Professional Skier, Teacher. Jill Kinmont grew up in the small town of Bishop, California. By the time she was 18, she was well on her way to a brilliant competitive skiing career and was expected to compete in the 1956 Olympics. Those hopes were dashed when she had a catastrophic accident during a downhill race in Utah on January 30, 1955, which made her a quadriplegic. The accident happened the same week that she appeared as the featured cover subject of Sports Illustrated magazine. Not allowing her injuries to keep her from living a fulfilling life, she earned a bachelor's degree and a teaching credential. Her career in education included over two decades as a special-education teacher in her hometown. Kinmont was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967. She was the subject of a book, A Long Way Up: The Story of Jill Kinmont, by E.G. Valens (1966), and two movies, "The Other Side of the Mountain" (1975) and "The Other Side of the Mountain Part II" (1978). In 1975, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California (Kinmont had been a member during her teens) chose the Jill Kinmont Indian Education Fund as their state service project for the year, raising and donating $22,000. She married trucker John Boothe in 1976. She passed away of undisclosed causes.
Professional Skier, Teacher. Jill Kinmont grew up in the small town of Bishop, California. By the time she was 18, she was well on her way to a brilliant competitive skiing career and was expected to compete in the 1956 Olympics. Those hopes were dashed when she had a catastrophic accident during a downhill race in Utah on January 30, 1955, which made her a quadriplegic. The accident happened the same week that she appeared as the featured cover subject of Sports Illustrated magazine. Not allowing her injuries to keep her from living a fulfilling life, she earned a bachelor's degree and a teaching credential. Her career in education included over two decades as a special-education teacher in her hometown. Kinmont was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1967. She was the subject of a book, A Long Way Up: The Story of Jill Kinmont, by E.G. Valens (1966), and two movies, "The Other Side of the Mountain" (1975) and "The Other Side of the Mountain Part II" (1978). In 1975, the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in California (Kinmont had been a member during her teens) chose the Jill Kinmont Indian Education Fund as their state service project for the year, raising and donating $22,000. She married trucker John Boothe in 1976. She passed away of undisclosed causes.
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JILL KINMONT
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