CR Johnson

Twenty-six-year-old C.R. Johnson was killed today while skiing at Squaw Valley, California. According to a argument issued by the resort, the Lake Tahoe native caught an edge on exposed rocks while entering the Light Towers field above the Cornice II lift. He flopped rocks before coming to a rest more hundred yards below the entry. Ski Patrol were on the scene within minutes, but efforts to revive Johnson failed. He was reportedly wearing a helmet.

Jim Rogers, a member of the Lake Tahoe-area resort's ski patrol, said was skiing with a group of friends Wed when he fell although trying to negotiate a "very, very tight, rocky area."

A statement released by Squaw Valley affirmed that Johnson missed his first turn, fell downhill into rocks, and slid several hundred yards. Medical personnel responded within minutes, to no avail.

“C.R. Johnson has been part of the Squaw Valley class since birth and will be greatly missed,” Amelica Richmond said for the resort. “The loss of CR will deeply affect not just the local skiing community but skiers world.

C.R. Johnson was known in recent years for his inspiring return to skiing after a traumatic brain injury that he suffered in December of 2005. The injury, sustained when another skier accidentally landed on him during a run, left him in a coma for 10 days. He spent 34 days in the hospital and several months in rehab, but was back on snow by the end of that winter. He made steady progress in recent seasons and this winter finished third in the prestigious Red Bull Linecatcher event in the French Alps.

But long before his injury, Johnson was known as a park and pipe skiing prodigy who helped redefine the sport in the first years of this century by proving what was possible on twin tip skis. He was a two-time Winter X Games medalist, earning bronze in the 2001 Big Air and silver in the 2002 slopestyle. But those years were simply a warm up for the next three.

"C.R. Johnson lived every day in the present," says Poor Boyz Productions cinematographer Tyler Hamlet, who filmed Johnson last winter for the PBP movie "Every Day Is A Saturday." "He was always positive, always stoked. I just hope people can take his vibe into their own lives. Live it, shred it, be happy."