By Dirk Smith, M.Sc, SDL (He/Him)
Recently, our managing editor, Dirk Smith, caught up with Alex Herkommer, one of the lead organizers for “Europe’s Favorite Gay Ski Week”, the Arosa Gay Ski Week which is set to happen January 22nd through the 29th in Switzerland. We wanted to learn more about the event and Alex’s experiences in organizing it.
Dirk Smith
Tell me about Arosa Gay Ski Week, this is my first-time hearing about it, granted I don’t normally do ski weeks, and there are so many festivals!
Alex Herkommer
Yeah, that’s the whole thing. It’s difficult to communicate, because there are some big LGBTQIA+ events and prides, not only for ski, but also big music festivals. I think in Europe, everybody knows about the Circuit Festival in Barcelona and less what happens in other countries and even less in a small country like Switzerland. Especially if it’s a gay sport event, which is more particular. I love it when you write about it on Compete, because it’s really about LGBTQIA+ and sport. Which is good, because you speak to a lot of sport organizations, associations, and teams. I’ve realized after three years working at a local LGBTIQA+ association for sexual and gender diversity; that different groups don’t communicate much with each other. So, we have people constantly asking, “do you know any sport group?” yeah… you have the swimmers, basketball, badminton, and more who have been around for 15 years. “Oh, really? I never heard about them.”
Dirk Smith
You know, people say the same thing about the Gay Games. As big as that event is people are like, “I’ve never heard of something like that” and are surprised when I mention that 10,000 people were at the last one.
Alex Herkommer
I was in Paris, for the last games, as a volunteer because a friend offered me to stay the week with him and we both volunteer. I thought it was a great idea and in Paris, nobody could say that they never heard of Gay Games because it was so visible. It was a lot of fun, and I loved it. You were there and you remember the (weather) was hot…
Dirk Smith
Yeah, I remember and when I was looking for hotel rooms, the main thing that appealed to me was air conditioning. I knew I needed a hotel with air conditioning. I know Europe doesn’t do air conditioning so I had to look hard to find one that I could, and I was very happy for that.
Alex Herkommer
Yeah, but that’s true, we’re not so much fan about air conditioning. The southern European countries enjoy it but France, Switzerland, Germany, not so much. It’s more useful in parts of Spain and Portugal. But, back to Arosa and why it’s not so known. I’m trying but I think that there is still a need to improve the networking in our community. Especially for true events. The first 10 years, people didn’t know we are a nonprofit organization, because they were only looking at the hotel rates. The ski week is commercial, you must pay for accommodation, ski pass, sport rental and the events . You can’t do a LGBT event for free, because it’s a lot of work. Fortunately we have volunteers, artists and friends to help us.
Dirk Smith
As a non-profit, obviously you’re not profiting off it. Tell me more about the history of the event.
Alex Herkommer
16 years ago, in 2005 a straight couple owning a beautiful hotel, the Eden in Arosa, (which was a family owned hotel, more than 100 years old). They took it over in 1985 when they got the hotel from the family, and were very innovative and creative to transform the hotel from a traditional hotel into a very trendy designer hotel with lot of events and parties. Hitsch Leu the hotel director is the president of our gay ski week. He is a Hotelier with a big name and a very well-known person in Switzerland, because he has done a lot of projects and his father was also a famous personality in the hotel industry. I’m talking in the past because 10 years ago, the hotel was demolished, but it started there. The straight owners were allies and had many gay friends. They were spending their summer holiday in Ibiza with gay friends. A student from the hotel school wanted to do a master thesis about an LGBTQIA+ project and Hitsch proposed it could be interesting to investigate about having a gay ski week in Arosa like Aspen and Whistler.
Dirk Smith
So, she was doing that as a master project?
Alex Herkommer
Yes, and she find out Arosa would be the perfect spot for it. At the same time, Swiss tourism was starting campaigns about LGBT tourism destinations and doing promotions. Arosa was very interested to participate, it’s a special resort since a long time, very open minded. For example at the last elections in September for marriage equality, 64% of the population in Switzerland voted yes and I’m very happy, that the Plessur region with Arosa voted 70% in favor, so over the national rate! Other popular ski resorts in Switzerland were quiet conservative and even voted with 60% against it. Not very LGBT friendly and I won’t go there to ski and spend my holidays So, the first year the ski week started at the Eden Hotel to see if it could attract people. Around 20 attendees, mostly friends came. The year after 40 and it’s growing every year, now we have 15 partner hotels participating and many chalets, holiday apartments, etc.
