In memory of Steve McKinney...

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neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Nov 11, 2007 - 09:17pm PT

hey there captianchaos, sorry to hear of the loss of friends, even though it was long ago--these losses are never forgotten...

say, there peter... so very wonderful to know that such a friend had made such a dramatic change in your life--and--led to lynda and the whole works...

thanks for all these many shares conerning the honor of your friend's name....

Mimi

climber

Nov 11, 2007 - 10:45pm PT

I never met Steve but do remember watching his sister. After reading these posts and doing some research tonight, I found another nice description of him that echoes what his friends already know. It's easy to see, Craig and those who knew Steve, why 11/10 is unfortunately a marked date in your lives.

Excerpt:
McKinney, from Reno, was the Steve McQueen of speed skiing. With his blond, flowing, lion’s mane of hair, and sharp, fine-boned features, McKinney cut a dashing figure on skis. His younger sister, Tamara, was a three-time U.S. Olympian and 1983 World Cup champion. He was dubbed the “High Priest of Speed Skiing,” and for good reason, as he introduced rubberized suits and aerodynamic helmets to the sport.

While most men carry about them a feeble incandescence, McKinney radiated sheer magnetism. He skied around the length of Lake Tahoe before there was a Tahoe Rim Trail. He hang-glided off Mount Everest.

“Steve was probably the most important speed skier who ever lived,” (Dick) Dorworth says. “He marked it more than anyone. He was special.

Dorworth’s voice grew quiet. In 1990, while sleeping in his car on the side of Interstate 5 in Northern California, a drunk driver slammed into the back of McKinney’s car and killed him. He was 36 years old.

“He was a beautiful man,” Dorworth says. “He had that ability to dig deeper than other people, not only in terms of athletics, but in his relationships in trying to see what was true and what was not. He was a real seeker.”

Entire article:
http://rgj.p2ionline.com/magazine/ss/index.aspx?adgroupid=33269&webstoryid=8183776&articleID=8183775&adid=1257835&type=art&&menu=43

WBraun

climber

Nov 11, 2007 - 10:57pm PT

Well one day Steve gave me a pair of 220 long board downhill racing skis.

I was so blown away for that generosity. And on top of it Steve and Craig both taught me so much how to be crazy at high speed and still keep it together.

You guys rock!!!!!

Then Steve and all his US team buddies and a host of others kept their skis in my room at Mammoth mountain. One day the head guy there walks by my room and sees some 30 or more racing skis in my room.

He asks me if I'm the guy ripping off all the skis on the mountain.

Mimi

climber

Nov 11, 2007 - 11:00pm PT

You are always getting into trouble like that, WB. LOL!

taorock

Trad climber

Okanogan, WA

Nov 11, 2007 - 11:52pm PT

That photo of speed skiing from Silverton brought back memories. I was on the Silverton SAR back in the late 80's and we provided some services for those events. Crazy stuff. I remember one person's ski going through their visor (during a fall) and causing a major bleed. Being right next to the course gave me great respect for the SPEED!

I also thought that the slope groomer was hanging it out as well ;). That terrain was steep. Are these event still happening in the States?

My respects to Steve may he rest in peace and to his friends.

tetonhack

Social climber

jackson wy

Nov 12, 2007 - 12:13am PT

I remember Kim Schmitz telling me a Mckinney story. Steve had just set the world speed skiing record and had money, fancy new car etc. They were partying at Squaw and Steve decided to let Kim drive his new car (bad decision). Kim lost it on the way down and rolled the car and both were pinned inside. Kim said he could just smell the scent of the new car smell because of the ripped up interior and the tape deck just kept repeating "she's got Betty Davis eyes". I think they both walked away. One of many for both.

Jello

Social climber

No Ut

Nov 12, 2007 - 12:55am PT

Craig, as you know I never really knew Steve, but through guys like you and Dick I got a glimpse of his incandescent arc. I remember talking with you about staying within the "egg", or bubble while on the track. Any part of the body creeps outside tyhat zone and down you go! You told me Steve had taught you to think that way. Remember the speed skiis you gave to me, that I was always going to join you at one of the contests on? One of my life's regrets is that I never got around to melding with Steve, you and the others on that esoteric zen-search to exceed the speed of free-fall while wearing a pair of long boards and skimming down a 45-degree slope of ice, staying within the bubble.

