By Gregory Crofton
When news of the death of skier and BASE jumper Shane McConkey spread, it hurt. He was our superman, the one who rode the cliffs that no one else could. He made impossible things somehow possible. He used fear as fuel, flipping himself off into one mountainous abyss after another with a smile.
His job, he’d say, did not suck.
“McConkey,” the documentary, is everything it should be. It’s a tribute from his ski buddies, his parents and his wife, as well as a thorough and honest examination of his life. Home videos show how he developed into a wacky but lovable athlete who forced his loved ones to live in constant foreboding of his death because of all the crazy risks he took for “work.”
The film handles his sudden death, from a ski-BASE jump in Italy in 2009, appropriately. The documentary’s group of five writer/directors don’t show the impact of his fall. Instead they include shots of him scouting the jump with his ski buddy J.T. Holmes, and the two of them skiing a steep chute to access the cliff. They also show the Red Bull camera crew reacting to the disaster in real time. The most complete report of his last ski-BASE jump is available from Outside magazine.
Thankfully there is also plenty of footage of McConkey launching off cliffs and dropping into lines that’ll make you either cringe or drop your jaw. And a long roll call of the injuries he overcame to keep at the sports he loved shows his true level of passion. The film even reveals his true inspiration for his ski-BASE jumps, but watch the doc to find that out. The best surprise was a DVD extra called “Shane’s Super Part.” It’s an eight-minute blast of McConkey’s greatest hits.
No one will accomplish feat after feat like McConkey did, and he took each leap with style. It’s pretty unbelievable. You can find more information about the film or buy it here. “McConkey” is also available streaming on Netflix.