Dirk Smith
And hotels of different price ranges?
Alex Herkommer
Yeah from 5 star luxury to BnB and one hotel is 100% gay during the ski week, we rent it just for us the whole week.
Dirk Smith
How many people participate in Gay Ski Week?
Alex Herkommer
I guess now we have around 600 attendees from 30 nations and I just realized, while listening to an interview about Aspen on a gay radio station, how difficult it is to know exactly how many people are attending. You see a lot of gays during that week, but there are not all officially registered for the ski week. Some people are coming the whole week, some only for the weekend or a few off days. I will say now around 500-600.
Dirk Smith
Oh, yeah, that’s great! And you have all sorts of different like types of parties, events, drag shows and stuff that everybody can take part of.
Alex Herkommer
The typical day starts at 10am with the ski guiding groups and our ski & snowboard guides. It’s not a ski class, it’s for skiers to discover the resort together in friendly groups. It’s much nicer, when you have someone who knows the area and show where the best spots are, so the participants don’t have to ski alone. At lunch time, we meet at the Tschuggenhutte, a mountain restaurant with a huge terrace and large sun-loungers, Ibiza style, but in the middle of the mountain! There you can have a delicious lunch, drinks, mulled wine and meet your friends who are not skiing while a DJ is mixing some cool music. Time to relax and enjoy the alpine panorama. Sometimes it can get nicely warm and you can even take off your shirt for tanning! A nice thing in Arosa, it’s a resort where you have a lot of hiking trails and you can reach all the ski huts & mountain restaurants by foot.
Dirk Smith
That’s important, like you said, there are some people that come that don’t really ski, but they just so happen to be there. It’s good to have them and there’s lots of stuff to do so that you can still come, enjoy the event and experience even if you don’t know how to or want to ski.
Alex Herhommer
Exactly, and the mountain panorama in Arosa is breathtaking. The first hotels was built in 1890 and the train up to Arosa finished in 1915. If you like snow, even if you don’t ski you can go walk for a hike for an hour or two, it’s pretty easy and so nice. There are also 2 sled runs, in and outdoor ice rinks or maybe you prefer a romantic horse sleigh ride. Not to mention some hotels have amazing spas.
Dirk Smith
There’s an event I used to attend as a swimmer in Salt Lake City that the team, QUAC would host every year called Ski n’ Swim where it’s one day of competition, and the next day, it’s skiing. It’s always so much fun to go do that because then we would spend the day at the resort skiing but we’d also just hang out. There was tasty food, and we could do cross country skiing or snowshoeing. They also have a nice spa at the top of their resort hotel that had a hot tub and a swimming pool out on the roof. It’s just such a fun, fantastic weekend.
Alex Herkommer
Indeed! in Arosa some hotels, have a nice swimming pool and the Tschuggen Grand Hotel has one of the most beautiful Spa in the alps, designed by star architect Mario Botta. Others, more affordable don’t have and offer a more traditional alpine atmosphere.
Dirk Smith
I’m from Colorado and as you described, they have a lot of resorts with pools and stuff like that. But then you have the other resorts that are just bare bones that are just for skiing. Like, you go there to ski but not for the resorts. But it sounds like Arosa is a bit in the middle there.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly, it all depends on your budget and what you are looking for.
Dirk Smith
Yeah, it sounds like an amazing place to go.
Alex Herkommer
When we started, the Arosa ski area was not as big as it is now. In 2014 they built a cable car to join with Lenzerheide. Now you can ski on 225 kilometers (140 miles), on two valleys and three sunny sides. Fun for all skiers, from beginner to champions. It made it much more attractive for good skiers, so every day they can discover new slopes. Most of the people get up in the morning for ski. We had to adapt and start the night parties earlier.
Dirk Smith
Got to say that’s like surprising, because usually people are there to party.
Alex Herkommer
They do, but not late till the morning. Now we know that, when it’s snowing, and you look at the Weather Channel saying sun tomorrow, skiers will party a few hours and then go to sleep, because they don’t want to miss the fabulous ski day.
