MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Fall Winter 2018

24 MLCM FALL/WINTER 2018 After a few years of preparation via skydiving, McIntosh began to fly his wingsuit all over the world—from Switzerland to Yosemite to his own backyard in Squamish. “Nothing on this earth will ever compare to human flight,” he says. “To stand on the edge of a huge cliff and push off, buzzing alpine fields … it’s incredible and amazing, but also tragic. I lost everyone, everyone I looked up to, all my mentors are dead. I watched people with way more experience than me die in front of my eyes and it affected me. I don’t look at life as a disposable thing. It’s precious. So I gave it up.” The final decision, McIntosh says, came after a biking trip with his parents and brother. “I’d just returned from a wingsuit trip in Switzerland where I’d had a few close calls and I went to Moab with my family and realized my dad was 70 years old and riding these rad trails with us. I knew I had a lot left to do. It wasn’t an easy call and I miss it a lot. But for me, it’s not worth dying for. Some people might disagree and I understand why, but I could see myself heading down a dangerous path and I needed to get out.” Another deciding factor was McIntosh’s then-girlfriend, now-wife, an adventurous all-mountain ripper named Jen. “Its funny how much your mentality changes,” Ian says, “when there is someone you love immensely and have dreams of adventuring with and growing old together … I sold my wingsuit gear and got kiteboarding gear. Jenny and I learned to kiteboard and here is something I can do with my wife and my friends until I am an old man. At the same time, I’m not just going to stay home and start knitting. I need a certain level of risk to feel alive, that’s who I am and skiing is a part of me.” TOP The early hiker gets the pow. BOTTOM Inbound fun on Blackcomb. REUBEN KRABBE