Action sports star Erik Roner dies in skydiving accident

Benjamin Spillman | Reno Gazette Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption Extreme sports star, Erik Roner, dies during skydive Authorities have said an extreme sports and MTV star has died during a skydive for the opening ceremony of a golf event in Squaw Valley. Placer County Sheriff's Captain Dennis Walsh said Erik Roner of Tahoe City, California, died on Monday after he

Erik Roner, a well-known action sports athlete who starred in MTV's Nitro Circus, died Monday in a skydiving accident at Squaw Valley, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Department.

Roner, 39, from Tahoe City, a professional skier and BASE jumper, was killed while performing at a golf event at the resort.

According to the sheriff’s department, Roner was part of a group conducting a skydiving performance. He hit a tree while attempting to land and was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured.

Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows Resort also issued a statement confirming Roner's death. The golf event was hosted in Olympic Valley by The Squaw Valley Institute, an organization to which Roner regularly dedicated his time, the statement said.

Roy Tuscany, Roner's friend and co-founder and executive director of the High Fives Foundation, an organization that helps injured action sports athletes, witnessed the accident with many others.

"Erik just came in and clipped a tree and everything was horrible from thereafter," Tuscany said. "Having everybody watch this it makes it even more tragic, more horrible."

Tuscany said he met Roner in 2010 when Roner was rehabilitating from a broken femur. He said the action star became a close friend and supporter of High Fives.

Roner's death reopened the sense of loss the community felt in the wake of the Shane McConkey, another action sports star, in 2009.

"This is the biggest loss for the action sports community, this is comparable to when Shane passed away," Tuscany said. "Everyone needs to focus on Erik's family."

In a statement released late Monday, Roner's wife, Annika Roner, remembered her husband as a loving father to their children Oskar, 5, and Kasper, 17 months.

"Erik was a beautiful man, great father, wonderful friend and the love of my life," she said.

According to his bio on the Nitro Circus web site, Roner had been sky diving and BASE jumping since 2000. He was one of the pioneers of ski BASE jumping and had been featured in several ski films.

"Every time you travel, your true colors come out. I always growing up wanted to travel the world on skis and see what there was out there," he said in a 2011 interview with Freeskier Magazine. "It's a great life. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

Last year Roner made a video of himself tied to 90 helium balloons flying through the sky sitting on a lawn chair, recreating the scene from the movie "Up". The youtube video had more than 800,000 views.

Some of his stunts included BASE jumping a dirt bike into the Grand Canyon.

In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, Roner described the risk management involved with his style of performing.

"I'm not saying that we're dumb about it, but we're definitely more shooting from the hip," he said. "We don't do things we don't think are possible, but lots of times we'll push ourselves. Like, 'OK, this might hurt' or 'this might not work as well as I think, but I think I can do it.' We only do things where we have a fighting shot."