It all began in the US back in the 1970s, when members of different gay ski clubs would meet up, usually at Aspen. They were informal affairs, usually consisting of drinks or dinner after a day on the slopes. How things change. Now you can join in the fun and frolics of gay ski weeks all over the world. Here are some of the best.
Aspen Gay Ski Week
Aspen, Colorado, USA
Held in January each year, this is the mother of all queer ski weeks. For almost five decades, Aspen Gay Ski Week has been getting bigger and bigger. There are hospitality suites and meet-ups on the mountain, and hot tub parties, drag queen bingo, dinners, dance parties and comedy nights off it. All of this partying is for a good cause too. Aspen Gay Ski Week is a not-for-profit and donates tens of thousands of dollars each year back to the LGBTQIA+ community through grants, scholarships and mental health programs.
Whistler Pride & Ski Festival
Whistler Blackcomb, Canada
This January blockbuster is one of the biggest gay ski weeks in the world and is hugely popular with internationals thanks to its proximity to Vancouver. Queer vollies lead daily ski and snowboard tours, which give guests the chance to mingle while exploring the awe-inspiring slopes. There’s a charity ski race everyone can enter and a parade through the town that begins with skiers and snowboarders bringing a symphony of rainbow flags down the mountain to deliver them to the marchers. Whistler Pride even has a program for queer kids aged 13 to 18. Après activities range from gourmet to cultural, with T dances, pool parties, movie nights and the grand finale Snowball.
Elevation Ski Week
Park City, Utah, and Mammoth, California, USA
It started in 2002 in Mammoth then nine years later launched in Park City. Although a little trickier for the West Coast gays to access, Mammoth – held in March – is the larger of the two Elevations, with about 3,000 guys and girls taking to ski and board for rainbow runs and costume races then taking on the parties, bowling nights and ski parties. Plenty of locals join in, and a lot of the people you’ll meet have been coming here for years. Park City is a smaller affair in February where attendees seem to take their skiing a little more seriously. Still, this is city that hosts Sundance, so you know they know how to throw a party.
Arosa Gay Ski Week
Arosa, Switzerland
This is one of Switzerland’s traditional ski resorts, with 225 kilometres of runs and a setting reminiscent of a something from a storybook. At the end of January each year, about 800 Euro queers arrive for Arosa Gay Ski Week and turn the white slopes into rainbows. Choose a black run or a beer run, go ice skating or snow shoeing, or hit the costume closet to choose a ’fit for the drag race. At night, the activities range from classical concerts to kink parties, fondue evenings to drag dinners.
Gay Ski Week Hakuba
Hakuba, Japan
Each year, about 12 metres of pure powder falls on the region of Hakuba, where a clutch of resorts offers a variety of slopes and elevations to accommodate any level of experience or hangover. As well as your standard skiing, dance parties and parades, Gay Ski Week Hakuba, held in March, has yoga classes, onsen sessions and the chance to visit local attractions like temples and snow monkeys.
Winter Pride
Queenstown, New Zealand
If you need a fix of rainbows, drag queens and mountain tops during the southern hemisphere winter, book a ticket for New Zealand’s South Island in August. Winter Pride takes partying to the slopes, with DJs, pride parties and bikini parades during the day. At night, you can go all out at killer parties that will see you shaking your thang till 3am, or take it easier with workouts, ice skating, cocktail evenings and karaoke.
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