Pink Summits - Mountaineering for queer visibility

Pink Summits is a campaign of queer mountaineers and rock-climbers to advance LGBTIQ+ visibility all over the world through climbing and queering the highest mountains.

Mission: Achieve greater visibility of queer mountaineers, rock climbers and other outdoor sportspeople internationally in order to show the diversity of our queer communities and to fight the prejudices against queer people.

PrideHikes and PrideClimbs

We have organized many community hiking and climbing events in Europe and Central Asia, including Pride Hikes and Pride Climbs in Kyrgyzstan. Those events are important for local queer communities as they give alternative safe space to gather, inspire each other and learn something new.

The story

Dastan, a queer activist from Kyrgyzstan, a passionate outdoor sportsperson and a digital nomad, got inspired by Seven Summits during the cycling tour from his birth place Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan to his new home city Berlin in Germany. After his cycling trip in 2018 he started the PinkSummits campaign and built up a team of queers and allies to conquer all Seven Summits and to advance LGBTIQ+ visibility through outdoor sports.

What are your funds for?

We need funds for the following current and future activities:

Research and advocacy

Renaming queerphobic and sexist mountaineering and rock-climbing routes

Creating queer-friendly spaces and sensitization of alpine clubs with a focus on Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Alpine queer history project: documenting queer mountaineering and rock-climbing history

Monitoring media on the thematic intersection of outdoors sports and queer visibility

Mapping of queer outdoor sports communities

Documenting and confronting hate speech directed towards the campaign

Publications: climbing routes, research results, etc.

Partnership with local and international organizations in joint advocacy, research, advocacy actions like challenging discriminatory anti-LGBTIQ laws in Kyrgyzstan, immigration and refugee issues, sexual and reproductive rights/justice

Visibility, media and communications

Co-organisation of Pride events

Climbing and queering the highest mountains of each continent, organising mountaineering, climbing, long-distance backpacking, skiing & paragliding LGBTIQ+ expeditions

Storytelling

Film and video

Podcasts

Environmental and outdoor arts / performances

Outreach to local and international media on the topics of outdoor sports and queer visibility

Queer visibility talks and presentations in schools

Public talks, presentations in outdoor or queer festivals, conferences and other related events

Community building, empowerment, outreach and support

Connecting queer outdoor sportspeople so they learn from each other, inspire each other, coordinate their efforts in improving LGBTIQ visibility in outdoor sports

Community events and joint community events with Akademie Waldschlösschen, DAV GOC, Kyrgyz Indigo

Hiking and climbing events, specifically for queer families, migrants / refugees and asylum seekers, people living with HIV, survivors of violence, people with disabilities, low-income / homeless /marginally housed people, trans- and women-only events

Queer youth camps

Mentorship for queer youth

Queer Mountaineering Academy in Central Asia

Queer Outdoor Fest

Individual and group scholarships and grants

Training, technical assistance, capacity building and leadership development workshops

Mental health and burnout-prevention workshops in nature

Fundraising for local queer initiatives