Gone but never forgotten.....
- Thread starter Steakhead
- Start date
Steakhead
Member
carbon.pulse
Active member
rip man, i didnt know you but you sound like a real gud dude
embeded for ya...
embeded for ya...
solitaryman
Active member
never heard his story before, that sucks. wear your lids kids
MCIRONCOCK
Active member
I didn't know him, but damn he can shred.
RIP man.
RIP man.
Valind
Active member
A Crested Butte teenager died Sunday after crashing on Copper Mountain while warming up for a competition.
Asher
Crank, 17, was on skis and fell about 30 feet Saturday after going off
a jump in the Copper Mountain terrain park, according to Summit County
Coroner Joanne Richardson. He landed on his head and was wearing a
helmet.
Crank was flown to St. Anthony Central Hospital, where he died Sunday.
Copper
Mountain issued a statement that a teen died while participating in a
"sanctioned competition" on the mountain at the time of the accident.
The statement did not name the competition, although the Copper Series was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Crank was a student at Crested
Asher Crank
Butte Academy - a prep school that attracts competitive runners, skiers and snowboarders.
Friends
said Sunday that Crank was a top-rated freeride skier, well-known in
the small snow-riding town for his personality and his skill.
He was "one of the most well-liked children in Crested
Butte," academy headmaster Graham Frey said. "In fact, at the local
pizza place, he has a pizza named after him."
Frey said Crank was "one of the best in the country" at free ride skiing - in which skiers launch off half-pipes and jumps.
Steve Taglialatela, 18, said he began skiing with Crank when they were 4 years old.
"His
mom owned a ski shop called Butte and Company on the mountain. So
naturally he just started skiing, and we skied together in a group
called the Cyclones," Tag lialatela said. "He just wanted to be a pro
skier, and that is what his life was all about."
Crank's family could not be reached for comment.
Crank was at a tune-up event for what was supposed to be the next big step in his career: the U.S. Freeskiing Open this week.
Frey said Crank was warming up for Saturday's competition, going through his routine for the third time that morning
Asher Crank
when he crashed.
"He was going over the third jump in a series, and he just real ly got too much air and couldn't get back around," Frey said.
Crank
is featured on the Crested Butte Academy website with a note from his
coach, Ben Somrak, who writes, "Asher has stepped it up this year with
a new bag of tricks to show the crowd. ... His style was nearly
unmatched and left the competition in the dust - a wonderful start to
his big season of competitions."
Crank's death is the first at a sanctioned competition
in Colorado since 2004, when 13-year-old Ashley Stamp collided with a
snowmobile while inspecting a slalom course before a race at Vail.
Taglialatela had a hard time holding back tears as he
Asher Crank
recalled days when he, Crank and two other boys skied together.
"I
mean all four of us, since we were little, we would all push each other
and have a good time. ... We knew each other's families well," he said.
Bad spills are part of life for athletes in freeride
skiing. But Taglialatela said he figured Crank had just broken some
bones when he heard about the accident. Then he got a call Sunday from
Crank's father.
"He was always happy," Taglialatela said of his friend, "even when he was mad. He loved laughing."
Asher
Crank, 17, was on skis and fell about 30 feet Saturday after going off
a jump in the Copper Mountain terrain park, according to Summit County
Coroner Joanne Richardson. He landed on his head and was wearing a
helmet.
Crank was flown to St. Anthony Central Hospital, where he died Sunday.
Copper
Mountain issued a statement that a teen died while participating in a
"sanctioned competition" on the mountain at the time of the accident.
The statement did not name the competition, although the Copper Series was scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Crank was a student at Crested
Asher CrankButte Academy - a prep school that attracts competitive runners, skiers and snowboarders.
Friends
said Sunday that Crank was a top-rated freeride skier, well-known in
the small snow-riding town for his personality and his skill.
He was "one of the most well-liked children in Crested
Butte," academy headmaster Graham Frey said. "In fact, at the local
pizza place, he has a pizza named after him."
Frey said Crank was "one of the best in the country" at free ride skiing - in which skiers launch off half-pipes and jumps.
Steve Taglialatela, 18, said he began skiing with Crank when they were 4 years old.
"His
mom owned a ski shop called Butte and Company on the mountain. So
naturally he just started skiing, and we skied together in a group
called the Cyclones," Tag lialatela said. "He just wanted to be a pro
skier, and that is what his life was all about."
Crank's family could not be reached for comment.
Crank was at a tune-up event for what was supposed to be the next big step in his career: the U.S. Freeskiing Open this week.
