Extreme Skier Shane McConkey Dies in Base Jumping Accident

Fox News ^ | 3-27-2009

[My Favorite Headache]

Friday, March 27, 2009

Print ShareThisCanadian extreme skier and base jumper, Shane McConkey, died Thursday following a ski-base accident that ocurred while filming his latest movie in Italy, the Inquisitr reported.

McConkey, 39, experienced problems in the air after jumping off of a cliff in the expectation that he would be able to detach his skis and deploy his parachute, thus enabling him to glide safely to the ground, according to the Inquisitr.

According to a witness, one of McConkey's skis failed to detach causing him to spin out of control and ultimately prevented him from deploying his parachute, the Inquisitr reported.

[Izzy Dunne]

I contacted the agents of all the most famous extreme athletes I knew about and every single one of them was dead.

All their agents were dead?

What a coincidence. ;->

[JustaDumbBlonde]

We love to watch Warren Miller ski videos and were watching one on satellite the other night. The video actually was the whole story of the clip that accompanies the story at FoxNews. I commented to my husband that this young man was going to die with skis on, probably soon. In search of the rush, he was getting progressively more radical in his tricks.

He has joined most of his friends and circle of peers. They all die young and see fit to leave small children behind. Odd choice to make, IMHO.

We love to ski ... there is nothing quite like a great snow on a beautiful day. Heck, it's still wonderful on a rather nasty day. Difference between us and these guys is that we do our best to stay alive so that we can do it again next year.

[Squidpup]

the skis stay on in this video - check him landing at the very end.

[RichInOC]

SHANE: WHAT HAPPEN?
BASE: ALL YOU ARE BELONG TO ME.
BASE: YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME.
BASE: HA HA HA HA....

[Melas]

Don’t follow. Why would not being able to detach his skies, effect his ability to deploy his parachute?

The way the stunt is performed on skis, the chute is deployed while you are inverted (head down, feet up). If he couldn't detach, the skis would have tangled the chute.

[Melas]

Wow, jerk of the day award goes to you.

[tx_eggman]

The Reality Theorem:

“Given enough time and money, man will always find a way to harm, maim, or kill himself.”

The Mike From Work Theorem:

"Nature has a way of weedin' out stupid people."

[eureka!]

Thanks for the photo. YouTube has some great base jumping videos. Also look at the “wingsuits”. Wow is all I can say. Maybe stupid but wow.

[MEGoody]

Why would not being able to detach his skies, effect his ability to deploy his parachute?

Apparently, only one ski failed to detach, which caused him to spin. Maybe with the spinning, he couldn't get his 'bearings' enough to pull the cord.

[BradyLS]

A few years ago I was supposd to produce a TV special for NBC on Extreme Sports. I contacted the agents of all the most famous extreme athletes I knew about and every single one of them was dead. The special was ditched.

Why wouldn't they want to do a special on just how dangerous and reckless that stuff is???

[buccaneer81]

Watch Rick Sylvester, the granddaddy of BASE jumping do the fantastic 1977 "Spy Who Loved Me" jump from Mount Asgard on Baffin Island...

Bond Jump

[Axenolith]

ARF!

Wormhole Extreme... ;-)

[IronJack]

Hey, Idiot! Out of the gene pool!

Thanks.

[Doogle]

Must have been a new process

..nope his next to last

[mupcat]

Why would not being able to detach his skies, effect his ability to deploy his parachute?

That's what I want to know. I watched the video and in his first jump off the building they detached, the second time they did not and he was fine in both jumps. Maybe it has something to do with not having both come off therefore providing an imbalance.

[StormEye]

One thought here:
Acceleration due to gravity: 32ft/sec/sec. For you metric type thinkers:
9.81m/sec/sec. In either measure, not much time to correct errors before you hit the ground.

[Seven plus One]

About 40 years ago I saw a German guy who caught .22 bullets in his stainless steel teeth. It was way cool. He bought the farm by falling 20 or 30 floors from his hotel room, if I remember correctly.

[ExpatGator]

I stopped doing dangerous/stupid (large wave surfing, skydiving, etc.) stuff for fun when I became a father. A responsible parent behaves in a prudent manner. I feel for this guy and his family, but also feel he was selfish in pursuing this line of entertainment after becoming a father.

[Mila]

"That alone would make me think twice before attempting any life-threatening stunts."

Exactly! There comes a time when a person has to let go of the dangerous "fun" things in their life and take a hard look at their responsibilities. IMHO, that time for Mr.McConkey came the day his daughter was born.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.