Hank Stowers thrives at the intersection of queer culture and ski culture

Hank, who uses they/them pronouns, is a skier, creative director, and co-founder of Open Slopes PDX, a Portland-based group that works to expand representation of queer, black, brown and indigenous people in snow sports.

After college, the 29-year-old from Durango, Colorado relocated to Portland, a thriving hub of queer culture, which also happens to be located not far from a thriving hub of ski culture: Mount Hood. In the city, on the snowy slopes of Hood and the mossy rainforests in between, Hank found fertile ground for their passions to thrive.

As a media creator, they first found their footing with “Maritime Air: A Queer Ski Film.” Released in 2022, “Maritime Air” in Hank’s words “combines queer culture with a mixtape-style ski edit,” interspersing glimpses of Hank’s life in Portland with their antics on the mountain.

Hank’s new profile piece with Db takes a deep dive into their unique personality, which thrives at the place where queer culture and ski culture intersect. Through their work with Open Faces PDX, it’s a space that they hope to grow and expand by bringing more inclusivity and diversity to the traditionally stuffy world of snow sports.

“Skiing has a history that’s pretty awful,” Hank says. “When ski resorts started [in the United States], virtually all of them were segregated and for rich white people, so it makes sense that a lot of skiing now, some of the culture is quite stuffy and doesn’t allow for a lot of experimentation because it has a tradition of that. It’s a big part of ski history – being exclusionary. It applies to people and identities but it also applies to like style and what people are doing on skis.”