It’s been a nearly miraculous recovery for Kevin Pearce and it’s good to see him back on the snow with all his friends. It was even cooler to hear him announcing on the live webcast of the US Snowboarding Grand Prix from Copper Mountain. We’re thinking commentating should be Kevin’s new career. He’s good.
Follow the jump for the official word from Burton and more photos.
Burton Team Rider Kevin Pearce Gets Back on his Snowboard Again
BURLINGTON, Vt. (December 14, 2011) Burton Snowboards is proud to congratulate Burton team rider Kevin Pearce on his first day back on a snowboard since he suffered a traumatic brain injury while training for the Olympics in 2009.
Kevin has been a part of the Burton family for years, receiving his first snowboard from Jake Burton himself back when he was just five years old. In 2004, Kevin earned his first official sponsorship with Burton Snowboards after a Burton team manager was impressed with his riding during summer camp at Mt. Hood. From that point on, Kevin started showing up on podiums everywhere, with career highlights like consecutive Arctic Challenge victories, a pair of Air & Style wins, multiple X Games medals and back-to-back European Open wins.
Everything changed in an instant when Kevin suffered a traumatic brain injury while attempting a Cab double cork during a half pipe training session on December 31, 2009. Since then, Kevin has spent nearly two years putting all his energy into rehab, re-learning things we all take for granted like eating, walking, talking, balancing and seeing.
Until recently, Kevin didn’t know if he would ever be able to snowboard again. So when he got the green light from his doctors it was a dream come true, and everything came together yesterday as he strapped on his board for the first time since the accident. Jake Burton was honored to join Kevin for his inaugural runs at Vail yesterday, before Kevin headed to Breckenridge to ride with friends and fans.
“To get to this point in his recovery, Kevin has worked harder and has had more determination than anyone I know,” said Jake Burton, Founder and CEO of Burton Snowboards. “His positive attitude and sense of humor through it all has inspired millions of people, including me personally in a big way. I couldn’t be happier to be here with Kevin to get back on snow with him. It was a day I’ll never forget.”
In a pretty historic moment yesterday, Jake switched out his ‘I Ride for Kevin’ snowboard sticker (the grassroots campaign Burton created back in 2009 to show support for Kevin) with a new Burton sticker that says ‘Ride with Kevin’. The new message pretty much says it all. To see Kevin’s first moments back on snow, check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9siUCUzANsU
In honor of Kevin’s amazing milestone, today on Wednesday, December 14th Burton will donate 10% of all proceeds from its sales on burton.com to traumatic brain injury research. For more information, please head to www.burton.com.
For a look back at Kevin’s snowboard career and recovery process, check out his timeline at www.burton.com/kevinpearce and his new website www.kevinpearce.com
The long walk to the lift.
Getting crazy on day 1.
How’s that for a posse?
