Conked On The Head

There's something definitely different about Shane McConkey's personality that outdoes a skinny, wild-eyed ski champion wearing the rave fashion of soft adult baby clothes preaching new energy cosmic rebirth stories with the vigor of a human eggbeater. He is lucid and cuddly and has a friendly glow about him like a radioactive camp counselor.

The product of a father who, in between building Whistler Mountain in Canada, jumped off every cliff in North America before it became fashionable, and a mother who reigns as a National Master's slalom champion, McConkey didn't need to eat paint chips as a kid or take a bunch of his roommate's asthma tablets (ephedrine is the active ingredient in many "smart drugs") to establish state-of-the-art psychotic behavior on the slopes. Star of such films as "Global Storming," "Area 51," and "Sick Sense," the Gravity Games Big Mountain Champion chases cliffs the way a dog chases tires, called and crazy, willing to be hit, ripping down closed-to-wingnuts sections of the mountain in a euphoria comparable to having groovy sex and nosebleeds at the same time.

"Shane's a consummate pro, yet at the same time he's as insane as it takes when he needs to be," says Schultz Greenberg, Volant Director of Sales for North America, the ski company that sponsors McConkey's adventures on snow. "He's an Olympic quality athlete. He's our gold medalist at Volant and there's nobody in second place."

"I never think about trying to outdo anybody or trying to be well-known. All I ever wanted to do was go do these things and be as good as I could for myself," says McConkey who earns six figures annually and boasts sponsors such as Volant, Red Bull, Oakley, Sessions, Nordica, Marker, Cliff Bar, and Squaw Valley USA. "I'm really lucky, incredibly fortunate, to live out my dreams. I'm not saying to anyone that this is the way to go. But I am into the seize the day concept. Don't save anything for later in life, go do it right now."

It's easy to admire someone who isn't afraid to love their dreams, but McConkey's dreams have crossed over into OZ. His magical mystery tour runs a gauntlet of accomplishment like few others; 2000Gravity Games Big Mountain Champion; 2000 Japan Core Games Skiercross Champion; 2nd place 1999 ESPN X-Games Skiercross; 1998 World Tour of Freeskiing Champion and European Freeskiing Champion; 1995 and 1996 South American Freeskiiing Champion; 1995 US National Freesking Champion; 1994 2nd place World Extreme Skiing Championships. Studying his magic carpet ride is enough to hold the breath, murmur "Dayamn," and recall the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring The Winter garment of Repentance fling: The Bird of Time has but a little way To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

McConkey likes flying the way a wino likes Muscatel. In 1997, his late friend Frank Gamboli introduced him to base jumping, a sport comparable to Alcapulco cliff diving but where the landing isn't water but terra firma. This past October he returned from Oak Hill, West Virginia where he won the coveted "Judge's Choice Award" while competing in "Bridge Day," an international base jumping competition.

"Base jumping has helped my skiing," says McConkey who also enjoys skydiving. "Base jumping really makes you access the danger zones and to think things through correctly."

This fall, the 30 year old Squaw Valley resident also garnered acclaim by starring in the recently released Scott Gaffney film spectacular "There's Something About McConkey." The 35-minute film, produced by Matchstick Productions documents McConkey's career and his rather zany ways in a kind of VH1 "Behind the Music" manner. Footage contains everything from McConkey going big in British Columbia to sucking a spaghetti noodle up his nose.

"Shane's has had a more diverse and varied career of any skier today," says Gaffney, one of the ski industry's top movie makers. "He's not only a world champion, but a natural ham in front of the camera."

From the beginning, the world was his stage. Shane's mother, Glenn, recalls the time as a 10 year old living in Santa Cruz he auditioned for the lead in Peter and The Wolf, an event to be filmed for television with the Santa Cruz Symphony. Out of 1000 boys who auditioned, McConkey was one of two chosen for the role of Peter.

"I was actually against him becoming involved. I didn't like the environment with all these parents pushing their kids to become some star in Hollywood," remembers Glenn. "But Shane was insistent. It became clear to me then and there that when he really wanted something it wasn't my role to stand in his way."

If his genetic make up from two exceptional parental athletes didn't make him a champion of sorts his environment helped. An only child, he grew up in a strict surroundings, but one that had the mountains as a playground. His father, Jim McConkey, taught for famed skimeister Luggi Foeger at Gray Rocks in Quebec and at Badger Pass in Yosemite. He also worked for Alf Engen at Alta and Junior Bounous at Sugar Bowl. Personable and well-mannered off the slopes, Jim was an "enfant terrible" in the air and on the snow. His penchant for skiing steeps and launching off rocks were beyond the rational thought of the era.

"Crazy McConkey, that's what Luggi called him," recalls Bill Klein of Sugar Bowl. "There wasn't a rock he didn't jump off. He was a very powerful skier. I used to ski with him and he was crazy."

In 1968, Jim helped open Whistler ski area in British Columbia. He'd run their ski school until 1980.

"Shane's had a tremendous advantage. He began skiing before he was one year's old," says mother Glenn who has captured numerous national master skiing titles. "Whistler was a very small village and lacked babysitters. As a result I'd place him in my backpack and he'd cruise around with me on the slopes."

Under his parents tutelage, McConkey learned the dynamics of skiing; balance means leverage; leverage means speed; speed means power, because balance and leverage are behind the speed, not muscle. McConkey's pedigree would be fine-tuned at Burke Academy, a ski race prep school in Vermont. At age 16, while racing in Alaska at the Junior Nationals, he broke his back. Injury and disinterest by US Ski Team officials kept him from pursuing an amateur race career so he jumped out of the gates and joined the Pro Mogul Tour. His first year of competition he finished 8th overall and won a tour event at Copper Mountain.

"Shane just stepped in out of nowhere and won an event. It was incredible," remembers Miller Pro Mogul team member Brad Holmes. "I think that was the first time people really noticed him, but he became one of best in the world."

These days, McConkey's interests remain more in filmwork than competitions. He's been looking at several locations on different continents to perform a ski-base jump for the cameras.

"It's an ultimate goal, to ski off a cliff and parachute. I'm trying to put a creative twist on base jumping and skiing and do something no one's seen before," he says.

He'll also compete in a few competitions, including the Squaw Valley Ultracross in mid-January, but for the most part he wants to dangle his own carrot in front of himself instead of being pressured to compete at numerous events by outside influences.

"Five years ago there were only a couple of freeskiing-type events. Now, there's almost too many," says McConkey. "Skiing's not like scoring a touchdown. It's a creative sport with new lines and new airs and with always room for change. I just want to keep the interest flowing and ride this wild horse. The sports always changing and I'm very interested in how to do new things."