But do I remember a day at Mammoth, with you, McKinney and me, bump skiing at high speed on those long skis? My memories are somehow deficient. But Dorworth has always been a mentor, Steve an inspiration and you a great if infrequently in contact brother-in-arms.

-Jeff

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2007 - 11:21am PT

Jeff, Stevie and I were always hoping to see you join us for a few rides, for sure you would have had a good time, by the way, did you ever get to take those boards out for a spin? I don't know if you have been watching the World Cup races but Cerro's daughter is kicking ass, she's winning lots of races, picked up an Olympic gold at the last games in Italy, and is scoring wins in all four events... Also, that photo of Stevie and Dorworth was taken by Joe Bryan somewhere around 78, every time I see that photo I think about him again... which is good as Joe was a good guy and friend. Do you ever hear from Cactus anymore? Next time you come to Europa, stop by and visit, we have a room with your name on it waiting for you, it would be good to see you again me hermano-

Funny story Werner with all the skis in your room, those were some great times ripping it up with you, we have to do it again... like I said, I have big quiver of boards and boots... so if that will get you back on the boards again, let me know and I'll send you some stuff out. The bar you were talking about if I remember right was the bar at Tahoe House? Brid & Dale were Hobart technicians there (dish washers) is that the one your talking about? Brid had a girlfriend who was working there as well, nice looking one if I remember right.

Thanks Mimi for digging that story up, its a good compliment to Stevie's persona, he had many admirers which is apparent just from the comments being posted here.

Tetonhack... funny you mentioned the story about the car crash, as I realized I didn't add it in when I mentioned some of the beatings Stevie survived, as this one was as good as any of them, both Stevie and Kim used up one of their nine lives on that one. Your story was pretty close, to what happened... The actual story is they were coming back from the east side of the sierras from a preparation climb for the 83 Everest expd. on the north side. Stevie just got a new Datsun 4 x 4 truck that week, and like you said made the mistake of letting Kim drive, because as you know, Kim is a disaster when it comes to driving, the odds when he gets behind the wheel are 50/50 that he'll crash, well maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but probably not by much. Anyway, they were coming down from Conway summit on 395 heading towards Bridgeport at the bottom of the hill there's this corner which normally is not a problem, but with Kim behind the wheel anything can happen, and it did... from what they told me they hit some ice going into the corner and began a sideways slide, and then hit a dry part of the road and which launched them into a roll? and from there were launched off into the wild blue yonder doing rolls in the air and landed out in the middle of the field upside down, luckily both ducked just before they landed which obviously saved them as the cab of the truck was flattened to the bed level, somehow they managed to crawl out and walked away pretty much unscathed.

Taorock... cool to hear you were one of the guys helping out in Silverton, that was quite a wild race, and the location added to it. I remember that crash, blood everywhere... it always made me a bit queasy watching people explode before you were to make your run... not the most encouraging thing to have to witness when its your turn next. I remember this one time at a race in France, I think 5 or 6 people exploded in front of us, they would scrap them off the track the chopper would come in and take them away and the next guy would go down and it would happen all over again. It was raining and snowing, and I remember looking up at Stevie and said what the hell are we doing here, this is completely insane, you know were going to push ourselves too far one of these days, and that's going to be it... think we should say something? Stevie looks at me and say naaa... these guys were destined to blow up anyway, we'll be just fine, beside it will be interesting to see what this is going to be like in these winds... and it was. The top of the track was protected from the winds, when you came out into the wind exposed area you were going around 120, when I entered this area I got hit by a crosswind and got blown sideways and off the track, I had one ski go out and was now behind my head, I'm one ski heading for a boulder about 70 high and 100 ft wide basically it would be a cartoon type splat, except not so funny when its you who's going to splat. I don't know how, but I made a high speed crude turn on one ski and got back onto the track got my ski back under me dove back into my tuck and held on with everything I had. I got to the bottom and Stevie looked up at me and said what the hell you doing up there man this ain't no freestyle event, I looked up and said four words, time for the bar... Surprisingly enough I was 3rd on that run, whew... the things we used to do.

