A toast to honor our fallen hero with a can designed by Nick Perronteau.
Just before heading to the Ridge on Saturday morning, I recieved some shocking news. Shane McConkey, one of greatest skiers on the planet was dead.
The shockwave ripped through the boys and I just as hard as it must have hit the rest of the ski world. Our culture tends to revere some people as heroes even those people who we have never met. Through film, magazine articles, web posts, etc we think we know these people and are awed by their exploits. They almost become superhuman.
But Shane was a little different. Sure, he did amazing things on skis, he led the way in so many ways - from getting everyone on fat skis, to designing the first powder-speciffic reverse camber ski - to ruling almost every aspect of skiing throught the years from bump contests to big air, skiercross, extreme (freeskiing, as Shane coined the phrase and founded the Professional Freeskiers Association) to being at the forefront of mixing skiing and base jumping.
It was something else that really set Shane apart, however. It was his love of fun. I’ve read soooo many stories in Powder and seen soo many film clips of him just having F-U-N! From creating the caracter of “Saucerboy” the washed-up extreme saucerer, to debating whether to wear jeans or stretch pants to naked skiing to loving spread eagles while spanking his butt, Shane’s love of fun came through like no other professional skier I have ever seen. Want proof? Oder a dvd copy of “There’s Something About McConkey” and see for yourself.
The boys and I own that film - of our over 30 ski films, it’s right at the top of the list - it’s insanely rad - but hilariously fun at the same time. When the boys found out that Shane had dies we immediately decided to dedicate the est of the season to his memory. Nick said we had to drink some Red Bull (Shane’s major sponsor) and throughout the day we kept pulling moves that Shane taught us including “Aliens,” and spread eagles with crotch gabs and spanks. It was fun - it was sad. I thought of Shane on every run.
When we got home we watched “There’s Something About McConkey.” Although it was somewhat sad, it still made us smile. Later that night I watched “Steep,” another film featuring McConkey. It mainly features Doug Coombs, however, another great skier who died much too early.
So many of our ski heros have been leaving us lately. But we should be thankful for all the inspiration they gave us while they were here. Thanks for the fun, Shane. We’ll be doing spread crotch grabs for ya!
