(strĀt shooʹtər) noun informal
1. One who is honest and forthright.
2. An American West pistol known for its accuracy and reliability.
StraightChuter.com – Honest, accurate, reliable & Western.
The techniques, recommendations and opinions expressed in StraightChuter.com belong to Andrew McLean of Park City, Utah. Andrew started skiing at age four and has dedicated most his waking hours over the last twenty years to Ski Mountaineering, steep skiing, ski mountaineering racing, backcountry skiing, writing about skiing, taking photos of skiing, going skiing, teaching skiing clinics, talking about skiing and traveling the world on skiing expeditions. He has completed first descents on all seven continents and is looking for new ones to add.
The StraightChuter.com YouTube channel.
Andrew McLean’s boring Facebook page
The Chuting Gallery – A Guide to Steep Skiing in the Wasatch Mountains by Andrew McLean
Trailer from “Steep” – The story of Big Mountain Skiing
Hi Andrew,
I’ve enjoyed you blog articles. Am visiting the Wasatch in Feb 2010 (from London UK) for some ski touring and am interested the various arguments concerning skin fitting. Should the edges be exposed or covered. Do the majority of ski tourers in the Wasatch expose 1/8″ of edge? I am about to fit some Black Diamond Ascension Nylon STS Skins on Rossignol B4 skis for use in the Wasatch and Tetons. Do you already have a good article on this?
Thanks Ken
Hi Ken – I have five postings on skins at:
http://straightchuter.com/tag/skins/
and specific to trimming, there is one at:
http://straightchuter.com/2008/12/skin-set-up-part-one/
Regardless of the area, I always trim my skins back by about 1/8″ to expose the edge.
……keep your snorkel handy little brutha…and your parachute mended….skal
(didn’t have the umlaut feature)
Hi Andrew,
I am a literary agent who represents several extreme sports athletes, among them Carlos Buhler (mountain climbing), Sarah Reinertsen (handicapped triathlete), and Scott Tinley (runner).
You can check out the website above for more about the agency.
Would love to speak with you about the possibility of your writing a book. If you’re interested, please let me know.
Best,
Michele
Hey Andrew,
Lost your email in the great computer migration this summer. Can you hook me back up?
Working on the wasatch site and would like to get some feedback. And hoping to get down for the UAC snow and avy meeting, but we’ll see.
Hope all’s well..
Chris
Andrew,
I would very much like to get in touch with you, could you please send me an email!
Thanks a lot,
Anze
Andrew,
Really funny that you are reading Go the F* to Sleep. My kids are now 16 and 18 but I do remember that time! I might have to pick up that book. Can’t wait for more pictures and things from the trip.
Hi Andrew
Any thoughts you’d share on the Wayback vs the Backup for a spring/variable conditions mountaineering ski? It looks like the Wayback is wider AND lighter (?). Although I’d give some weight for some dampening… Anyway I know spring is a long way off… Thanks for your great and informative blog.
Best, Dan
Hi Dan – I prefer the Wayback as an all-around ski, but a big part of that is because I do most of my skiing in the Wasatch, which has lots of fluffy snow. The Backup is more of a mountaineering ski and will preform better on hardpack and is also probably a better ski if you are using it in the resorts as well.
Thanks for your reply. I’m looking to build a lighter backcountry set-up than my current one (181 Coomba’s w/ Fritschis w/Garmont Adrenalin boots). I’d like to say I only get powder days but not every season is so gracious to us in Colorado. I will keep my current set-up for shorter tours and powder days but I want something for spring/summer backcountry skiing -longer tours/approaches, steeper cols., and variable conditions. The set up will include a tech boot (Maestrale?) and tech binding. A couple friends are skiing the Manaslu but haven’t been that happy with its durability or descending. I’m a lighter guy (under 150 at about 6’) and don’t want a ski too prone to deflection since the corn at 12000’ can be frozen crud at 14000’. Any recommendations (would love to demo about 50 different skis but unfortunately I don’t really have that option)?
Hi Dan – Last season I used:
- Scarpa Maestrale boots
- K2 Wayback skis & skins (167cm)
- Dynafit ST Vertical bindings
I am very particular about my gear and once I find something that works, I tend to stick with it, which is partially why I’ve been using Scarpa, K2 and Dynafits for the last ten years or so. As such, I haven’t tried out a lot of the other boots, skis and bindings, although I know there are some good ones out there.
Where were you born?
How do you fix core shots?
Hi Nick – it depends entirely on how severe they are. If they aren’t too bad and there’s only one or two, I’ll just keep waxing over them. When I eventually get enough to break out the p-tex, I’ll scrape the wound clean, then drip p-tex into the gouge and file it off. I use the p-tex that is made for the guns and heat it up with a little mini blow torch as it doesn’t have any wax in it (like the traditional p-tex candles), so it doesn’t stay lit. I also do a mini preheat of the ski base to help the new p-tex stick to it. If it is a really deep gouge, I’ll trim it out with an undercut and then fill that in with slow dry epoxy. This usually cracks, but it serves its purpose. If it is a new/favorite pair of skis and I really tag them, I’ll take it to a shop as they have far better tools to deal with patches, edge repair and big base welds.
Just came across this when someone on Alpinezone posted about Baffin Island and I came across this site. Some amazing stuff you have going on here! Very cool indeed. Love the baffin island pics, it looks really incredible.
Hi Andrew.
A recent gift of a stack of back issue Backcountry magazines lead me to your ‘Size Matters’ McLeanings story.
It’s an unfortunate comparison you make, between big wave surfers and big line skiing. There is no comparison, other than the fact that both are athletic endeavors which put the athlete in extreme danger, at the top of their game. I think a closer comparison would be choosing to ski only when the mountain will absolutely, positively avalanche at some point. And I’d hazard a guess that a big wave surfer who can competently ski would fare better skiing a big line, than a similarly skilled skier paddling out at Jaws, Mavericks, Shipsterns or Teahupoo.
Have you ever sat out in the heaving sea on a stick of fibreglass, barely in the lee of the impact zone?
Hello Andrew,
I am from India. I climb and ski in the Himalayas and came across straightchuter.com whilst looking for a pair of boots for my next climb.
I was curious about the combination of “boots/crampon/ski” you use in order to ascend and then descend on skis – especially down the big 8000m peaks.
Do you use
1) Mountaineerinig boots for the climbs with AT Bindings on your skis for descent or
2) Do you use Alpine Touring Ski Boots for the climb as well as Descent?
If 1 – Is it awkward skiing in mountaineering boots
If 2 – Is it difficult negotiating technical sections like Ice Walls and Rock faces etc and “crampon”ing with AT Boots
I use a CAMP C12 Semi Automatic Crampon which is like an allrounder which is to say that one may use it for glacier traversing, technical sections and at times for mixed climbs and ice walls.
Anything else you feel I need to know in order to plan for my next climb/adventure.
Thanks a ton,
Jerry
Hi Jerry – Since my skiing objectives determine my climbing routes, I always climb in a pair of AT boots. I think that AT skiing boots make better climbing boots than climbing boots make ski boots. You *can* ski in them… just not very well. So, it really depends on what kind of route you are attempting. If skis are just going to be used for the approach (skinning up a glacier, gliding on the flats, etc.) then Alpine boots are fine.
I’ve found that most/all crampons work well with AT boots. I’ve done a few WI-5 ice climbs in ski boots, and although it’s not ideal, they work well enough.