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INDUSTRY LAUNCHES A POWERFUL

NEW SAFETY INITIATIVE

ou would be hard-pressed to find a family more other two children. What happened next would forever, and
passionate about skiing and snowboarding than profoundly, change the lives of two families.
Y Kelli and Chauncy Johnson. For Kelli, she only remembers small portions of that
The Johnsons, who live in northern Wyoming with afternoon, and thankfully, she does not remember the
their four children, have built their lives around the sport. instant when a speeding snowboarder violently collided
In fact, you could say they owe their marriage to it in with her and Elise. The snowboarder was a 23-year-old
large part, having had their first ski experience together local man who frequently visited Hogadon.
during a fifth-grade ski day at Antelope Butte. “I remember going up the chairlift with [Elise], and
Kelli says she knew she was going to marry Chauncy we were discussing which run we wanted to go on,” Kelli
when they 12 years old. They remained friends through recalled during a recent interview with Colorado Public
high school. In her senior year, Kelli took a job as a ski Radio (CPR) about the incident. “I remember starting
instructor at Antelope Butte and Chancy continued to out that run with her… she actually was doing so well
snowboard there. When they both went to Utah State, that I was actually having her follow me,” she said,
they intentionally selected their class schedules so they noting that as a former ski instructor she was helping
would have at least a couple days off during the school Elise transition from snow plowing to making turns. “I
week just to ski and board along the Wasatch Range. only remember that I stopped to help Elise get her ski
After getting married in 2001, they relocated to Wyoming back on. I remember up to that point, but I never saw the
for Chauncy’s job. By 2010, they had three young snowboarder coming, I never looked up to see him. . . . I
children, and Kelli and Chauncy committed themselves think it all happened so fast.”
to teaching them to ski at early ages. The collision killed Elise and the snowboarder, and
As much as the sport had blessed Kelli and Chauncy left Kelli with a severe brain injury and paralyzed arm. It
and provided them so much joy, it also resulted in one of was an unprecedented tragedy: No one in the ski industry
the most heart-wrenching ski accidents ever. could recall a skier-skier collision resulting in the death of
two people.
C H R I S T M A S E V E 2 0 1 0 For Chauncy, the memories were especially profound.
On Christmas Eve Day 2010, the Johnson family took During the CPR interview he vividly recalled the first
their children—Elise, 5, Milli, 3, and Logan, 4 months— news of the accident from a ski patroller. “I was told that
to their local hill, Hogadon ski area outside Casper. With there was a terrible collision, and that three were down,”
600 feet of vertical, Hogadon is a family-oriented ski he said, pausing and reflecting back to that excruciating
hill spread out over 60 acres, with 27 trails, one double moment. “And they said only one had a pulse.”
chairlift, and a magic carpet for beginners. It’s one of Both the snowboarder and Elise died instantly—the
the few upside-down ski areas in the country, with the snowboarder from blunt chest trauma, and Elise from a
lift at the base of the mountain, and the lodge and other broken neck. Chauncy knew the blow must have been
facilities at the summit. especially violent and sudden. “Someone gave me Elise’s
Chauncy painfully remembers that day before Christmas, shattered helmet,” he recalled. “Those moments are
which had always been his favorite day of the year. Kelli had forever imprinted on my mind and my heart. I live with
gone with Elise to ski down a run, leaving Chauncy with their those memories really every single day.”

BY DAVE BYRD, NSAA DIRECTOR OF RISK & REGUL ATORY AFFAIRS