At the third annual Keystone Pride Festival this March, one skier in the throng heading toward the gondola on Saturday morning turned to the Mountain Pride booth and yelled, “why are you celebrating homosexuality?” The representatives of Mountain Pride, the Colorado-based nonprofit organization that helps organize and run the Keystone Pride event as well as several others in surrounding communities, didn’t respond. “It’s best to just meet people where they’re at,” Mountain Pride Executive Director Maddy Partridge said after the encounter.
If she had responded to the question, however, she would have said this.
“Why — because you haven’t had to fight for your rights. Because you haven’t ever had to worry about not feeling safe in the space. That’s why we have this, so that kids that are figuring themselves out to the parents that might need support to the people who moved here from another state who didn’t have that safety or that community can see it on the mountain,” she said.
A crucial point about pride festivals and gay ski weeks is that they’re not about sexuality. The aim is to celebrate people for the individuals they are in an environment in which each person feels safe and welcome being oneself and experiencing a sense of community.
Snowsports Open to Everyone
“It’s shifting the narrative of who belongs on the mountain,” Patridge said. “From the incredible women’s weekends that Keystone does, the veterans’ weekends, to have community, you have this sense of it’s not just me on the mountain alone. Our community should be celebrated and seen.”
Since its debut three years ago, Keystone Pride has grown exponentially.
“The first time you put on one of these events, you hear the naysayers, you hear the comments, and it doesn’t mean that they’re not still out there, but I think, especially from a staff standpoint, like this is now just something we do,” Keystone Resort Vice President and Manager Shannon Buhler, who was attending the inaugural drag brunch at the 2026 Pride event, added. “This is something that’s part of Keystone, something that brings anybody and everybody to our mountains, in this community, to our mountains. There’s a ton more acceptance. The events that we’ve been able to evolve from a smaller setting or a smaller venue to bigger venues [show] people are like, yeah, we want to come Keystone. We want to have a great time, whether that’s skiing on the slopes or going to a drag bingo. It’s amazing to see the growth.”
As more ski resorts worldwide launch new pride events, it’s a testament to the acceptance of the queer community, but in Keystone’s case, the Pride Festival was masterminded by its own staff.
“One of the cool things that happened with Keystone, this was an internal push. We have so many LGBTQ-identifying employees who work in our mountain towns. This representation for themselves and the community is so powerful,” Patridge says.
Keystone’s Community Comes from Within
The two highest-ranking employees at Keystone Resort – Buhler and Mountain Operations Senior Director Kate Schifani – both happen to be part of this community.
“This event is led by queer people for queer people,” Partridge said. “What happens sometimes with bigger things is they’re led by allies, which are so important in this space. We especially need our allies to show up these weekends because it amplifies the narrative around who belongs on the mountain. From the internal staff here at Keystone, our partners at Warren Station, Mountain Pride, it’s queer community leading these efforts, and making sure that community voice is centered in it, delivering the message that everyone is welcome.”
The sense of welcome and celebration in ski areas is exhibited in the industry’s ever-growing number of pride events and by the perennial presence of rainbow flags in mountain communities (Breckenridge Ski Patrol has a large one displayed in the window of its on-mountain headquarters). Before welcome and celebration comes acceptance. Accepting people for their individuality and strengths is something Buhler says is happening with a clearly upward trajectory.
“One thing I have loved about the ski industry over the years is how it’s evolved in terms of inclusion,” Buhler said. “We’ve gone from a significantly male-dominated community to a time when so many more females are now running resorts. For us at Keystone to host Pride Weekend and be a part of that community, it means a ton that our company feels comfortable welcoming the LGBTQ-plus community into our ski resorts and making it such a special event for so many people to feel like they do belong in this sport and on these mountains, just like every single other person does.”
The fact that both she and Schifani worked their way up the ranks in the ski industry to top-tier, decision-making roles imparts a positive message to that community.
“People at the lower points of the mountain can see a white straight guy is not the only person that can be the CEO of a major ski resort,” Partridge added. “Again, it’s the visibility, having these events and having these opportunities for people from lifties to ski school can see themselves represented and see themselves at a leadership level and that potential to grow, that has so much power.”
Long-Lasting Welcome
Looking at long-standing Pride festivals, like Aspen Gay Ski Week, which celebrates its 50th anniversary next January, when Whistler Pride celebrates its 35th, or Mammoth Elevation Gay Ski Week, celebrating its 25th next March, these events have been embraced by their entire communities. They’ve helped these resort towns become known as open-minded, welcoming places throughout the year.
“Heading into its 25th year, Elevation has become a cornerstone of Mammoth Lakes’ winter calendar,” Mammoth Lakes Public Relations Manager Ally Watson explained. “Whether you are a visitor or a resident, you know resort town communities are often made up of transient and seasonal workers, diverse identities, those who were born and raised, and the ones who never left. For resort destinations, creating an environment where people—both locals and visitors—feel welcome and visibly represented is vital to community health and long-term sustainability.”
Tom Whitman, a lifelong skier who alpine raced for the University of California-Los Angeles, founded Mammoth Elevation and Utah Elevation, which wrapped up its 16th anniversary in Park City this winter.
While both events, like Pride celebrations in major cities, are largely dominated by gay men, Whitman says the sense of community they foster is ever-present and always growing.
“We’re all here with a shared interest – skiing and snowboarding. People open up. You meet friends you have for your whole life,” Whitman said. “You get to bond on the mountain and have something to talk about versus just going to have a cocktail at a bar. Everyone is brought into that. When you come back year after year, it builds community in a different way.”
Breaking Down Barriers
To ensure that sense of community lasts beyond the week or weekend of a Pride festival, organizations like Mountain Pride in the Colorado Rockies and California’s Eastern Sierra Pride are lifesavers for both residents and visitors of ski towns.
“Outdoor recreation in general has its own barriers to access, and one of those is visible representation. Supporting and championing the LGBTQ-plus community through longstanding events like Elevation uplifts representation and access not only during the event, but throughout the year, giving our local organization Eastern Sierra Pride even more opportunity to shine,” Watson says. “All marginalized identities need to see themselves in the spaces they recreate and participate in, and by supporting the LGBTQ-plus community within a resort town, it only broadens the appeal and sends a message that Mammoth Lakes fosters a welcoming and inclusive culture for all.”
With the cost of skiing and snowboarding being a major barrier as well as the financial viability of living and working in a ski community, resorts need all the help they can get to make these communities feel welcoming to everyone.
That is a large reason why Partridge created Mountain Pride.
“So many people were moving to Denver, to other areas, because they couldn’t find queer community here,” she said. “Even with us being here for four years as an organization, we still are watching people leave. That’s why having more events are opportunities to build deeper connections to make friends so we can build deeper roots within our community.”
