The Flying Man

Just closed a big piece on this guy: Shane McConkey, the singular skier who died ski-BASE-jumping in Italy this spring. Basically, he was doing what you see him doing here, but with one extra element thrown in: Before he pulled his parachute, he planned to fly around in a wingsuit, like a human flying squirrel. 

It was a stunt too far, and when his skis failed to release as planned, the whole thing went awry. And of course, a certain number of people on the internet decided that they needed to tell everyone else how stupid Shane was, what an idiot, irresponsible, how could he have left his wife and daughter, etc. But I wonder: Did they think that when they watched his videos and went, "oooh"? 

I particularly like this clip, from Mark Obenhaus's superb 2007 documentary, "Steep" — I've watched it over and over, noting every detail. I love the way he just seems to will himself off the ground, moving effortlessly from skiing to airborne front flip. But my favorite moment is when he jettisons his ski poles just before he goes off the edge. It's a gesture of total commitment, abandoning himself to flight, the pursuit of his own kind of beauty.

Was he "crazy," as the couch critics would have it?

Maybe. Crazy like an artist, I'd say.