On March 26th 2009, Shane McConkey was sadly taken from us when he died in a ski-BASE accident in the Italian Dolomites. Shane McConkey has starred in handfuls of ski movies inspiring countless skiers. He further progressed skiing with the introduction of the rockered ski and essentially innovated ski-BASE jumping. In recent films he would show us unforgettable jaw-dropping scenes of him soaring dangerously close to cliffs in his wing-suit.

According to Scott Gaffney (source: ESPN Action Sports); one of Shane's skis had failed to release shortly after he had performed a double backflip off a cliff. This caused him to spin out of control to the point where deploying the parachute would have been too dangerous. Details are still sketchy and it is unclear whether the parachute was deployed, but it seems that the cause of the accident is because one of his skis failed to release when it should have.

Shane was filming with Matchstick Productions and Red Bull at the time of the accident in Italy. Shane will be survived by his wife, Sherry, and young daughter, Ayla. Shane, also known as "Cliff Huckstable", won numerous awards such as placing second in the 1999 X-Games Skier-X event. It goes without question to say that Shane will be thoroughly missed. All of us at Ski Film Reviews wish to express our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

R.I.P. Shane McConkey - 1969-2009

picture source: mspfilms.com