonde former Playboy Playmates were paired with Olympic gold medalist Shaun White during the lessons. The episode will air next month on E!, which boasts "The Girls Next Door" remains the network's highest-rated series.

During their time here for the show's taping, Madison, described as the Playboy founder's "No. 1 girlfriend," was mum about last month's media buzz that had sources saying Hef had asked her to become his wife and the third Mrs. Hefner to date.

Although at one time Hefner had one of his famed Playboy Clubs in Denver, he never realized his dream of opening properties in celeb-heavy Vail and Aspen to serve his "keyholding members."

His first club opened in Chicago in 1960 and the final club in the United States to close its doors was in Lansing, Mich., in 1988.

During their peak, in addition to the bunnies serving drinks, the clubs attracted headlining stage entertainers to amuse guests, including everyone from Milton Berle, Steve Allen and Ann-Margret to Ginger Rogers, George Carlin and The Smothers Brothers.

Seeing double

While taking ski lessons Wednesday on the Vail slopes, my ski instructor was Lonnie Bredeson, who's been giving lessons at LionsHead Ski School for 21 years.

Besides sharing ski lift rides with the likes of models Elle Macpherson and Kathy Ireland, Bredeson also served as the skiing stunt double in 1996 for actor Ian Ziering, who was married to Playboy Playmate Nikki Schieler Ziering from 1997 to 2002, for scenes during episodes of Aaron Spelling's "Beverly Hills 90210."

Eating it up

While dining way up the mountain at Game Creek Club, which specializes in serving pheasant and other wild game and is accessed only by gondola and then a Snowcat ride, I asked about the most recent famous diners who braved the trek for the specialized cuisine.

Cameron Diaz (without Justin Timberlake) and George Clooney ranked as the favorites.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

celebBirthdays

Singer-actress Keely Smith is 75. Singer Lloyd Price is 74. Actress Joyce Van Patten is 73. Actor-comedian Marty Ingels and country singer Mickey Gilley are 71. Singer Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders is 65. "Good Morning America" host Charles Gibson and chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer are 64. Guitarist Robin Trower (Procol Harum) is 62. Guitarist-harmonica player Jimmie Fadden of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and singer Jeffrey Osborne are 59. Star witness Kato Kaelin and Mattel's Barbie doll are 48. Actress Linda Fiorentino is 47. Actress Juliette Binoche is 43. Bassist Robert Sledge (Ben Folds Five) is 39. Rapper C-Miller (formerly C-Murder) is 36. Actor Emmanuel Lewis ("Webster") is 36. Actress Jean Louisa Kelly ("Yes, Dear," "Mr. Holland's Opus") and actor Kerr Smith ("Dawson's Creek") are 35. Rapper Chingy is 25. Actress

Brittany Snow ("American Dreams") is 21. Rapper Bow Wow is 20. Actor Luis Armand Garcia ("George Lopez") is 15.