Jonny Law has always skied hard, really hard. 3 years ago Johnny took second overall on the world Freeskiing Tour. The following year he saw his dreams come true. Dynastar put him on their international team, the North Face gave him full support. He was filiming with TGR and La Nuit de la Glisse. During the season of a lifetime, life suddenly took on a whole new perspective as Jonny shattered his femur into multiple pieces. He has spent the past year busting his ass to reach a full recovery from the accident. I sat down with him at his newly 'gutted' place in Squamish to get some perspective myself. At the time, I think I said outloud that I would never break my femur, now I'm eating my words and realize first hand how debilitating this injury really is. Massive internal blood loss and anemia set in for the first month after the injury and its pretty amazing to see how far he's been able to come.







Can you tell us a little bit about your season two years ago?
The year was going great for me. Lots of filming and travel. Everything was cruising along sweet and then there was the crash. It was weird you know, I had finrally accomplished some of my ultimate goals – Skiing with TGR and then heading up to AK. Then I experienced the other end of life. I took a bad fall and now I’m on the other side of pushing yourself too far. I've had to start over...... just when I had gotten where I wanted, and now its like starting from scratch. I remember just saying to myself – you fuckin blew it, I was so mad that I let that happen.


What was the TGR experience like?
First I went to Jackson and it went really well. From there I got invited to Micah Creek – it made me feel good about what I was doing and where I was going. Skiing with Will Burks and Jeremy Jones was unreal. You can see the experience oozing out of him, its really something to aspire to. It was awesome to get out there and see how its done. And Mica Creek, oh man - that place is plush. Anyone who goes up there will have the best time of their life.








How did the crash happen? What was going through your mind right before and during the accident?
I came up to a feature that was a lot bigger than I thought. That’s the thing about AK, everything is bigger than you think. I had eyed out this Spine that I was going to hop on top of. I planned for my slough to go around the spine but when I came towards it, I couldn’t get on top of it and the options were point it into the slough or squeak a turn. I turned and got sloughed out. It hit me like a bus. Taller, bigger and stronger than me – tumble tumble tumble.......the scariest part was that my helmet was packed with snow. It was the biggest ragdoll and it was fucking scary. When you are falling like that, you can’t get your hands up to clear the snow. People talk about drowing being peaceful, and that was one of the most interesting things about the fall. First I was scared and frantic and then in a split second it’s calm. I had this thought that if I didn’t stop I’d die and then I became calm and peaceful even though the violence of the crash continued. I finally came to a stop and the slough went by, then I ripped off my helmet. It was me hitting the rock with my leg that got me out of the slough – breaking my femur almost killed me, but it may have saved my life at the same time. I remember the first thing I did was pick up my leg and straigthed it out and then they hoverd around to see if they could pick me up, but then they had to refuel and they didn’t have a spine board. I was left by myself for about 45 minutes and that was pretty horrible. We took a snowboard and tobogganed to a spot where I could get picked up. I could feel my femur flipping around, that was the sickest feeling I’ve ever had. At the time Nobody thought it was broken because for some reason I was calm - probably due to massive shock, but that was the closest to death I’ve ever been. About 1.5 hrs later, they took some xrays. The doctor holds up the xray and just says oh my god! I had broken it into about 15 pieces, it was totally blown to shit – luckily the surgery went well and they managed to fix it. They cut into my hip, drilled thru the femuand ran a 44 cm rod with 2 screws. About 3 days later I needed more surgery cause it was about 1inch short.

Holy shit, that is about the most nauseating story that I've ever heard! How have your sponsors been through all of this?

All of the sponsors have been really really supportive – its been really encouraging to see. I even picked up a new helmet sponsor -Bern helmets.







How has the accident changed how you see things and think about life?

I take less for granted now and appreciate life way more– I take every day as a gift now and see that it is something really precious. I plan on looking at the features differently. Before when I didn’t feel sick and nervous about it, it wasn’t worth it. Now its going to be what will stoke me out the most, I want to find different ways to challenge my skiing.

What is it like having a tonne of Metal in your body?

Well, I had to get some hardwear out, this screw in my hip. It was about 3.5 inches long, thru the femur, rod and into my groin, but I could feel the head of the screw and so I wanted it removed. I couldn’t get it out till January, but I somehow managed to convince him to take it out in minor surgery. That meant that I had very little anesthetic. So they cut me open and I'm watching him with his hand screw driver trying to turn this screw. Man I was screaming – holding onto the nurse, that was the most painful experience I've ever had. You go from cool and fine to all of a sudden getting your screw ripped. They said they'll never do that procedure in minor surgery again.

What is your approach towards skiing again, when are you hoping to be back on skis?

I’m gonna have to take it as it comes. Every day I go to the gym and I'm getting more flexible and stronger. Based on where I am right now – about 75%, I think that there is a good chance to be back on snow for January. I'm pressing 150lbs just with my bad leg, so that is a good sign. I will be getting into skiing slowly – change my style a bit and stoke people out with the change. I hope to be able to hit the tour again, but its hard to say at this point and I really feel that I can be back at 100% by mid winter. That said – skiing at 75-80% will be a good place to start.





How was it mentally knowing that you weren't able to ski for a year?

What I did was pull myself away as much as possible. I probably only went up to Whistler once – and it just happened to be one of the worst years in history so that made it easier to take. I bought a place in Squamish and have gutted it and spent a lot of time on the renos. Its been good learning how to build, buying all the tools that has really helped to keep my mind occupied.

What advice do you have for other skiers that are pushing to make it to the top?

A lot of people forget about the other half of skiing until it happens to them. Its hard for others to know just how close we get sometimes. For all the people watching the videos – there is something to be said for plaing it safe – taking it easy. Its important to really enjoy yourself – don’t feel presseured to do stuff that you’re not ready to get in to. It’s a pretty fine line sometimes.





Any other words before we catch up with you again?

Thanks to all of the guys who have been behind me the whole way, you all know who you are and I really appreciate the support. Thanks also to Dynastar, TNF and my other sponsors.