Meet Karen Harsch

Who we are: Mountain-towners on the world at large

Click to Enlarge Browse and Buy Summit Daily Photos Former U. S. Ski Team member Karen Harsch is now a ski mom to daughters Kaitlyn, 7, center, and Hailey, 5, both up and coming ski racers themselves. Summit Daily/Mark Fox Get News Feeds

By DEVON O’NEIL
special to the daily
Summit County, CO Colorado
March 28, 2008

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She’s no longer best friends with Picabo Street. And the tightest lines Karen Harsch lays down now are more likely to be on a NASTAR course than a World Cup track in Italy or Austria.

But the wide, white smile is the same. So is the high she gets from spending her days among towering mountains.

Raised in Milwaukee, Wis., in the 1970s and ’80s, Harsch spent six years on the U.S. Ski Team and later captained the Colorado Buffaloes to a national championship as a two-time all-American before resigning to a life beyond racing.

She lives a quick trip away from where her career hit its peak — back-to-back NorAm super G wins at Breckenridge in 1992 — and still has the results sheet from those races hanging in her garage.

Now, the 37-year-old Summit Cove resident and RE/MAX Properties of the Summit broker works to distinguish herself among the 700 Realtors in Summit County — an environment as competitive as any she faced on the slopes, she says.

Harsch, who made her World Cup debut at age 17, one of about 15 Cup starts she earned during her injury-plagued career, is also a mom to a pair of aspiring stars, first-grader Kaitlyn and pre-schooler Hailey.

Here, Karen Harsch talks about life as an athlete and beyond, and offers a little insight on why Realtors don’t necessarily fit the public perception.

• I’ve been everywhere. Japan, Canada, Chile, Argentina. You look back at it, and I think that is the coolest thing about being a pro ski racer: You get to travel the world.

• I remember the year that shaped skis came out. Before, it was so hard to turn your equipment. You had to get in such an athletic position or those skis just ran out on you. Picabo and I were best friends, and we were just going, ‘Wow, this is so much easier.’

• I grew up in suburbia, but this is where I want to be. It’s for sure where I want to raise kids. They get to be exposed to racing all the time. Kaitlyn’s only 7 and Hailey’s 5, but we’re laying the foundation. I hope that they can become ski stars and be on the U.S. Ski Team. That’s my goal for them.

• It was pretty competitive on the national team because everyone’s vying for the same positions. It was kind of like you picked one or two good buddies and hung out with them. Otherwise, it got a little crazy, almost like who could brush their teeth faster.

• I’m a competitive person. I probably had 12 race starts this year. Not a big deal, all fun ones, nothing serious. But I get in the start and I’m there to win. I’m there to beat the guys — hopefully.

• At some point when Summit County is truly built out — there’s still land in Blue River and north of Silverthorne — I really think prices will go through the roof. Who’s to say what the economy’s going to do, but that’s the direction I think this whole area’s going. We’re probably five, eight years away from that.

• What’s unfortunate is that a local just trying to get a 2-bedroom up here, there’s hardly anything under $300,000. And the jobs here don’t support that. It’s a bummer, because it pushes everyone to the outskirts. Where are they gonna go? Georgetown, Alma, Fairplay, Kremmling — all have limiting factors: mountain passes, tunnel, traffic.

• I work extremely hard, long hours, but I worked with a builder not too long ago who said that Realtors have this reputation of driving around in their Lexuses, all dialed up, you know, lollygagging. That’s his impression. And of course, he’s out there hitting the nails. But there’s different types of work.

• People don’t really understand real estate. They just don’t get it at all. They don’t understand how people are paid, there’s a lot of misconceptions, and unfortunately some negative ones. But I don’t let that bother me. I’m helping people get shelter. That’s a basic need in life.

• The best part about living in the mountains is just waking up and looking at the views. Seriously, we’ll take a trip to Mexico for maybe a week if we can afford it every year. And I come through the tunnel when we’re coming home, and I see the mountains. And I’m like, this is home. I’m on the right side of the tunnel. You know? Here I am. That’s it. It’s not home if there aren’t mountains. I feel out of place.