Frey said Crank was warming up for Saturday's competition, going through his routine for the third time that morning
Asher Crankwhen he crashed.
"He was going over the third jump in a series, and he just real ly got too much air and couldn't get back around," Frey said.
Crank
is featured on the Crested Butte Academy website with a note from his
coach, Ben Somrak, who writes, "Asher has stepped it up this year with
a new bag of tricks to show the crowd. ... His style was nearly
unmatched and left the competition in the dust - a wonderful start to
his big season of competitions."
Crank's death is the first at a sanctioned competition
in Colorado since 2004, when 13-year-old Ashley Stamp collided with a
snowmobile while inspecting a slalom course before a race at Vail.
Taglialatela had a hard time holding back tears as he
Asher Crankrecalled days when he, Crank and two other boys skied together.
"I
mean all four of us, since we were little, we would all push each other
and have a good time. ... We knew each other's families well," he said.
Bad spills are part of life for athletes in freeride
skiing. But Taglialatela said he figured Crank had just broken some
bones when he heard about the accident. Then he got a call Sunday from
Crank's father.
"He was always happy," Taglialatela said of his friend, "even when he was mad. He loved laughing."
skiminnesota
Active member
i wasnt on NS at this time last year....... RIP
live your life with no regrets, you never know when it might be your last day. RIP
live your life with no regrets, you never know when it might be your last day. RIP
skinnylove
Active member
Wow, that's a sad story.
RIP
RIP
charmander
Active member
that sucks man
++vibes
++vibes
Valind
Active member
This one is more detailed.
'Freak' crash claims life of Crested Butte teen
Asher Crank, a well-known Crested Butte teenager, took a fatal fall while warming up for a freeskiing competition Saturday morning at Copper Mountain's terrain park
.
The 17-year-old, who was wearing a helmet, was on his third warm up run, when a trick jump went wrong and he crashed after catching about 40 feet of air.
"It was just a total freak accident," said Ben Somrak, Asher's freeride skiing coach. "That's a trick he can do."
Somrak, who coaches Asher at the Crested Butte Academy, was shadowing Asher down the warm-up run to give him tips for the competition.
Asher landed backward off his first jump and stayed backward to go into his second jump, where he attempted a "switch 540" – meaning that he would start off backwards and then do one and a half twists in the air before landing.
As he spun through the air, he either under-rotated or over-rotated and came down after completing a 360-degree spin, Somrak said.
"He was a little off balance in the air and I was like, 'Oh, this is going to hurt,'" Somrak recalled.
But Somrak had no idea the crash would be anything unusual.
"We crash every time we go, because that's what we do – we learn by our mistakes," he said.
Asher landed on his feet but his skies were pointed sideways across the slope, instead of downhill. He caught the downhill edge of his ski and slammed over.
"He slapped over and it was loud — it was like a gun shot," Somrak said.
Somrak didn't know if the bang was Asher's head or his ski breaking, and he quickly skied down to check on him.
"I was just like, 'Hey, Asher man, are you all right?'" Somrak said.
"He didn't say anything and I was like, 'Asher, are you okay dude?'"
That's when Somrak noticed blood on the snow.
Somrak is also an emergency medical technician, so he is trained for accidents and began to notice signs that Somrak was in serious trouble. "He was taking 'agonal' respirations," Somrak said, which he explained is many times someone's last breaths.
"It's not a good sign," he said.
"My first two words were, 'put the helicopter on standby and get the ski patrol,'" Somrak said, describing how he called out to a nearby event official who had a radio.
The call went out at 9:47 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. Asher was in surgery at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
"It was a great team effort," Somrak said. "To get him to Denver in an hour and three minutes is incredible."
The efficient response, however, didn't make a difference.
Asher had cardiac arrest in the helicopter, but the doctors said he probably didn't have a chance from the moment he fell.
"The doctors told me that he basically died on impact, (that) his brain was done from that second," Somrak said.
"No bones were broken at all," said Keli Massey, who is the partner of Asher's father, Kib Crank. "It was just kind of a freak accident."
The doctors said he died from massive brain trauma, she said.
Somrak said the stunt Asher strived to do on Saturday was well within his repertoire of tricks.
"He takes off backward all the time," he said.
Losing a beloved local
and rising champion
Asher was a senior at the Crested Butte Academy, the town's private college prep school that is specifically geared towards athletes with high competitive ambitions.
"He was one of the best in the country for what he did as a freeride skier," said Academy Headmaster Graham Frey. "Traditionally, he was at he top of the podium almost every time he competed."
