C. R. Johnson, X Games Medalist in Free Skiing, Dies at 26
Matthew Kruk
C. R. Johnson, X Games Medalist in Free Skiing, Dies at 26 By MATT
HIGGINS
C. R. Johnson, an innovative figure in the young professional sport of
free skiing and a medal winner in X Games competitions, died Wednesday
while skiing on treacherous terrain at Squaw Valley resort in
California. He was 26 and lived nearby in Truckee, Calif.
The cause was blunt force trauma to his head, the Placer County Sheriff's
office said.
Witnesses said Johnson had caught the edge of his ski on exposed rocks
as he began his first turn and tumbled downhill in an area called Light
Towers, known for its cliffs and chutes, according to a statement by the
resort, Squaw Valley USA. Johnson, who was wearing a helmet, struck
several rocks before coming to a rest hundreds of yards below a ridge,
the resort said.
Johnson had returned to ski professionally four years ago after
recovering from a life-threatening head injury. He had learned to ski at
Squaw Valley, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.
The development of twin-tip skis during the 1990s allowed skiers to ride
forward or backward, and it kicked off a revolution in the sport.
Johnson adopted twin-tips early and was the first to perform many
maneuvers, including a bio 1260 - a spin of three and a half rotations
while grabbing his skis - at the 2002 U.S. Freeskiing Open.
The same year, at the Winter X Games, he won a silver medal in the
slopestyle discipline, in which tricks are performed off obstacles and
terrain features on a downhill course. At the 2001 X Games, he won a
bronze medal in big air, a discipline of high-speed, high-altitude
maneuvers performed off enormous ramps of snow.
"It's a really young sport," Sarah Burke, a winner of three Winter X
Games gold medals and a longtime friend of Johnson's, said Thursday.
"There was a group of guys at the beginning, and C. R. was right there
with them. He was definitely a pioneer."
In 2005, Johnson sustained brain injuries when another professional
skier collided with him while filming at Brighton Ski Resort in Utah.
Johnson spent 10 days in a coma and more than a month in the hospital.
Burke said Johnson had to re-learn how to eat, walk and ski.
Johnson is survived by his father, Russ; his mother, Lorraine; and a
sister, Kahlil.
Charles Russell Johnson III grew up in the Squaw Valley area, where
several Olympians make their home base, among them Julia Mancuso, who is
competing for the United States at the Vancouver Olympics. Mancuso
posted on Twitter early Thursday before competing in the giant slalom,
her final event.
"This last run is for CR Johnson," Mancuso wrote. "Gonna rip it for
you!!!"
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company