Last but not least, Stongerdog your right the track in Les Arcs has been changed, the old one was always getting taken out by slides, and so they put a bunch of dough together and carved this one out. To date and recently I might add, two racers have died just sitting at the top of the track waiting for their run. They somehow slipped (without skis on) and took of down the steep icy face which is bumped out and didn't stop until the bottom. That's the down side of the slippery suits we wear for this event, when you go down you can slide forever.

Jaybro

Social climber

The West

Nov 12, 2007 - 04:01pm PT

Is Steve the guy reffered to in the Bird's book, in the story where they do impossibly scary skiing (60' airborne, etc) in Taos or somewhere, then poach shiprock?

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 12, 2007 - 04:47pm PT

Yes, Jaybro... that was him- they had an epic on Shiprock, if I remember right Brid almost got the chop getting off the thing, can't remember the details now though.

Doug Robinson

Trad climber

Santa Cruz

Nov 13, 2007 - 06:11pm PT

So, Steve bounced back really fast, went from that broken back to breaking the world speed record in something like 4-6 months. One day he told me the secret of that recovery: Accupuncture. Not just accupuncture, but electronic acupuncture. The needles went in his back, and then they applied juice to them. The accupunturist gets him all stuck and wired up, and she's very reassuring. He notices her adjust the current, then she leaves. The minute she's gone, Steve reaches around and cranks it!

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 12:55pm PT

Doug... good to see you here, I was wondering if you were going to jump in and tell a Stevie story, as I knew you had a few... Anyway, its been awhile since our last connection, I hope all's well- Craig

scuffy b

climber

The deck above the 5

Nov 14, 2007 - 01:30pm PT

I heard a report of him skiing the Mountaineer's Route on Whitney
late Spring, maybe Memorial Day, slush knee deep or worse,
on 250s.
I think it was the year of skiing dozens of volcanoes up and down
the Cascades and Andes.

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 03:03pm PT

Scuffy B- The longest skis Steve would have used to ski any of those peaks would have been 220's. For speed skiing we used 240's, but that was the longest ski made and allowed for the event. Speed skis were made for going straight not for turning, although we could and did, we would have never used those things for something like that, they were also very heavy, as were the 220's which we skied on a lot in those days. We humped those things up peaks all over the Sierra's while wearing our alpine ski racing boots, not exactly in line with the light is right philosophy.

Kath, I don't know about using Red banks as a pro jump, but we certainly went in on that side with some heat. For many years in a row we would go up there every spring and ski that mystical mountain. Unfortunately we never got to see any of those guys who supposedly live inside the mountain, did you ever see them?

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 03:35pm PT

He didn't poke his head out and take a look? I know of several similar stories where friends of mine out in the middle of nowhere heard foot steps outside the tent, but when they looked, no one was there. They laid it down, and it would begin all over again, they would look outside the tent again and still no one was around, strange... some say it was a ghost, yikes... Buschmann and I had something very big walking down on us (stalking us) out in the middle of the Andes one night. We were hiking up to ski a big old peak outside the Portillo ski area at the far end of the lake in the middle of the night, about halfway up I noticed some snow coming down on us, afterwards we heard footsteps that were in sequence with the falling snow. When we stopped it would stop, when we began walking again, it began walking and the snow would start coming down on us again. We did this a few times, and then decided to high tail it out of there, we put our skis on and hit Mach I back to the hotel where Stevie was have a pretty wild experience. Long story, but a good one...

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 03:45pm PT

Yes, there are some strange things going on out there, maybe we need to start another thread on the paranormal, as I have a few wild stories that happened to me and many of my friends, some of the wilder ones directly involve Stevie. One in particular which I'm certain played a major role to his exit.

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 04:32pm PT

OK, but its late here, and so it will have to be tomorrow, as these things will take time to get down in words, some are lengthy stories and complex and they deserve the time spent to get them right.

captain chaos

climber

Topic Author's Reply - Nov 14, 2007 - 04:42pm PT

by the way and off subject... we just got 2 ft of the white fluffy at home and probably 5 to 6 ft up high in the last 24 hours... nice start to our winter, hope it keeps it up and also moves east towards those little mountains called the Himalaya.