[5] Fraser was revered in her time for her contributions to American athletics, receiving ticker-tape parades and brand sponsorships upon her return to the United States following her Olympic win.

Her Norwegian-born mother was a skier and Gretchen first skied at age 13, at Paradise Valley on the south slopes of Mount Rainier in December 1932.

In 1938, she traveled to Sun Valley, Idaho to compete in the second Harriman Cup, a new international event featuring the best racers in the world.

Both Gretchen and her husband, Donald, were members of the 1940 Olympic team, games that were cancelled due to World War II.

She spent the war years skiing in Otto Lang's military training films for the 10th Mountain Division and helping to rehabilitate wounded and disabled veterans through skiing, setting the stage for her lifelong commitment to working with disabled skiers (see Nursing Career section below).

Later in life she was a mentor to aspiring female ski racers at Sun Valley, including Olympians Susie Corrock, Christin Cooper, Picabo Street, two-time gold medalist Andrea Mead Lawrence, and Paralympian Muffy Davis.

She was a founding member of the Oregon Institute for Rehabilitation in Portland, which started as a small clinic with volunteers from the Junior League.

Fraser's work with paralympians in Sun Valley led to her earning the National Paralympic Coach of the Year award in 1984.

She met 1936 Olympian and Northwest ski champion Donald Fraser (1913–1994) of the University of Washington on the train trip to central Idaho.