Quick Facts
CapricornBiography
Shane McConkey (December 30, 1969 – March 26, 2009) was a professional skier and BASE jumper. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and eventually based himself in Squaw Valley, California, but due to an itinerant childhood he never identified with a single place and chose Boulder, Colorado, as the place he came from. It was from here that he started his professional skiing career after initially attending the University of Colorado Boulder before dropping out to pursue his dreams.
Biography
He won numerous awards and competitions. McConkey 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.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.
Death
On March 26, 2009, Shane McConkey died while executing a ski-BASE jump on the Sass Pordoi, a mountain in the Sella group, in 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.
Career accomplishments
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.
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:
- Nea Award Winner - Freeskiing Male
- Bridge Day Championships - 5th.
- 3rd Exit Style Winner of Judges Choice Award
- Gravity Games Big Mtn. Champion, Gravity Games Skiercross - 6th
- Gravity Games Big Air - 7th
- X-Games Skiercross - 5th
- Japan Core Games Skiercross Champion- 3rd.
- Johnny Moseley Invitational - 3rd.
1999:
- ESPN X-Games Skier Cross - 2nd.
- IFSA World Tour of Freeskiing - 5th.
- US Freeskiing Nationals - 5th
- World Tour event at Andermatt - 3rd.
1998:
- IFSA World Tour of Freeskiing Champion- 2nd.
- European Freeskiing Champion- 2nd.
- U.S. Freeskiing Nationals - 2nd.
- Canadian Freeskiing Championships-4th.
1996:
- IFSA Overall World Tour Champion - Unofficial tour- 4th.
- European Freeskiing Champion
- U.S. Freeskiing Championships-4th.
- World Extreme Skiing Championships-6th.
1995:
- U.S. National Freeskiing Champion
- South American Freeskiing Champion
- Pro Mogul Tour Overall - 16th.
- 1st seed and Japan Super Mogul - 7th.
1994:
- South American Freeskiing Champion
- World Extreme Skiing Championships-2nd
- Pro Mogul Tour Overall-8th
- 1st seed and Pro Mogul Tour Event at Copper Mtn. - 1st.
