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Freeskiing has lost yet another highly influencial athelete and friend to many. CR Johnson was killed Wednesday while skiing with friends at Squaw Valley Ca. He will be missed by many.
"C.R. Johnson, 26, was with a group of friends when he fell while trying to get through a narrow, rocky section, according to, Jim Rogers, a member of the ski patrol."
"After falling face-first, Johnson spun and struck the back of his head on rocks. Johnson was wearing a helmet, but Rogers said the helmet took a serious blow."
Ski patrol members received the call shortly before 2 p.m. but were unable to revive him. Placer County Sheriff's Lt. Jeff Ausnow said Johnson died on the slopes."
"This is a man of very, very strong skiing talent," Rogers said. "This young man had been a fixture here at Squaw Valley for years. ... He grew up at Squaw Valley."
Nancy Cushing, chief executive officer of Squaw Valley USA, said Johnson was skiing Wednesday afternoon at the Light Towers section of the resort and had an accident."
"It's a terrible tragedy," Cushing said told the Sacramento Bee. "He was part of the Squaw Valley family."
"C.R. grew up on the mountain," Cushing said. "We have a lot of Olympic athletes in Vancouver, and a lot of them are his friends. It'll be very sad for them."
A statement from Squaw Valley USA described Johnson as a professional skier and member of its Freeride team.
Scott Gaffney, co-director of Matchstick Productions and a good friend of Johnson's, told the Tahoe Daily Tribune that the North Lake Tahoe community lost “an inspiration and a happy person” in Johnson, who always had a smile on his face and a positive attitude.

Johnson also competed in superpipe and halfpipe skiing at events such as the X Games. A photograph on his MySpace page said he was "X-qualified" for a skiing competition in France in 2002, while the Web site for the Ski Channel Television Network said he had been nominated for male skier of the year in 2002.

The freeskier.com Web site posted clips of Johnson in several extreme skier movies, jumping off cliffs and sailing through fresh, untracked powder. One clip includes Johnson talking about relearning to use his arms and legs after a severe injury caused by a collision with another skier while filming at Utah's Brighton ski resort in 2005.

He recalls "being one of the best skiers in the world, overly confident in your skiing, overly confident in yourself. ... Right now I'm working as hard as I possibly can to return to the sport that nearly killed me."

Attempts to reach Johnson's family late Wednesday were unsuccessful, and a telephone message left with a spokesman for the X Games was not immediately returned.

"I'm going to remember a lot of things about C.R.; we traveled all over the world together. But I think the thing most people are going to remember is his smiling face," Gaffney told the Tahoe Daily Tribune. "He was a pretty special person, especially after his (head) injury several years ago. He just had the greatest outlook on life and was happy to be doing what he was doing."
TV NEWS COVERAGE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIlGAeZvv8M

CR ripping it up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsv0baV3OZw
More CR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_as-rA0_ME&NR=1

HE WILL BE MISSED! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kcnw3lwd_Q&feature=related

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