Fall is here and it’s only a matter of time before the snow starts to fall and ski season starts up. SAGA (Skiers and Gay Athletes), San Diego’s gay snow sports club, is preparing for winter with the first of their monthly meetings to plan for the 2003-2004 ski season. SAGA meetings are held at Numbers on the first Tuesday of every month, and their next one is scheduled for Oct. 7 at 7:00 p.m.

“A lot of our efforts are put into the snow sports trips that we do in the wintertime,” SAGA President Jeff White said. “Even throughout the year we have lots of social events or other kinds of recreational activities. Every month during the summer we have a pool party. During the cooler part of the year we have other mixers, like theme parties around Halloween, Easter and Mardi Gras.”

This past weekend, club members hit the mountains for a camping trip at the El Prado campgrounds on Mt Laguna. They also plan river rafting trips and houseboat trips during the off-season.

SAGA’s San Diego chapter was originally formed in 1979 and has grown to over 125 members. “SAGA was one of the very first gay social and athletic clubs in San Diego,” said White, who has been involved in the club since its inception. “There was a chapter of SAGA in Los Angeles and people here knew of them and asked them to help us get a club started here.”

San Diego’s chapter of SAGA used the Los Angeles bylaws as a model for their club, and the earliest meetings were held in club member’s homes. As the club grew, they moved to hosting the meetings at local bars on the first Tuesday of each month, and that tradition continues to this day.

In addition to the off-season events, there is obviously a focus on snow skiing, and the club participates in 7-10 ski trips every year.

“A lot of our snow trips are in association with gay ski weeks,” White explained. “There are gay ski weeks happening at so many of the resorts now. Aspen has a gay ski week, Whistler does, Salt Lake City has two — so a lot of our trips are done in conjunction with those events. It’s a good opportunity to have social interaction with a lot of people from different parts of the country, and for Aspen and Whistler it’s people from other parts of the world that come for those events.”

This month’s meeting will include planning for the ski season, with updates on the major trips as well as upcoming social events. There will also be a presentation by Ranch Craft, a local ski and sporting goods store showing off the latest in equipment, and club members will be modeling some of the newest in ski fashions. For more information about SAGA San Diego, attend their meeting on Oct. 7 at Numbers or visit gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to their web site.