#RideAnotherDay
Industry launches a powerful
new safety initiative
By Dave Byrd, Director of Risk and Regulatory Affairs, National Ski Areas Association
ELENA ARSENTYEVA / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
You would be hard-pressed to find a family more passionate about skiing and snowboarding
than Kelli and Chauncy Johnson.
The Johnsons, who live in northern Wyoming with their four children, have built their
lives around the sport. In fact, you could say that they owe their marriage to it in large
part, having had their first ski experience together during a fifth-grade ski day at Antelope Butte.
Kelli says she knew she was going to marry Chauncy when they were 12 years old. They remained
friends throughout high school. In her senior year, Kelli took a job as a ski instructor at
Antelope Butte and Chauncy continued to snowboard there. When they both went to Utah State,
they intentionally selected their class schedules so they would have at least a couple days off
during the week to ski and board along the Wasatch Range. After getting married in 2001, they
relocated to Wyoming for Chauncy’s job. By 2010, they had three young children, and Kelli and
Chauncy committed themselves to teaching them how to ski at early ages.
As much as the sport had blessed Kelli and Chauncy and provided them with so much joy, it
also resulted in one of the most heart-wrenching ski accidents ever.
8 January 2018 | snowopsmag.com
/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
/snowopsmag.com
