Sandra Shellworth Hildner, a U.S. national champion in slalom and GS, and 1968 Olympian, died January 10, 2019, of cancer, at age 74.
Sandy grew up in Boise, Idaho, racing at Bogus Basin. At the University of Colorado she raced on Bob Beattie’s team, winning the US slalom championship in 1963 and, in 1967, the Roch Cup downhill and US GS championship. Breaking her leg that spring, she trained hard to reach the starting gate at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, where she finished 21st in downhill.
Retiring from the team that spring, Sandy married Ernie Hildner and directed the prototype shop at the Lange factory in Broomfield until 1974. In addition to product development, she modified boots for racers from around the world. She served on the US Olympic Committee’s Athlete Advisory Committee and on the ski equipment advisory group, which governed the sponsorship pool for the U.S. Ski Team.
Sandy coached the Winter Park Ski Team from 1974 to ’77, then retired to have a couple of kids. She taught skiing and guided at Copper Mountain, and with Ernie adventured all over the world on skis, horseback, sailboats and with SCUBA gear.
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