# Terrible News: RIP Shane McConkey



## kayakfreakus

Sad news, thoughts and prayers to family, he was an innovator for sure.


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## freexbiker

RIP Shane


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## Dave Frank

Bummer. Great guy. I was fortunate enough to have had my first kayaking experience with shane on Boulder Creek back in '94.

RIP


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## lmaciag

Wow... so sad.


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## rippnskier

Tragedy. Long Live Saucer Boy


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## roxy

Rip sick pow lines forever Shane. You will always be a hero and inspiration. At least you went out on a big line upside down... peace.


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## ryguy

What a legend....


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## Canada

*Facts*

Seems like alot of tributes on threads, but not much hard news. If anyone has a link to what happened beyond his chute not opening, I would be interested. 

A plea I have made to any of you with children, please buy life insurance. We all take too many risks not to take care of those we leave behind.

Thanks


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## freexbiker

Somewhere in this thread has an explanation.
:: View topic - RIP Shane McConkey (TGR cross-post)
Sounds like he was going to ski off, release his bindings and skis and fly off in a wing suit. The way I understand it is one binding didn't release which put him into a spin where he couldn't throw his chute....
A bad way to go even if he was trying to do something he loved to do.


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## Canada

Thank you.


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## COUNT

What a tragic loss. Shane was and always will be a Legend.


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## Mike Harvey

Freeskiing - Shane McConkey, 1969-2009 - ESPN
I am sure this is more info out there...
edit: this is JT Holmes' statement. crazy and sad..
http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/blog?post=4021669


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## Snowhere

WOW! So sad, RIP Shane.


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## yetigonecrazy

we'll miss you buddy! keep on saurcerin, snowlerbladin, and side sliddin the endless pow fields in the sky, you truly were a jukebox hero! and while you will be missed, you will never be forgotten, im going to go out today and do a bunch of huge mcconkey turns just for you big guy! RIP!


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## Canada

*Ski community mourns loss of a legend*

McConkey was filming stunts in Italy at the time of his death
Patrick Parkinson, Of the Record staff
Posted: 03/27/2009 04:34:41 PM MDT












Influential big-mountain skier Shane McConkey, who helped usher in the shaped-ski revolution, was killed Thursday while filming stunts in the mountains of Italy. 
McConkey, 39, helped pioneer the combining of skiing with BASE jumping in which jumpers deploy parachutes to safely land after skiing off high cliffs. 
But McConkey's chute didn't properly deploy on Thursday, the skier's mother, Glenn McConkey said in an interview at her home in Park City. 
McConkey was filming for his sponsor Red Bull at the time of the ski-BASE accident, she said. 
"This was a worry that we always shared in the back of our minds," said Bob Greer, McConkey's step-father. "It's not natural for parents to outlive their children. It's not how things are supposed to be." 
McConkey leaves behind his wife Sherry, and a three-year-old daughter named Ayla, said the deceased skier's mother. 
"He traveled a lot and whenever they could, they would go together," said Glenn McConkey. "Shane was a terrific family man. His family came first and he would have traveled less, but that's how he made his living." 
McConkey's father, Jim McConkey, was the first ski-school director at the ski area now known as Park City Mountain Resort, she said. 
Several years ago, Shane McConkey was invited to participate in the ribbon cutting for McConkey's lift, named for a legendary mountain bowl at PCMR. "He just loved the outdoors and loved being an adventurer," Glenn McConkey said about her son. "I didn't worry. I believed 
that he should take advantage of every day, and make the best of it." 
Her son reportedly experienced problems in the air after launching off a cliff with expectations of parachuting safely to the ground, Web site espn.go.com reported Thursday. 
Details are unclear, but McConkey had apparently planned to double back flip off the Val Scura couloir on Sassongher, in the Italian Dolomites, Ski Area Management magazine reported this week. 
"But it appears that one ski failed to release, which may have become caught in his parachute or sent him into an uncontrollable spin," the magazine reported. 
McConkey, whose sponsors included K2, Red Bull, Sessions, Oakley, Marker and Nordica, was one of skiing's more innovative professionals. 
He heavily influenced the development of wider skis and boards with reverse camber, his mother explained. 
McConkey lived in Northern California and was a resort ambassador at Squaw Valley USA in Lake Tahoe. 
"This is Shane's wall," Glenn McConkey said about a room in her house where her son's photos, medals and other mementos are displayed. 
McConkey said she tried not to think about her son one day dying because of his risky lifestyle. "That's the kind of thing you don't think about," she said. "I decided that a long time ago, and that's how you've got to live your life."


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## Mike Harvey

A Skier Idiot. RIP Shane McConkey, Skiing’s Greatest Nut 1969-2009 :: David LaPlante

great tribute from one of his friends. I thought about him more than once when I was cat skiing on Friday.


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