Photograph by "the eye of'"
When I first started teaching her, I remember telling her, you know, the rules of B.A.S.E. jumping, like, the facts. You jump long enough, you’ll break bones. You’re in the sport long enough, you’re going to watch people die. And then, third, and it’s kind of a pointless thing to talk about, but you’re gonna die too. Do this long enough, it’s gonna kill you. If you can’t deal with that, don’t get into B.A.S.E jumping. –Jeb Corliss speaking in ’20 Seconds of Joy’
Not everyone can understand the attraction of risky activities. For me, it’s about conquering fear. The fear of being stopped by fear is far greater than the fear of pretty much anything. Anything that I have backed away from because of fear has caused me more sleepless nights and emotional torment than anything that I have sweated and shaken through but done anyway. Of course, you have to accept the risk. More accurately, you have to accept that your personal ability outweighs the risk. Often the perception of risk, is much, much greater than the actual risk – falling on a rope can still feel scary even though is almost always perfectly safe. B.A.S.E jumping an activity that often divides opinion. Some people insist that it is as safe as anything else, others believe that a certain element of control is lost; that failure is more often beyond human control. And, of course, the consequences of failure be fatal.
How do you sum up a human who spent his life leaving everybody speechless? March 26th, 2009 skiing lost an ambassador, B.A.S.E. jumping an innovator, the world a jester, and the world a friend. We all got so used to seeing Shane do such gnarly things on skis and parachutes that a day like today didn’t seem possible, the guy did what he wanted when he wanted and with a smile he got away with it. We will all miss you DudeManBro. – Team Red Bull, in memory of Shane McConkey (1969-2009)
Last month, Shane McConkey passed away in a tragic accident in the Dolomites. After performing a double back flip, McConkey intended to glide away in his wingsuit, but struggled to release his skis. By the time he got them off, he was too close to the ground for his wingsuit or parachute to do him any good. His parachute did not malfunction, it was never deployed.
Shane McConky was one of the first people that I ever saw wingsuit footage of. These are my favourite clips:
Matchstick Productions wingsuit flying segment from 2007′s feature film
“Seven Sunny Days.”
Big mountain skiing and base jumping
But, who doesn’t dream of being able to fly? And can people survive incredible things. I’m amazed and deeply moved by people who manage to keep pushing after the most life-shattering disasters …
Official trailer for Jens Hoffman’s ’20 Seconds of Joy’
The tickets to the 2008 Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour are taped to my refrigerator. Perhaps this is what led me to search for what happened to Karina Hollekim, the star of last year’s ‘20 Seconds of Joy‘, which won the 2007 Audience Award. ’20 Seconds’ is amazing movie, covering several years of Karina’s life, including her 2006 parachute malfunction, which resulted in her hitting the ground at more than 100 km/h. The accident left her with 4 fractures in her left femur and 21 open fractures in her right leg. But Karina lived. And lives on and on…
I was overjoyed to see that almost three years on Karina has completed 20 surgeries, is walking, is out of rehabilitation, is sit-skiing and hopes to be back on two skis sometime in 2009. Probably these three years have seen her complete the most difficult tasks of her life. They have also made her even more inspiring than she was as an elite athlete.
Karina Hollekim, speaking to Outside online in 2008:
Do you think you’ll jump again?
… I’m scared. It’s always like this after a big accident and it takes time to get over it. If I spend two, maybe three years in rehab centers and hospitals just to get back to my life, maybe I spent all my luck and I don’t want to end up in this situation again. And the next time I don’t know if I’ll be this lucky. I don’t want to say never. You should never say never.
Karina Hollekim – Learning how to walk again