A lovely four inches of wet schlop coated Palisades Tahoe earlier this month on January 22, 2024. While many stayed home, some ventured out for some good moisture-laden ole Sierra Cement pow turns. The resort has been home to numerous legendary skiers over the years, but perhaps none more influential than Scott Gaffney. The incredible skier and filmmaker has been part of every step of skiing’s evolution. He still gets after it, but on this day, he decided to break out a true piece of freeskiing history: the late Shane McConkey’s water skis. He also decided to do all of us a favor and compile a glorious two-and-a-half-minute edit live for our viewing pleasure.
For those who don’t know, Shane McConkey was a pioneer not just in the actual skiing that he did but in the skis themselves. As the brief feature of McConkey at the beginning of this edit explains, he was one of the first people to advance the sport by utilizing larger skis in deeper snow. Since so many people kept asking him why he was ripping snow on what appeared to be water skis, he mounted up a pair for his own use. While it sounds obvious today, innovation is always tough at the time. His hunch was right, and he set the standard that skiers around the world utilize today.
It can be easy to say that McConkey was just another thrill seeker, an adrenaline junkie who went too far. This, however, is far from the truth. As poetically explained in this Red Bull feature, McConkey lived to truly enjoy every day. It was his way of appreciating and taking advantage of every moment that life had to offer. We all strive to get joy out of our everyday lives, no matter our passions or occupations. We look to take advantage of the time we have, but how often do we really do that? It can be scary, downright terrifying at times to live like that. Not because of the physical risk, there are many ways to cherish each day without that. It’s terrifying because it’s different. We can all take a page out of Shane’s book and embrace that fear. It doesn’t have to be base jumping off a 300-foot cliff. No matter how you enjoy each day, chances are that the work and fear you surpass to do so will be worth it tenfold in the end. Huge thank you to Gaffney and McConkey for inspiring us to savor each day and live it the best we can. Now, enough rambling; enjoy some water skiing!
From YouTube –
I took Shane McConkey’s legendary Stinger waterskis for a rip today (1.22.24) at Palisades Tahoe on four inches of rain-saturated mank, schmoo, sludge, Sierra Cement…whatever you wish to call it. I’ve skied these maybe eight to 10 times in-bounds over the years, almost always in conditions like this. And they absolutely rule and are possibly the best tool there is in these conditions (I know they’d do great on a sick powder day, too, but I’m usually a little more keen to be on my normal gear when it’s good).
Anyway, I figured a lot of people probably haven’t seen these boards in action since Matchstick Productions’ “Focused” a couple of decades ago (or in our McConkey documentary), so I threw a super quick edit together with some GoPro clips from the day. Maybe one of these days, I’ll suck it up and take them out when it’s really firing.
