Karen Korfanta, Park City Mountain Resort’s Race Department Manager, former U.S. Ski Team member and Olympic competitor, was inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame last night (Thursday, September 23, 2010).
A native of Pinedale, WY, Karen was a dominant skier in the Intermountain Region and junior national champion in the 1960s. She became a celebrated competitor for the University of Utah, the U.S. Ski Team and for the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team. She has served her sport locally and globally as racing coordinator, technical delegate, influential official and as an inspiration to aspiring athletes. Currently she is race department manager for Park City Mountain Resort, a position she has held for 21 seasons.
Karen joined Peter S. Ecker, Claude Jones and Gregory C. Thompson as the class of 2010 inducted into the Ski Hall of Fame. The event was held at the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center/Alf Engen Ski Museum located in Park City, Utah.
The Hall of Fame selections are made annually by knowledgeable winter sports historians from Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Selection is based on outstanding achievements in the areas of skiing competition, skiing innovations, ski sport development and significant contributions to the overall promotion of winter sports in the Intermountain West.
Below is Karen’s Bio:
Karen Korfanta (1945 - )
Karen Korfanta’s impressive exploits span the ski racing spectrum as few others. They range from learning to ski at a small ski area founded by her father and mother near her hometown of Pinedale, WY, to the global stage. She dominated the region’s junior racing circuit, winning the U.S. Junior Nationals Slalom Championship in 1963 and the senior title the following year. She was a stalwart for the University of Utah, competing at the World University Games in Italy and Finland; was a member of the U.S. National Alpine Team in 1967-70; the U.S. Olympic Team in 1968 and the U.S. FIS Universiade teams in 1966 and 1970.
In her post-racing days Karen became an untiring benefactor of skiing. Her triumphs include being coordinator for the Men’s and Women’s U.S. Alpine Ski Program, Assistant Alpine Director of the U.S. Ski Team, Assistant Director of the National Training Center at Park City; and an FIS Technical Delegate. As the race department manager of Park City Mountain Resort, she successfully orchestrated America’s Opening World Cups and 2002 Olympic Winter Games competitions at the Park City venue.
In a notable tribute to the respect she commands on the international skiing scene, Karen was named chairwoman of the FIS Ladies Alpine Skiing Committee in 2008. That same year she received the prestigious S.J. Quinney Award for her contributions to skiing from the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library’s Ski Archives, the Intermountain Region’s foremost authority on skiing history.
To see additional photos, please visit Park City Mountain Resort's Facebook page.
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