Kirkwood, CA – Ryan Hawks, a competitor in the North American Freeskiing Championships held this past weekend at Kirkwood ski area in California as part of the Freeride World Tour, has succumbed to the injuries sustained in a crash during the event.n”The entire resort is devestated by the news,” Kirkwood officials said in a statement published on the ski resort’s website. “Ryan was an incredible person and an inspiration to many. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Ryan.”

Hawk was executing a back flip off a cliff in the middle section of The Cirque at Kirkwood Sunday afternoon when the crash occurred, while taking part in the competition. He died Tuesday while in intensive care at Renown Health Center in Reno treating for his injuries. The 25-year-old was a member of the Green Mountain Freeride Team, based in Vermont.

The incident marks the second fatality on the Freeride World Tour following the death of John Nicoletta in a competition held at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska, in 2008.

Hawks skied with Sugarbush, Vt.’s Diamond Dogs Freestyle Team for four years during his high school years before earning an engineering degree from the University of Vermont in Burlington.

“We called him ‘Ryan Red’, because there were several Ryans in the program, and he was the one who always wore the red jacket,” remembers Kevin Wry, Diamond Dogs Team founder. “Ryan was the guy who showed up early to take runs before the program started, and skied until the lifts closed. He had an incredible enthusiasm for the sport. He’ll be sorely missed.”

Hawks’s father, Peter Hawks, is an outback guide for Sugarbush. “The Sugarbush community extends its deepest sympathies to the Hawks family,” Candice White of Sugarbush Resort said Wednesday in a prepared statement. “This Saturday’s Castlerock Extreme Bump Competition will be dedicated to Hawks.”