Since I'm recently "back on the mountain" this ski season, I've been learning more about the ski world and it's players. Especially the ones who have been lost and severely injured. As I entered the mountain world again, the first was Shane McConkey from
Squaw Valley USA who died last year in March when his ski base jump went wrong in the Italian Dolomites (He couldn't release one of his skis, went into a uncontrollable bad spin, and then crashed). Shane was 39 years old. Nothing but goodness has been uttered from anyone who's wrote or spoke of Shane. One word that comes to mind is Bodhisattva. Perhaps more enlightened than "Bodhi" in
Point Break. And Swayze's character didn't ski THEN jump and sore like a bird.
Shane McConkey, RIP
Just a few days ago another from
Squaw Valley was lost, and this time at Squaw. Only 26 years old,
Winter X Games freestyler CR Johnson was skiing off a cliff and fell face first into rocks off of Squaw's famous Headwall. The ski community refers to CR as legendary. Like Shane, CR had a hugh heart and good soul which makes the loss even greater. Unbelievable that in 2005, CR almost died after a head injury that left him in a coma and hospitalized for 34 days.
CR Johnson, RIP
As seen in many ski racing and snowboarding crashes (
Kevin Pearce of "Frends"), the reminder of skiing/boarding as a dangerous sport echoes very loud. I have a vintage ski Colorado t-shirt (courtesy of my older brother) that reads the famous line: "No Guts, No Glory." Is it all worth the risk? Must you truly be gutsy to obtain all the glory?
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