A professional extreme skier who competed in the Winter X Games died Wednesday after he fell and hit his head on a rock outcropping while taking a run down a steep chute at California's Squaw Valley.

C.R. Johnson, 26, was skiing with a group of friends when he fell while trying to negotiate a "very, very tight, rocky area," said Jim Rogers, a member of the Lake Tahoe-area resort's ski patrol.

The community of skiers and snowboarders in WNY is a tight knit group and I am proud to call many of you my friends. Friends, please take care, have fun, ski and ride hard and push yourself to improve, but take the time to spot your landings dial in your gear, do up your chin strap and be make sure to decrease the odds of injury when you can.

-ACM