And it Shall Now be Known as "McConkey's"

Abraham Lincoln has a marble chair. George Washington has a phallic tower. Lady Liberty has a statue on an island. Shane McConkey has the steepest, gnarliest and least skied peak/face on Squaw Valley.
On Saturday, October 3rd, an official renaming ceremony took place in Squaw Valley, CA. After months of collaboration between Squaw Valley and the friends and family of Mr. McConkey, a consensus was agreed upon to rename the legendary "Eagle's Nest" as "McConkey's." It was a much debated decision, but in my opinion it was the only run at Squaw fitting enough to bear Shane's name.
For the official dedication/renaming ceremony, a group of friends and family gathered at the bottom of KT-22 and planned on hiking up to McConkey's to spread some ashes and officially recognize this mountain as Shane's legacy.

"We're going all the way up there?" (McConkey's is the peak above and to the left of the offload station of the KT-22 chairlift)


Final push up the backside of McConkey's



Kyle O'neal dangling ankles over the face of McConkey's.


Somewhere the lovely Sherry McConkey said that not letting Shane ski, base jump or do any of the crazy/amazing stuff he did would be like caging an eagle. The official McConkey memorial sculpture.



Even amid the seriousness of losing our friend, we're still a bunch of dorks at heart. Señor Scott Gaffney dorking it up.



Then, whether you call it coincidence or spiritual synchronicity, nearly immediately after we spread some of Shane's ashes it started dumping. Snowed through the night, through the MSP premiere and through the party that stretched into the early hours of the morning. Woke up to McConkey's with a fresh dusting of snow. So cool.


Betcha there is going to be a heavy rush to ski McConkey's first this season.