Dirk Smith
Now, does Arosa do any big pride thing? Like Aspen does a big rainbow flag ski down the slopes…
Alex Herkommer
We do a drag ski race competition and it is fun. It became very popular in the resort, even for the straights. The competition is a slalom to done in pairs. There are 3 categories, such as costume, best time and originality of descending the slope (drag in ski or snowboard is a fun challenge). A jury count the points for the winners. We had some great prizes in the past, so people really get into it, and we had some amazing participants and winners. Check it out on our social media pages!
Dirk Smith
That sounds like a blast!
Alex Herkommer
We wanted our ski week different, not just an event. The official rainbow flag flies in the village all winter long, not only during gay ski week. Every official event in Arosa has it’s official flag on the street during the winter and we made a special rainbow flag with a snowflake. I’m involved in different LGBTQIA+ associations for more than 30 years and I was promoting the biggest gay parties in Lausanne, Switzerland for over 25 years. Working with HIV/AIDS association was very important that time, now I’m still engaged with the community working part time at a LGBTIQ+ nonprofit association. Our gay ski week is true, all done with heart, to make the participants feel great and safe. I went to other gay ski weeks in Europe and I was disappointed, most of the event were private, only accessible with a pass, like they were scared to be visible. It even happened that some gay attendees have been attacked at night after the parties. We don’t want a selective festival, people are totally free to do what they want when they want. Our parties are open to everybody, they are not exclusive LGBT and some locals love to party with us during the week.
Dirk Smith
It’s important to establish that. It’s all about building that awareness and say that it really is open for everybody. We’re using this to share that we’re here and this is who we are.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly. We are here and we are with you but it’s not like, we’re here but don’t come meet us. Many straights are thinking “if I’m not gay, I cannot go” and we say, “of course you can”. So now you have these people who see us all week, especially the restaurant and hotel staff and they are asking can we come to the party? That’s what we want, a LGBT event where everybody feels good and welcome, including straights.
Dirk Smith
Exactly, you’re not just holding it as a little private event, or something that’s tucked away to the side, which defeats the whole purpose of it. Especially with events like the drag race, you have people that are not even part of the event coming out to watch it. I remember back at the Gay Games in Paris, the big closing ceremony where they had that awesome performance on the stage. There were crowds of people outside of the festival village that we’re trying to watch it. They had nothing to do with games itself, but they just saw what was happening and thought it was something fun and interesting. That’s what it’s all about because it’s a great a way to show that people are interested in this and we have something to offer people that is find, exciting, entertaining, and fun.
Alex Herkommer
Yeah, the closing ceremony at Gay Games was nice in Paris. I remember seeing some countries where they only had two guys with a flag. I was almost crying because it takes so much courage for them to be there. I’m so happy, I didn’t have to fight for my life and sexuality, and I know that I’m privileged. It’s so dangerous in some countries. Just one week ago, we got a reservation from Ghana, Africa. I’m very curious to meet that guy. I asked him if he can ski, because there is a ski pass with his reservation and he said, yes I know! I have no idea and I wonder “who heard about our gay ski week in Ghana?”
Dirk Smith
That’s the important thing about it, right? It’s easy for us, especially in Europe and North America to think we’ve made so much progress on LGBTQIA+ rights and all this stuff that we don’t have to think about these issues anymore. I’ve even had people ask me, “why do we need a gay ski week? Why do we need a Gay Games? Why do we need these gay specific things?” Because they don’t understand that LGBTQIA+ oppression and persecution is still happening and there is still much work to be done.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly. The best example I can relate, is when I go skiing with my partner. We go for the weekend in a hotel and in the morning we are having breakfast. You see all the straight couples, they’re like, “sweety” and “honey”, they’re hand in hand or kissing, they’re happy. So nice while I’m looking at my partner “No, I can’t do that. I don’t feel comfortable with all these people staring at us” They don’t have to wonder if it’s a safe place. In fact, all we want is the same for ourselves, we don’t want anything special or different, just to be equals. For people like this guest from Ghana, or maybe some couple from Eastern Europe who is managing to visit Arosa, this is mostly the only moment in their life where they can express themselves in that manner and be open about their sexuality and it’s no big deal.
