Christopher Jerard | Kahlil Johnson | Tanner Hall | Mike Laroche | Scott Gaffney | Matt Sterbenz
Tag Kleiner | Ladd Williams | Lorraine Johnson
View the CR memorial photo gallery from our tribute issue.
I first started working with CR when he was just 14. It was right about the time he landed his first 1440 on film. He had torn a ligament in his knee and we were preparing for the Gravity Games in Mammoth. He was just kind of coming into his own and getting strong. Even from a young age, I was impressed with his maturity. We became really good friends. He became like a little brother to me.
We were always working on something with his health and his body. He and Tanner were hucking themselves so huge. It was his knee or his back or his shoulder or his wrist. A year before his head injury, he was given a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and we worked through that. It was a big blow for him emotionally. He lost some control of his right arm.
“Even when he was in a coma, he was learning things. He was leaving his body. He was aware of people coming and going. He would tell the story of his dream of being on a desert island while he was in his coma.”
Through it all, he became a very spiritual person. Even when he was in a coma, he was learning things. He was leaving his body. He was aware of people coming and going. He would tell the story of his dream of being on a desert island while he was in his coma. He knew when people came into his hospital room because they would come visit him on his island. While he was in his coma, my friends and I did a ceremony for him at my house. After he came out, he told me that he remembered flying from his island to my house.
From that point on, having been so close to death, he really learned a lot and continued to grow spiritually. When he came back to Tahoe from Salt Lake, he would get really frustrated. He had to learn to swallow and talk again. But he had enough strength to come back for his friends and family and for himself.
P: Bryn Hughes
The last couple of months he was just on fire. He just had a great attitude. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to have dinner with him a month or so before he left us. We were talking about all the close friends we had lost. I asked him, If you go before me, what can I do for you? How do I handle it?
He said, ‘My family will need help. But don’t be sad. Lead a celebration for me.’ He had lived so much but been so close to the end, he wasn’t afraid. He said, ‘If I go, I want to be skiing a line at Squaw that I’ve skied forever.’
He was so passionate. One thing that made a huge impression on me was one time in the clinic, before an X Games in Mount Snow, a couple of well-known skiers at the time who were making big bucks were bitching about having to go to New York for a press conference and having to do promotional tours. When they walked out, he said, I’ll never be that way. My love for my sport is just pure passion. It will never drain me. He was a super stoked boy who became a super stoked man.
View the CR memorial photo gallery from our tribute issue.
Christopher Jerard | Kahlil Johnson | Tanner Hall | Mike Laroche | Scott Gaffney | Matt Sterbenz
Tag Kleiner | Ladd Williams | Lorraine Johnson
