J. "K" Smith Jr. started skiing in 1924 in Utah. K owned the Forest Service permits for the Brighton lifts, installing the first T-bar in 1936. He also served as the President of the Alpine Ski Club in 1940.
K was a member of the famed 10th Mountain Division and was the Battalion Ski Supervisor in the 87th Mountain Infantry during World War II. While stationed in Japan in 1945, he built Japan's first ski lift in Sapporo.
After the war, he was the area operator at Brighton and started his own ski school in 1946. In the 1950s, his ski program included free ski busses and instruction for area schoolchildren.
K was an examiner and served on the PSIA-I Board of Directors. He was responsible for training many Intermountain instructors, including Keith Lange, Lou Lorenz, Woody Anderson, Bill Lash, and Dean Roberts. He even employed many of his instructors with summer jobs on his dude ranch in Wyoming.
K retired in 1972 and was awarded a National Lifetime Membership to PSIA-I in 1978.
