Chicago finally has a gay ski and snowboarding club—much like New York City, which has a very active association, and Los Angeles, which has two very active ski clubs.
The Chicago Gay Ski and Snowboard Club, which will hold a contest later this year to establish a more catchy name, has scheduled its first trip for Jan. 19-21, at Granite Peak in Wausau, Wis.
A second Midwestern trip ( location yet to be announced ) is scheduled for February, and a trip to Colorado is slated for March.
'We recently started a very simple Web site and a new Yahoo group, and the response has been overwhelming,' said Patrick Ross, 37, about the club's organizers. 'We now have over 50 people on our e-mail list, and at our first event—the Chicago Ski Show in November, followed by a social get-together—we had 15 people.
'We didn't know what to expect; none of us had any idea,' he said. 'But it's been a great response so far.'
The club is open to male and female adults. So far, it's a predominantly male club. The diverse organization has members who range in age from their early 20s to their late 60s, and they come from all sorts of occupational backgrounds. 'There's no standard profile of the club members,' said Ross, who works in sales in the technology industry. 'There are people with a lot of different backgrounds, which is something we're proud of.'
The club will not go dormant over the summer, Ross added. It then will offer such events as camping or rock-climbing.
The club is holding a Granite Peak pre-trip social on Jan. 10, 7-9 p.m., at Crew Bar and Grill, 4804 N. Broadway.
For more information on the Chicago Gay Ski and Snowboarding Club, contact Patrick Ross via email at: Patrick@chicagogayskiers.org .