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"Shane McConkey, 39, one of the world's best skiers, died March 26 after taking another leap off another mountain, half-a-world away from his wife and three-year-old daughter in California, while being filmed for a movie," reporter David Ebner writes in Saturday's Globe and Mail.

"He did a backflip after skiing off a craggy peak in the Dolomite Mountains in northern Italy. But when he tried to release his skis so he could glide away in a wingsuit and parachute safely to earth, something went wrong. One of the bindings didn't release, sending him into a brutal 12-second spin. He died on impact.

"Ski base jumping and other forms of "base jumping" — throwing oneself off structures such as buildings, bridges and mountains in a freefall before releasing a parachute — are more than just risky sports. So in the days after Mr. McConkey's death, it didn't take long for a familiar debate to begin."

Can the breathtaking risks of extreme sports justify the rewards? What drove Mr. McConkey to seek out that next adrenalin rush? What spurs extreme athletes to keep trying to defy death at every leap? 

On Monday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, globeandmail.com was pleased to host an online discussion with Mr. McConkey's friends, Miles Daisher, Ingrid Backstrom and veteran big mountain skier Eric Pehota along with reporter David Ebner.

Mr. Daisher is a professional basejumper who has completed more than 2,400 jumps. He did a base jump from Whistler's Peak to Peak gondola with Mr. McConkey in December.

Mr. Pehota is known as a Canadian pioneer of big mountain skiing and today lives near Whistler, B.C. In the 1990s, he and skiing partner Trevor Petersen made the first descents of many peaks in Western Canada. Tragically, Mr. Petersen was killed in a an avalanche while skiing alone in France in 1996.

Ms. Backstrom is a professional skier who knew Mr. McConkey well. She joined us during a break from skiing in remote Stewart, B.C.

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