Former Aspen ice skater returns for Kaleidoskates on Saturday

The Aspen Skating Club (ASC) is playing host to former club member and Aspen local Klara Kowar as part of its Kaleidoskates event this weekend. The event is slated for 2 and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Aspen’s Lewis Ice Arena, 861 Maroon Creek Road.

She and her older sister and two younger brothers all grew up figure skating in Aspen, and she is currently a college student studying finance through Purdue University, according to an article in Ice-dance.com.

As the only ice dancer at ASC during her time, she traveled to Denver twice each month for five years to work with then-1984 Olympic ice dancer, Carol Fox; Kowar qualified four times for the US Solo Dance Nationals, according to the article. At her first competition in 2016, she won the Juvenile Combined gold medal and was third in bronze patterns.

Her skating partner, Thomas Schwappach, earned an international business degree in 2020 from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, according to the article.

After unsuccessfully searching on icepartnersearch.com, he and Kowar connected through a mutual coach in Colorado Springs.

“We had a great tryout and decided to become partners in May 2022,” Schwappach said, he was quoted as saying in the article.

“I was excited about the opportunity to skate closer to home and in the mountains,” Kowar added. “Training at altitude is a hard adjustment, but it’s so beneficial for stamina and makes preparation for competitions even stronger.”

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online at aspenshowtix.com/events/list/?tribe-bar-search=skate.