Shane McConkey
McConkey at 2007 BASE Race
Romsdalen, Norway
Personal information
Nickname(s)"Saucer Boy"; "Cliff Huckstable"
Nationality Canada
Born(1969-12-30)December 30, 1969
Vancouver, British Columbia
DiedMarch 26, 2009(2009-03-26) (aged 39)
Dolomite Mountains, Italy
Sport
SportBig Mountain, Ski-BASE, Wingsuit flying
Medal record

2001 ESPN Action Sport Awards Skier of the Year

Shane McConkey (December 30, 1969 – March 26, 2009) was a professional skier and BASE jumper. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia[1] and eventually based himself in Olympic Valley, California. Due to an itinerant childhood, he never identified with a single place, but he was said to have come from Boulder, Colorado.[citation needed] It was from here that he started his professional skiing career. He did so after dropping out of the University of Colorado Boulder to pursue his dreams.[2]

Biography

McConkey won numerous awards and competitions. He started as a competitive ski racer but moved on to be featured in a long line of extreme skiing movies. McConkey was known for combining BASE jumping with skiing, as seen in such feats as skiing into a BASE jump off the Eiger. McConkey went to Burke Mountain Academy. He was also known for his contributions to ski design, notably being the father of reverse sidecut and reverse camber skis (aka: skis with rocker); first mounting bindings onto water skis for use in Alaska, then with the Volant Spatula and, more recently, the K2 Pontoon ski design. McConkey's high-speed chairlift and ski area at Park City Mountain Resort are named after his father, Jim McConkey, who was an early proponent of extreme skiing in the U.S.[3][4]

On April 2, 2011, Shane McConkey was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of fame along with other Tahoe skiers, Daron Rahlves and Glen Plake.[citation needed]

Death

On March 26, 2009, Shane McConkey died during a ski-BASE jump on the Sass Pordoi, a mountain in the Sella group of the Italian Dolomites. One of his skis failed to release, sending him into a spin. After he corrected the problem, it was too late to deploy his parachute.[5]

Career accomplishments

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2005: Nominated for Laureus World Alternative Sportsperson of the Year, ranked #1 in Powder Magazine's Reader Poll and won Powder Magazine 's Full Throttle Award.

2004: Ranked #2 again in Powder Magazine’s Reader Poll, won Powder Magazine’s Full Throttle award, won Powder Magazine’s Best Helmet Cam award, went ski BASE jumping all over Europe, double front flip off the Eiger and got married in Thailand.

2003: Ranked #2 in Powder Magazine’s Reader Poll, completed his first of over 700 BASE jumps.[6]

2002: Ranked #1 in Powder Magazine’s Reader Poll and invented a revolutionary powder ski: The Volant Spatula with reverse camber and reverse sidecut.

2001: ESPN Action Sport Awards Skier of the Year, Red Bull Ultra Cross’s Big Air Comp - 1st and ranked #1 in Skiing Magazine’s Top 25 skiers in North America.

Competition results

2000:

1999:

1998:

1996:

1995:

1994:

Filmography

The Shane McConkey Award

Started in partnership with the Shane McConkey Foundation, this award was created as part of the annual Wasatch Mountain Film Festival[7] in Salt Lake City, Utah to honor the best adventure short films of the year.

Award Recipients

References

  1. ^ "Vancouver-born extreme skier McConkey killed in Italy". The Vancouver Sun. March 27, 2009. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  2. ^ Gifford, Bill (July 2009). "Shane McConkey's Last Run". Men's Journal. Archived from the original on 2015-02-02.
  3. ^ [1][dead link]
  4. ^ Eric (March 27, 2009). "The powder day of the year?!". Park City Mountain Resort. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2012.
  5. ^ Casimiro, Steve (March 26, 2009). "Skier Shane McConkey Killed BASE-Jumping in Italy". the adventure life. Steve Casimiro. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2012. (Steve Casimiro is the West Coast Editor of National Geographic Adventure.)
  6. ^ Casimiro, Steve (March 26, 2009). "Skier Shane McConkey Killed BASE-Jumping in Italy". the adventure life. Steve Casimiro. Archived from the original on November 8, 2010. Retrieved March 10, 2012. (Steve Casimiro is the West Coast Editor of National Geographic Adventure.)
  7. ^ "Shane McConkey Award". Wasatch Mountain Film Festival. Retrieved 2020-12-28.

External links

Categories