Nor is he alone. “The joy I get from skiing, that’s worth dying for,” said C. R. Johnson—not long before he died skiing. Canadian freestyle skier and four-time X Games champ Sarah Burke is now sorely missed. So are Arne Backstrom, Caleb Moore, Jeremy Lusk, Ryan Hawks, Aaron Robinson, Kip Garre, Antoine Montant, and many more. ESPN called 2011 the “grimmest year in [action] sports’ collective history,” and then explained why: “[T]he action-sports community averaged one pro athlete death every three weeks.” The year 2013—while not yet in the books—is starting to look grimmer than 2011.