Dirk Smith
I’ve had people as me “why do you have to do a coming out?” Yeah, we must, no straight person must explain themselves.
Alex Herkommer
I had that similar discussion with trans friends. I was talking to a young guy who said, “I have to explain how I do sex because I’m trans”, because everybody knows when you come out as trans, and asks “What are you? a man? a woman”. They don’t respect you if you are a non-binary person. Who is asking a straight man or woman “How do you have sex? Nobody asks if they have sex with their wife? or if they have a penis or not?” They will respond that it’s not your business, but it’s the first question they will ask you.
Dirk Smith
For some reason, they think often they have permission to ask such personal questions when they’re not even on any level near that kind of closeness.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly. So, our gay ski week, is a safe place. And we work with Arosa to make sure that the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people and families goes beyond gay ski week. Recently, at another resort in Switzerland, a rainbow family with two fathers came from the Netherland to visit. They wanted to take a family cable car ticket with their kids, and asked for the family rate at the cash desk. The cashier woman looked at her and said, “that’s not a family.” The couple responded “of course we are, those are our kids” and they showed their passports. But she insisted that this was not a normal family and didn’t want to give them the family special ticket. It caused a scandal, people around tried to explain to the cashier that she was wrong, and it finally came out in the newspapers. The family was treated as if they were not a family! I told the CEO of the Arosa lift company to make sure that nobody working there would do something like that, because if this would have had happen in Arosa, we couldn’t continue the ski week. I don’t think and hope something like that would happen in Arosa, as they are used to have us for 16 years. It could have happened back to the time during our first year. Most of the people in Arosa didn’t know how to behave. But our gay ski week helped them to learn and create that awareness. In the past we had some hotels and restaurants who were really excited of having us and asking if they should do a pink whipped cream dessert or something extravagant for the occasion. I said no need for anything special, we don’t wear all pink or drag. We just want to ski and be ourselves. Feel free to make all your sweets the color you like, whether they look gay or not, nobody will care about that. I think they act a bit naive, and they wanted to be nice, so I told them, just be natural, be as you are, be nice and treat us like every other customer you like. We are very happy being here and happy you are open without any weird looks, like if you see two guys kissing or whatever.
Dirk Smith
That’s why these events are important, even if people have the best intentions, sometimes they take a misstep or something like that. There’s no need to generalize us into a stereotype, just treat us like everybody else.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly. That’s what we are looking for. For example, if a gay couple or a lesbian couple asks “we want one king size bed,” your answer should be exact the same as for another couple.
Dirk Smith
Hopefully that newspaper publicity from the other resort will, remind them to get up with times.
Alex Herkommer
Hopefully it will. It’s just a very small village in the mountains. It’s not Paris, New York, London. Cologne. It’s a place where everybody knows everybody. The way I’ve read it is that some people came out and spoke up to that woman, but it’s impossible to have 100% accepting us. You will always have stupid people, homophobic people, racist people. It’s reality. Well, you can’t always change everybody’s mind.
Dirk Smith
Indeed, you just got to keep doing what you’re doing. The people that get on board are the people you care about and the people that don’t want to get on board, who cares about them. They’re irrelevant.
Alex Herkommer
Exactly. Just to gives you a last example of how it’s now well integrated in Arosa. One of our favorite hotel partners, the Vetter. It’s owned by a very nice couple and the staff is all female! Our gays love to book there. One afternoon, two straight local regulars were having a drink at the Café and began to skirt and insult two gay guests. Patricia, the hotel owner was next to them, and she heard their comments. She immediately stood up and told the 2 men, “listen, these people, are my guests, as you are my guests. If you say one more homophobic comment in my hotel and restaurant, you can just leave now and don’t need to come back” I heard this story and asked her, “did you really just did that?” She said, “of course, there is no place for such people in my restaurant” I really loved that. It’s the right answer to have from an ally, but unfortunately, it’s rare.
Dirk Smith
Wow, that’s fantastic! I want to thank you for the taking the time to share with me these stories and experiences in making Arosa Gay Ski Week happen! We are looking forward to it, this winter January 22nd-29th, 2022 at the Arosa Ski Resort in Switzerland. Find more information at https://www.arosa-gayskiweek.com/
©photos: Jorge Pereira
