The idea of a holiday to many is an escape to a sunny coast, but there are plenty more who love a trip to the mountains for a ski break. And while there are a tonne of great affordable ski resorts in Europe, skiing holidays aren’t exactly known for attracting a diverse crowd.
Until now, that is. Thanks to a group of friends from east London, Soft Life Ski, the first-ever Afro-Caribbean ski festival, will be kicking off in Europe this year.
In March 2024, the resort of Hemsedal in Norway will be hosting four days of DJs, club nights, activities and – of course – winter sports, to encourage more Black skiers to the slopes.
The idea for Soft Life Ski came about when Michael Adelaja, one of the founders of Soft Life Ski, went skiing with friends and found the après-ski pretty underwhelming, and missing the vibrancy and diversity of London’s nightlife.
Michael told us that the festival aims to ‘provide an experience in which our community can feel comfortable, where they’re not the minority, and eliminate misconceptions that skiing is a sport specifically reserved for those from a certain class or background.’
According to a survey by the National Ski Areas Association, only 1.5 percent of skiers were Black, while 89 percent were white. Those stats are pretty shocking.
But Soft Life Ski is aiming to shake things up, and it’s already been going well. The group organised a super successful taster trip in March last year, where they sorted hotels, ski equipment and lessons for attendees, and took over bars and restaurants in Chamonix, France.
Thanks to the massive following this trip garnered on social media (with the festival’s platforms amassing more than 400,000 views), all 300 tickets for this year’s event sold out in just 28 minutes. And they’ve certainly fulfilled their aim of diversifying the slopes, with 90 percent Black attendees.
‘SLS was something that people had a huge demand for,’ Micheal told Time Out. ‘As SLS continues to grow in the coming years, we believe it can only get bigger and better.’
The Soft Life Ski festival will be running from March 3 – 7, 2024, so keep an eye on the Instagram page for snaps.
Did you see that this city has been voted Europe’s best destination in 2024?
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