Shane McConkey, 1969-2009, one of my heroes and a pioneer in freeskiing and ski-BASEing died on March 26th, 2009.  While shooting a promotional film in the Italian Dolomites, one of McConkey’s skis failed to release resulting in an uncontrollable spin which led him to be unable to release his shoot.  McConkey will be sorely missed and are hearts and prayers go to his family.

My favorite story about Shane involved him poaching a mogul course in Vail:

“Perhaps the most famous Vail McConkey story came from a Pro Mogul Tour event. McConkey took his run down the Look Ma course and did a flip, which wasn’t allowed at the time. After the disqualification, McConkey slipped back up Chair 3 and proceeded to poach the course naked, to the delight of the crowd. The stunt got McConkey banned from Vail Mountain”

When I saw him throw a back flip off a cliff back in the late 90s I became a bigger fan, my first experience watching McConkey was in the film Walls of Freedom by Robb and Scott Gaffney (now Matchstick Productions.)  They are two of his long time friends, run don’t walk to see it.

Rest in Peace Shane.