New Books: Dark and Light

Ski To Die: The Bill Johnson Story

This book should settle any lingering perceptions of Bill Johnson—the controversial Olympic champion downhill racer—as a sentimental figure. In 1984, the 23-year-old Johnson broke the long-established European domination of downhill ski racing. His first victory that season, on the famed Lauberhorn in Switzerland, was an explosive surprise for a U.S. men's team that had never before captured first place in a World Cup downhill competition. A month later at the XIV Winter Olympics in Sarejevo, Yugoslavia, the shockingly cocky newcomer irked his European competitors by predicting victory, bringing him instant comparisons to Namath and Ali. His brilliant gold-medal-winning run down the Bjelesnica course in Yugoslavia was something out of a Hollywood scriptwriter's dream.

The limelight didn't last long. The following year, Johnson's quick temper nearly got him tossed off the team. He fell at Val Gardena and underwent an operation to repair his left knee. A recurring back problem resulted in more surgery. More importantly, the results didn't come, and he was left off the '88 Olympic Team, unable to defend his medal. By the end of the decade he was through with amateur competition.

Sixteen years later, in 2001, bankrupt, divorced and living in a mobile home, the ever-recalcitrant Johnson mounted an improbable comeback, only to crash and burn horribly in a qualifying race that leaves him to this day brain damaged and in need of constant care.

With Johnson's full cooperation, Jennifer Woodlief, a former reporter for Sports Illustrated, reveals the saga of the ski champion's troubled career, including his many years in Tahoe. Squaw Valley Ski Corp. Director of Mountain Operations Tom Kelly was one of Johnson's coaches during his short-lived success. It was at the home of Squaw Valley's Buck Thys, whose two children, Barry and Edith, were both on the U.S. Ski Team, that Johnson sought the settling influence of family life. Johnson married Gina Ricci, a Tahoe City hometown girl. Their turbulent marriage included the agonizing death of their firstborn child, who drowned in their Tahoe home hot tub.

Most sports books tell of athletes striving to prove their mettle, ostensibly to the world, but really to themselves. Ski To Die is no Pollyanna piece but a book in which the potential for disaster, on- and off-slope, is real and ever present. Woodlief not only documents individual triumph but also the consequences of broken families, criminal activity, death of loved ones and poverty. Success is experienced not so much as victory as blessed relief.

"He really is a great guy and a very good friend," says Barry Thys. "His good side just got lost at times."

Ski To Die is a sad tale that arrives in an Olympic year to remind us that fame is not just fleeting but sometimes tormenting.

–Robert Frohlich

Brilliant Waters: Portraits of Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, and the High Sierra

This beautiful coffee-table book is centered around the theme of water in its many forms—fog, snow, lakes, rivers, waterfalls. Using an ultra-high-resolution, medium format digital camera and the wonders of the digital darkroom, Elizabeth Carmel has captured images of signature brilliance.

"I enjoy exploring the lake at the edges of the day, during the magical hours when the softer light reveals the landscape's moods and textures," she states in her preface. After shooting, Carmel manipulates the photos to "better match what I witnessed."

Accompanying the photographs are poems by Octavio Paz, John Updike, Richard Wilbur, Gainor Ventresco and Frederick George Scott. The Truckee-based photographer has self-published the book and scored a coup of sorts with a foreword written by Robert Redford.

"This work simply stopped me in my tracks," writes Redford.

Part of the profits from book sales will go to local nonprofit organizations. There will be a book launch party at Cottonwood Restaurant in Truckee on Thursday, June 22nd (visit www.elizabethcarmel.com for details) with half of the monies from the sales of the book donated to the Truckee Donner Land Trust. Brilliant Waters is also available for sale at Vrooman Fine Art Gallery in Truckee, the North Tahoe Arts Center in Tahoe City, Tahoe Country in South Lake Tahoe, Art Attack in Incline Village, various local bookstores, amazon. com and through Carmel's Website.

–Chérie Louise Turner