Exactly one year after Bill Johnson's ill-fated comeback attempt at the 2001 U.S. Alpine Ski Championships left him in a crumpled heap, the former Olympic champion made a comeback of a different sort Friday, March 22, returning for the first time to the mountain that nearly killed him.

But "Bad Billy," as he was known on the downhill race circuit, no longer displays the swagger and reckless abandon that once defined both his skiing and his personality. As he gingerly approached the start of The Big Mountain downhill course and slowly let gravity take over, it was obvious that Johnson is a changed man.

Johnson, who turns 43 this week, suffered a violent crash during a preliminary race at the U.S. Nationals here last March 22, sustaining severe brain injuries and nearly choking on his severed tongue and broken teeth after slamming headfirst on the hard snow and ripping through two safety nets lining the downhill course. After several hours of surgery, he spent three weeks in a coma and more than four months in therapy, and still endures large gaps in his memory, weakness on the right side of his body and slurred speech.

"I didn't know who I was for three months and didn't think that I needed to be alive," he said Friday. "But here I am."

Johnson wasn't alone in his evaluation, as family and physicians both wondered whether keeping him alive was in his best interest, due to the uncertainties surrounding severe brain injuries. Doctors doubted Johnson would ever walk again, much less ski, but he has surprised everyone by his resilience, skiing 20 times so far this season after returning to the snow for the first time on Nov. 30, 2001.

Then again, Johnson has been known to beat the odds. An Olympian who arrogantly guaranteed the first victory by an American downhiller, Johnson made headlines at the 1984 Sarajevo Games by stating that he didn't know why the other racers had bothered showing up because they would be "racing for second place." It was bold talk for an American with only modest success on a mediocre team, but he backed it up convincingly....

— Scott Willoughby, MountainZone.com Correspondent