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Interview with Kate McBride 31 AUG 2000 I heard a rumor that you've had quite an education. Where did you go?
After growing up in Aspen, I went to Phillips Andover Academy. Then I got into Princeton, but deferred a year to ski race. My dad said, "you have two choices: you can go to Princeton or you can go to Princeton."
So you went to Princeton. Not so much skiing in New Jersey? I stopped skiing and played soccer on a women's prototype soccer team in Germany against teams from all over the world. Our team won the whole tourney. Then I graduated in 1988 cum laude with a BA in Sociology and Genetics. My thesis was on genetic screening in the workplace and was used in a congressional hearing.
Were you interested in studying medicine? I was 100% discouraged to go into medicine because women had different rights then. I'm glad I didn't do it because there are so many other things I got to do.
What did you do after college? I got a job in Mexico City with Population Institute, then worked in D.C. as a lobbyist and lobbied on women's education issues. Then I went to Malaysia to work with Dr. Mohammad Sattar with the International Council on the Management of Population Programs.
After working in the Pacific Rim, where did you go? To Guatemala, where I taught rural sociology. Then I came home and worked with my father at the ABC Foundation.
Now you're president of your own foundation? I am co-founder, with my dad, of the Sopris Foundation, based out of Aspen. The foundation funds its own projects on care and capacity of the earth — education about population and the environment.
Somewhere amongst all your social activism and education, you also found time to ski? I coached (ski racing) for Aspen. Then I agreed to do 24 hours of Aspen two weeks before the event and had no idea what I was getting in to. We just survived that year. I loved it. Stuck with it for six years.
And you are the six-time record holder, three of those victories with your partner Anda Rojs. Did you continue ski racing? I raced on the women's pro tour in 1996 until the tour died three years later. In 1999, I was hit by an instructor in Aspen and broke two bones in my head, ended up with paralysis on the left side of my face and right side of my body. As a result, that put skiing to a screeching halt. And then I met Casey.
Casey Puckett, member of the US men's ski team. When did you get married? One month ago.
Congratulations. Have you already shared you hobby with him? Yeah, we've done air combat simulation.
You're a pilot? I have my commercial, multi-engine, and seaplane rating. I love flying. I would love to be able to fly aerobatically. I got to fly a P-51 in the Aspen Air show.
With all your activities you also found time to model? I was a fit model for Obermeyer since age 10. I consider them family. They gave me a full sponsorship for 24 hours of Aspen. I am contemplating doing (the race) again but my sight is an issue and I might have to wait until my husband joins me...we could be the first co-ed team.
— Krista Crabtree, MountainZone.com Correspondent
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