Asher had been freeskiing for about five years and was ranked nationally.
"He started out as a ski racer and he just wanted a little more excitement," Massey said.
Freeskiing is a style of skiing that pushes skiers to the limits to
perform on rails, jumps, half-pipes and steep slopes. It inherently
carries high risks and demands big talent and lots of practice.
Asher began skiing competitively when he was four years old, racing for the CB Cyclones ski team and later for the Crested Butte Ski Club.
Asher's father said Asher was "climbing the ranks as a freeskier."
According to Kib, Somrak had recently said this could be Asher's break-through year, because Asher had a new "bag of tricks."
When Asher crashed on Saturday, he had been warming up for a freeskiing event called "slopestyle" in the Copper Series, but he was actually preparing for a bigger goal — the U.S. Freeskiing Open that took place on Tuesday at Copper.
Headmaster Frey said Asher "lived to ski and be on the snow."
"If you asked Asher about being a student, he would have said that 'skiing was his thing,'" Frey said. "He was a good student in the fall and spring and in the winter he concentrated on skiing and he excelled at that."
But Frey also said that Asher "had a lot of intellectual depth."
He appreciated learning and had a love for art history, he said.
Sally Brown Crank, Asher's grandmother, said Asher had ambitions to be an Olympic competitor in freeride skiing.
But there was also a new goal on Asher's horizon.
He had been planning to take a year off after graduating from the
academy to compete and figure out his next steps, his father said.
But recently, Asher started filling out college applications.
"It was a really pleasant surprise," Kib said.
Asher is a native to Crested Butte and was well known and endeared in the community.
Asher's family and friends describe him as outgoing, fun loving,
fearless, "super laid back" and extremely loyal to his friends.
"He was one of the really beloved children of Crested Butte," said
Frey. "This is a boy who's grandfather (Bill Crank) was town manager and The Secret Stash (a local pizza place) has a pizza named after him."
Asher was very popular among his peers, and Frey said he had deep friendships and a "quiet leadership component to him."
On Sunday night the academy held a candlelight vigil for Asher to allow a time of reflection for friends and family.
Kib said Asher's death has been especially hard on Asher's mother, Stephanie Watkins.
"She's taking it pretty tough," Kib said. "They had a real special bond."
'Freak' crash claims life of Crested Butte teen
Asher Crank, a well-known Crested Butte teenager, took a fatal fall while warming up for a freeskiing competition Saturday morning at Copper Mountain's terrain park
.
The 17-year-old, who was wearing a helmet, was on his third warm up run, when a trick jump went wrong and he crashed after catching about 40 feet of air.
"It was just a total freak accident," said Ben Somrak, Asher's freeride skiing coach. "That's a trick he can do."
Somrak, who coaches Asher at the Crested Butte Academy, was shadowing Asher down the warm-up run to give him tips for the competition.
Asher landed backward off his first jump and stayed backward to go into his second jump, where he attempted a "switch 540" – meaning that he would start off backwards and then do one and a half twists in the air before landing.
As he spun through the air, he either under-rotated or over-rotated and came down after completing a 360-degree spin, Somrak said.
"He was a little off balance in the air and I was like, 'Oh, this is going to hurt,'" Somrak recalled.
But Somrak had no idea the crash would be anything unusual.
"We crash every time we go, because that's what we do – we learn by our mistakes," he said.
Asher landed on his feet but his skies were pointed sideways across the slope, instead of downhill. He caught the downhill edge of his ski and slammed over.
"He slapped over and it was loud — it was like a gun shot," Somrak said.
Somrak didn't know if the bang was Asher's head or his ski breaking, and he quickly skied down to check on him.
"I was just like, 'Hey, Asher man, are you all right?'" Somrak said.
"He didn't say anything and I was like, 'Asher, are you okay dude?'"
That's when Somrak noticed blood on the snow.
Somrak is also an emergency medical technician, so he is trained for accidents and began to notice signs that Somrak was in serious trouble. "He was taking 'agonal' respirations," Somrak said, which he explained is many times someone's last breaths.
"It's not a good sign," he said.
"My first two words were, 'put the helicopter on standby and get the ski patrol,'" Somrak said, describing how he called out to a nearby event official who had a radio.
The call went out at 9:47 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. Asher was in surgery at St. Anthony Central Hospital.
"It was a great team effort," Somrak said. "To get him to Denver in an hour and three minutes is incredible."
The efficient response, however, didn't make a difference.
Asher had cardiac arrest in the helicopter, but the doctors said he probably didn't have a chance from the moment he fell.
