There’s Someone You Gotta Meet…
This page will regularly profile Squaw’s rich supply of characters – from people you’ve heard of to folks like KT Steve who gives cookies to lift op’s every morning. These are fun characters who exemplify different aspects of Squaw’s soul – and the stories just may crack you up…!
FIRST UP: Shane McConkey
Shane being Shane at the Cushing Classic, S. Gaffney filming
“…we are trying to focus on lines first and foremost not just base jumps with some snow above it. Its about the skiing for us not only the base jump. Having a parachute in our gear bag allows us to look at mountains and find lines in places that one normally couldn’t go so we are trying to take advantage of the opportunities these amazing Dolomites have to offer,” Shane McConkey (as quoted off of his blog on redbullairforce.com). He died in those mountains the very next day, 3/26/09.
Athletes who take their sport to a level never seen before are considered The Best. But there’s something especially interesting about The Best who have a sense of the levity surrounding them – and they decide to laugh at it. It makes everyone else admire them even more. Alberto Tomba dominating ski racing after hot tubbing ‘til all hours on nights before his races. Babe Ruth once asked a box seat-holder why he was so glum. The man replied that if the Yanks didn’t win soon he’d miss his train. Babe walked out and smashed the first pitch he saw into the right field stands ending the game. Later he asked the fan why he didn’t tell him that earlier! Mohammed Ali was a notorious prankster in the ring holding challenger’s heads and mocking them endlessly to the crowd’s glee.
And then there was Shane McConkey. He invented Stream Skiing in one movie segment just so he could retire from it five minutes later and call himself an Ex-Stream Skier. During one of his many injury-prone seasons, he created Saucerboy who drank JD, wore neon and was a general embarrassment to everyone around him – especially pro skiers. Later he dropped an S’boy doll from Squaw’s tram 500 feet into Silverado Bowl. As part of his Pain McShlonkey event at Squaw there was the unfamous Undie 500 in which contestants ran around the Village in their skivvies. He thought up ‘GNAR Points’ for Robb Gaffney’s Squallywood book. To get these points you did things like stand on a cliff and yell, “I’m better than you!” at the guy next to you before pointing it. As far as strictly skiing goes, when Scot Schmidt stepped down Shane McConkey stepped up. Tens of thousands of us graduated from Greg Stump flicks to Scott Gaffney’s and therefore had Shane as our top active idol. He was The Best.
And he didn’t stop with athletic achievements. He literally re-invented the sport of skiing in 2002 when he convinced Volant to build a few hundred pairs of Spatulas – the reverse camber, reverse sidecut original that made anyone willing to try them a phenomenally better powder skier. One day last season I was laughing at the speed and control I had even with weak legs and chopped up snow. I have a pair in the wrapper and was saving them for a big birthday until I realized that the older and more messed up my old ones get, the better they are. A friend of mine recently thanked me for convincing him to buy Spatula’s a while back. Another ski buddy had been calling me all season to rave about the extra pair I gave him for Christmas last year. These skis change people!
Although I only knew Shane a little bit, I knew him for a long time and saw him around Squaw often enough that I feel a huge loss. There’s something missing in Tahoe. There’s something missing in skiing. After good days at Squaw I ski by Alex Cushing’s house on the Mountain Run and yell “Thanks, Alex!” Now I’ll utter a quick “Gracias” to Shane as I do things on the Spatees I never could have done before. And heck, maybe I’ll earn a few GNAR points along the way.
© 2009 Alex West, all photos and copy
