Red Bull Media House and Matchstick Productions feed the Vancouver crowd with taurine and unveil a mind-blowing documentary on real-life Superman Shane McConkey. No spoiler alert here. We already know how the story ends, but how are the film makers going to get us there? DO watch it on the big screen and have Kleenex on hand. Pay attention to the constant foreshadowing as the story unfolds. They don’t make epic ski movies like this ever… unless of course you are Red Bull.
Making ski pizzas at the ripe age of two, it was clear that McConkey got his genes from his Dad, a ski star living his passion for the sport and the outdoors, even at the cost of losing his wife and child prodigy. Interviews with old friends, roommates from Burke Mountain Academy and college days in Boulder shed light on the real Shane, a gifted athlete screaming for life direction and the chance to be in the spotlight. Refusing to play by the rules, McConkey’s gregarious personality demanded constant feeding. When the US Ski Team denied him the opportunity to race, his world did a 360. College bros remember his early movie making days and the classic yellow waterproof handicam that accompanied him everywhere. As he struggled for direction, his video stunts and ski feats grew more outrageous.
Just as McConkey flunked college and hit rock bottom, he and his ski buddies caught wind of a new generation of ski flicks, Greg Stump’s pivotal Blizzard of Aahhh’s. He was fired up and ready to prove himself to the world.
The attention he craved finally came when he started making cash competing on the Pro Mogul Tour. With zero professional mogul training, McConkey blazed to the finish line and proved to the industry that his skill level was top notch. Vail being his stomping ground at the time, when the tour stopped and McConkey had a real chance to show his stuff, he flubbed it and took a big loss. On his next run, McConkey faced failure head on and pulled off his most jaw dropping stunt to date, exposing his manhood and streaking the crowds while launching big air over the finish line. Despite getting kicked out of Vail for his stunts, McConkey made headlines for his nude streak and landed a fast track to his dream job and passion, freeskiing.
Pulling pranks on film makers like Nick Nixon and pushing the envelope as Saucer Boy increased his reputation as ‘the man’, who was now “becoming the person he wanted to be” according to his friends. Rail sliding an entire mountain on water-skis, McConkey helped launch and endorse the new era of fat skis for powder skiing.
At the time, Squaw Valley was the hub of the freeski world and the place to flock for fame. Known as Mr. Cool, McConkey’s followers openly admit to having a bromance with the growing legend. “I’ll be poor the rest of my life so I can have fun” was Shane’s motto and his stunts redefined industry standards, continually growing in risk and magnitude with the help of a helmet cam.
McConkey quickly found the secret illegal world of BASE jumping the answer to his need for adrenaline. He joined the Red Bull Air Force. With over 500 jumps under his belt and a new wife Sherry in tow, even his family was unable to harness his insane need to exceed his latest stunt. It became his personal mission to surpass Rick Sylvester’s ski release into a chute maneuver for the movie The Spy Who Loved Me.
Life became richer after the birth of his daughter Ayla and his wife Sherry continued to support his dream. “You can’t cage an eagle” she explains in the movie. “Shane’s biggest fear was to have to work 9 to 5”. When you truly love someone you have to let them fly and be free and that is what she did. The movie climaxes when McConkey surpasses Sylvester’s original ski release stunt by jumping off bigger cliffs, releasing his skis, free falling and then flying in a wing suit before landing safely by parachute. Totally mad or totally cool?
You would think that after finally mastering his ultimate mission, despite multiple injuries and with his wife and family beside him, McConkey might slow down in middle age or at least take some precautions. Not. At age 39 his life ended while jumping over the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, the peak he had been mapping out from the get-go. Before the eyes of his crew, the story came to a dark end.
When it’s over there is a good chance you will feel flat, I did. For those of us with kids, this documentary tugs at the heart strings and sheds light on the high stakes in extreme sports. Attention, success, popularity, freedom….what’s it all worth when you’ve got just one life to live? Check out Red Bull Media House and Matchstick Productions McConkey, a powerful piece that will WOW you.
