The Other Side of the Mountain

Előszó

Public concern about Jill Kinmont's nearly fatal ski accident began at the moment it occurred, high on the shoulder of Rustler Mountain where more than a hundred and fifty spectators had gathered at the most dangerous drop-off on the racecourse. It was the last weekend in January, 1955, and Jill was competíng in the annual Snow Cup giant slalom in the mountains east of Salt Laké City. Sunday morning she was the most glamorous young skier in America, as well as the fastest and the most publicized -at eighteen, a leading candidate for the U.S. Olympic team. Sunday afternoon she was a quadriplegic with a broken neck, paralyzed from the shoulders down. Jill's early months in Salt Laké and Los Angeles hospitals were followed in the nation's press, but for almost a decade she was pretty much forgottén. In 1964, Life magaziné sent reporter Janet Mason and photographer Burk Uzzle to Seattle to find out what had happened to this girl whose life had been focused entirely on the world of competitive skiing. An intensive, three-week interview led to a 14-page article in Life, which was later reprinted in the U.S. Information Service's foreign-language magaziné, America. í Public response to the article was extensive and it included a suggestion by Harper & Row that Jill's life to date be chronicled in full detail. Miss Mason asked if I would be willing to write such a book. She contributed her own research and interview material, with Life's permission and blessing. She and I then spent another three weeks with Jill and her family, questioning and probing without let-up for ten or twelve hours a day. We had at first planned to work as co-authors, but she had to return to Life, and the task of researching and writing was proving to be far more extensive than we had anticipated. Miss Mason graciously withdrew as co-author but continued to Vissza