Copyright National Geographic
To many, she’s known as the “skydiving grandma.” And on Thursday, November 6, 2025, Kim Knor, also joined the ranks of those who have earned the United States Parachute Association Gold Wings Award for making 1000 jumps. This 86-year-old powerhouse has been traveling the country in her 21-foot Roadtrek motor home in pursuit of this milestone, visiting drop zones and parachuting with fellow enthusiasts, logging nearly 500 tandem jumps since 2023. She made her 1000th jump in New Wales, Florida, alongside her two daughters. Knor has the kind of biography Hollywood blockbusters are made of; she’s been obsessed with skydiving since she forged her parents’ signatures to jump for the first time when she was 18. She was a member of the first U.S. Women’s Parachute Team in 1962 and, after taking a few decades off to raise a family, was inducted into the International Skydiving Hall Of Fame in 2013. (Why outdoor adventure is important for women as they age.) At 86, Knor maintains a level of physical and mental sharpness that most people dream of having. In a culture that can seem a bit obsessed with longevity, right down to the individual step count, Knor provides a refreshing model on how to live long—and well—by doing what you love. To celebrate her milestone achievement, Knor offered her advice on living life to the fullest—no matter your age. Limited-Edition Classic Collection Inspired by Earth’s highest peak and deepest point, get limited-edition holiday gifts and a National Geographic subscription. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC: You’ve being defying expectations throughout your life, and aging seems no different for you. How do you keep your physical and mental acuity where they need to be to perform at your level? KIM KNOR: I think I started quite young, saying: I'm not going to say I can't because I can. And if my back hurts, and if I've been sitting too long, and I get up and say, “Oh man … this hurts, this is stiff, I can’t. … Yes, I can. Yeah, I can stand up.” Boom, I stand up and start walking a little bit and just make it happen. I think a lot of the things that we think can't happen or we can't do are mental. (Blue zones expert Dan Buettner answers your questions on the secret to longevity.) What about skydiving as an aging woman, though? That’s a little bit different than just standing up! Do you feel like there are certain expectations people have for aging women, and do you care? I care a lot about that. When I see people suffering and being told by their family, “Oh, you shouldn't be doing that, you’re too old to do that, or you're too fragile to do that” No, you're not. When you start getting older it's easy to be passed off. [I thought], well, if you don't need me anymore, I'm going to go do some of my stuff and do what I love to do instead of sitting around waiting to be needed. What about your daily habits and rituals? Are there things you do every day that you credit with helping you maintain your mental and physical shape? I try to remember my grocery list without having to write it down. And I go to the grocery store and make sure I got everything on the list and think, and think, and think. I try not to miss anything. And I have to prepare for it before I go … Not to have to to make lists, that's important to me. (6 science-backed strategies to improve your memory.) And I encourage other people [to keep in touch with the] old friends you had from high school and relatives you had and your cousins … Keep in touch with them because then you have to remember everything to keep the conversation going. I think that human bonding [and interacting] as much as possible makes your mind stronger because you're not isolated. That really is the worst thing, to be isolated too much. Yeah, I think post pandemic and with technology, a lot of people struggle with the isolation as they age. They do. I mean, I finally got rid of my computer. I stopped watching TV over 10 years ago. It's just too much information that doesn't have anything to do with me. And it's a lot of information that is negative. And I just I've tried to build a positive aura around me. I'm emitting positive energy because we do emit energy and we feel it from other people. And I think it's really important to put yourself where the positive energy is because you get encouragement, but you also get energy from that. And it's very healing to the body. Anything else you want to share? This is something I said when I was entered into the Skydiving Hall of Fame in 2013. All the times I had heard the speeches of people going into there, usually they're telling about their careers and why they're there. And I didn't do that because I didn't really feel like I had that much to offer people that had been doing a lot more than what I was doing. ('I want to live to be 100.' Longevity lessons from sports icons.) And so I gave my speech about people that love to be in the sky and people that like to be in airplanes and people that lay on the ground and watch the birds and say, Wow, wouldn't it be great to be flying around like that in the sky. There's something in their DNA that draws them to that. And I don't know, I think that you have to find what your DNA is, what draws you. When you find it, you find there's a lot of people doing the same thing. That's the group you belong to. That is where you should be spending more time than trying to do what other people do. That's being an individual. And somebody told me the other day when we were talking about that, they said, well, that's a lot of wisdom. I said, yeah, you have to live a long time to get that wisdom. But it'd be nice if I could pass it on. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
