In addition to everything that has been said in the various forums, my deepest condolences go to Shane McConkey's parents. I've read things over the years that suggest that his parents worried a lot about what he was doing. His ski buddies, his fans, even his wife had a relationship with him based on choice--they knew what he was doing when they established that relationship. But the relationship of a parent to a child is unique. There is no love in the world more unconditional than the love of a parent for their child. My heart aches just thinking about his parents.
A decade ago, when one of my friends died in a sporting accident, I wrote a
short essay
about the loss of innocence that inevitably happens when you spend much time participating in dangerous sports. I based it on the
Kübler-Ross model
, reasoning that this loss is no different, really, than the other tragedies we face in life.
When I read posts on TGR and elsewhere about Shane's death, I find myself cycling between depression and anger. Many have expressed that they didn't think this could happen to him, that he was some sort of superman. I keep thinking, how naive can you be? Do you have any idea what he was really doing? And then my stomach turns when I think about the unholy relationship we "fans" have with the people who build their public lives around such dangerous sports. It seems like a kind of pornography.
Then I watch a clip like
this one
and listen to Steve Casimiro when he says, "If you have that ability to BASE jump and you have the ability to ski some of the steepest, most radical things around, putting the two of those together makes complete sense. It makes total sense. Why not?"
It's hard to watch anymore.
