Ex-Skateboarding Pro Dies on Austria Glacier

Chris “Robi” Robison was one of the best professional skateboarders of the 1980s. But as his style went out of vogue, the Huntington Beach man moved on to a career producing snowboarding videos.

He was in Austria on Oct. 17 making what was expected to be his most widely distributed video--with the Norwegian Olympic snowboard team--when he fell through a hole in a glacier and was killed. His body was found after a nightlong search, friends said Saturday.

Longtime girlfriend Bernadette Mopera, 29, said Robison fell 24 feet and died of hypothermia. Although his death came as a shock, she said those close to Robison take some solace that he died doing what he loved.

“It was tragic, but it was beautiful . . . “ she said. “He was working, and he was happy.”

Steve Alba, a close friend and fellow skateboarding pro, said Robison “was really on an upswing. He was only 30 years old but he had a really full life.”

In his teens and early 20s, Robison traveled the world competing in National Skateboarding Assn. competitions. He and a tightknit group of skateboarders from the Ontario area had secured sponsors and appeared in magazines.

“He was a big guy and he made it look so good,” said Alba, 34, a computer graphics artist who designed the covers of some of Robison’s videos. “He had a real smooth flow to his riding and he was fun. We really led charmed lives, like rock stars.”

After Pipeline Skate Park in Upland closed in 1989, the local pros didn’t have anywhere to practice. Alba said Robison convinced his parents to let him build a wooden “half-pipe” in their backyard that was 32 feet wide and 10 feet tall.

“We tried to keep it low-key at first, but a lot of people found out about it and it got pretty noisy,” said Alba, a resident of Ontario. “There was neighborhood pressure to close it down because it created parking problems. After a few summers, he got rid of it by selling it to a YMCA in Northern California.”

Once his professional skateboarding ended about seven years ago, Robison continued to travel extensively to work on snowboarding videos.

“The thing that impressed me the most about him was his determination to just do things and get them done no matter what,” Alba said.

Robison had produced six videos, and each new one had taken on a more professional look. A portion of his last completed video, “Nobody’s Heroes,” will be shown at his memorial service this week.

“He was self-taught, basically,” said Mopera. “He never took any type of film classes or anything. I think he did really well because he actually did the sports, he lived the lifestyle. He wasn’t just another guy holding a camera.”

Alba said his friend was always concerned about safety but never shied away from a challenge.

“He had been snowboarding for seven years and he knew the dangers,” Alba said. “But I don’t think he ever thought something like this would happen.”

The memorial service for Robison will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Mariner’s South Coast Church, 1000 Bison Ave., Newport Beach.