"The doctors told me that he basically died on impact, (that) his brain was done from that second," Somrak said.
"No bones were broken at all," said Keli Massey, who is the partner of Asher's father, Kib Crank. "It was just kind of a freak accident."
The doctors said he died from massive brain trauma, she said.
Somrak said the stunt Asher strived to do on Saturday was well within his repertoire of tricks.
"He takes off backward all the time," he said.
Losing a beloved local
and rising champion
Asher was a senior at the Crested Butte Academy, the town's private college prep school that is specifically geared towards athletes with high competitive ambitions.
"He was one of the best in the country for what he did as a freeride skier," said Academy Headmaster Graham Frey. "Traditionally, he was at he top of the podium almost every time he competed."
Asher had been freeskiing for about five years and was ranked nationally.
"He started out as a ski racer and he just wanted a little more excitement," Massey said.
Freeskiing is a style of skiing that pushes skiers to the limits to
perform on rails, jumps, half-pipes and steep slopes. It inherently
carries high risks and demands big talent and lots of practice.
Asher began skiing competitively when he was four years old, racing for the CB Cyclones ski team and later for the Crested Butte Ski Club.
Asher's father said Asher was "climbing the ranks as a freeskier."
According to Kib, Somrak had recently said this could be Asher's break-through year, because Asher had a new "bag of tricks."
When Asher crashed on Saturday, he had been warming up for a freeskiing event called "slopestyle" in the Copper Series, but he was actually preparing for a bigger goal — the U.S. Freeskiing Open that took place on Tuesday at Copper.
Headmaster Frey said Asher "lived to ski and be on the snow."
"If you asked Asher about being a student, he would have said that 'skiing was his thing,'" Frey said. "He was a good student in the fall and spring and in the winter he concentrated on skiing and he excelled at that."
But Frey also said that Asher "had a lot of intellectual depth."
He appreciated learning and had a love for art history, he said.
Sally Brown Crank, Asher's grandmother, said Asher had ambitions to be an Olympic competitor in freeride skiing.
But there was also a new goal on Asher's horizon.
He had been planning to take a year off after graduating from the
academy to compete and figure out his next steps, his father said.
But recently, Asher started filling out college applications.
"It was a really pleasant surprise," Kib said.
Asher is a native to Crested Butte and was well known and endeared in the community.
Asher's family and friends describe him as outgoing, fun loving,
fearless, "super laid back" and extremely loyal to his friends.
"He was one of the really beloved children of Crested Butte," said
Frey. "This is a boy who's grandfather (Bill Crank) was town manager and The Secret Stash (a local pizza place) has a pizza named after him."
Asher was very popular among his peers, and Frey said he had deep friendships and a "quiet leadership component to him."
On Sunday night the academy held a candlelight vigil for Asher to allow a time of reflection for friends and family.
Kib said Asher's death has been especially hard on Asher's mother, Stephanie Watkins.
"She's taking it pretty tough," Kib said. "They had a real special bond."
JaphyRyder
Active member
So sad, sounds like an amazing kid. RIP brother, and thoughts and prayers to friends and family
powderski14
Member
seemed like a mad chill guy....rip
sirskizalot
Active member
thats sad
rest in peace
rest in peace
ScrappyJoeYoung
Active member
rip asher, he def seemed like a good friend and definetely was a good skier, RIP
thefilmerguy
Active member
its things like this that bring a tear to my eye no matter what. this and hoots death a while ago choke me up everytime i see them. i sit here writing this with a new outlook on life and how to enjoy everything and take it as it comes because anything can happen. these are the only things that ever affect me so heavily...RIP man, i hope you shred everyday up there i'll always be thinking of this...
al_britskiier
Member
RIP man, upsetting stuff
We miss you Asher - you would be ruining us all a year later, you were one of the most fun loving and talented kids i have ever known. Not a day goes by at Crested Butte that you are not represented with your signature baby blue asher sticker- continue to Rip In Peace - we will never forget you
overthehead
Member
thats too bad man, cuz he charged.
It really sucks to lose a friend, its hard but theres nothing you can do. When its time its time.
Keep your heads up.
It really sucks to lose a friend, its hard but theres nothing you can do. When its time its time.
Keep your heads up.
VT_scratch
Active member
R.I.P. man. and seriously - rip it up there!
beardstatus
Member
too bad such a sick skier had to pass
RIP
RIP
Freezeskier
Member
rip
MCIRONCOCK
Active member
I don't mean to sound insensitive, but what's the song in that edit?
RIP
RIP