PRAY FOR TRUCKEE HOMETOWN SKIER C.R. JOHNSON!

From Freeskier.Com

CR Johnson Seriously Injured
By Christopher Jerard, yesterday

CR Johnson sustained a serious head injury last Thursday while filming inbounds at Brighton ski area in Utah.

Evan Raps, and several other riders who work with the film company C.R. is a part-owner of, The Bigger Picture, were filming an inbounds jump sequence that involved a rapid-fire succession of riders coming off a small hit — a practice common to ski and snowboard films. Raps, who jumped last in the group, and didn’t actually see the accident, told Freeskier that C.R. was the first off the jump, with Kye Peterson jumping directly after him, somehow coming out of the air and landing on C.R..

“I think it's important that people know C.R. was wearing a helmet when this happened,” says Evan Raps, who was at the scene of the accident. "We all decided to wear them full time this year. Unfortunately the impact was below the helmet brow. This was an accident and a freak thing."

Brighton ski patrol officially reports that the accident occurred inbounds and on the Millicent area of the mountain under the lift. He was air-lifted from Brighton to the University of Utah Hospital after the injury.

Currently C.R. is in very serious condition and being held in the critical care unit at the University of Utah hospital in Salt Lake City. He is in a coma. His mother Lorraine and father Russ are with C.R. in Utah.

C.R. Johnson has been an innovator friend in the ski industry since he was 15 years old. He first appeared in Freeskier with an impressive 1440 sequence photo taken at Squaw Valley in 1999 and has been a force in ski magazines and film ever since.

But far beyond C.R.’s huge athletic talent, he is a deeply thoughtful person who has worked diligently to progress the sport he loves both on and off the hill. Tonight C.R. and his family need the thoughts and prayers of all of those in the ski industry and beyond.

“C.R. improved for about 5 minutes yesterday. Yesterday was Sunday and the prayers of everyone must have helped. Russ put up a card from the McConkeys in C.R.’s room and I think that card from his friends helped too,” Lorraine told us today.

Our best thoughts are with C.R. and his family tonight and in the coming days. Please email your thoughts and words of support, love and encouragement for C.R. and his family to loveforCR@freeskier.com, and we will pass them on to the Johnsons.

If you want to send mail, his family has asked that you send it to:
C.R. Johnson
3100 Carbon place R101
Boulder, CO 80301

Do it for your hometown skier, Please send emails to C.R.'s family, they will greatly appriciate your support for C.R.



"Over time, most people experience life involving love, suffering, compassion, the unspeakable drive for something new. For me there's skiing, nothing more, nothing less, and it encompasses everything, every day I'm out there."
-Pep Fujas