Andrew McLean

Andrew McLean lives in Park City, Utah and is a gear designer, writer, photographer, ski mountaineer, climber, Mountain Unicycle rider and father of two very loud little girls.

rss feed

Andrew McLean's Latest Posts

6 – Trust Your Instincts

6 – Trust Your Instincts

| February 21, 2012 | 3 Comments

Part 6 in 10 of my personal avalanche avoidance theories.. Deciding to ski an avalanche slope based on gut instincts alone is a bad habit to get into, but there is one occasion when you definitely should trust your avalanche instincts: when they are telling you NOT to do it. This is akin to Spiderman’s […]

Continue Reading

Burning Pow

Burning Pow

| February 19, 2012 | 5 Comments

After a bunch of unmounting, binding shuffling, a few misdrilled holes (damn) and some gear swapping, I finally had a chance to take out my lightweight setup last Saturday. I could still shave a few ounces, or maybe even a pound, out of it, but the skis, boots, bindings and skins are currently weighing in […]

Continue Reading

Norway in May?

Norway in May?

| February 17, 2012 | 0 Comments

Ice Axe Expeditions is gearing up for two more ski & sail trip to Spitsbergen (Svalbard) off of the northwest coast of Norway this spring.  These trips will be similar to the inaugural voyages they put together last year and will feature skiing way above the Arctic Circle at almost 80 degrees north in one […]

Continue Reading

5 – Staying High with Athey

5 – Staying High with Athey

| February 17, 2012 | 5 Comments

Part 5 in 10 of my personal avalanche avoidance theories… If you’ve spent time skiing in the Wasatch Mountains, you’ve most likely crossed tracks with Bob Athey, aka The Wizard of the Wasatch. Bob has excellent snow science skills and observations, but more than that he is the grand master of avalanche avoidance through terrain […]

Continue Reading

4 – Coombs on “Nibbling”

4 – Coombs on “Nibbling”

| February 16, 2012 | 1 Comment

Part 4 of 10 of some of my personal favorite avalanche avoidance techniques. The late, great Doug Coombs was well known for skiing bold lines, but he also had a lesser known strategy for avalanche avoidance. One day when we were talking about steep skiing and the importance of easing into a new area, he […]

Continue Reading

3 – Dawson on “It Never Gets Better”

3 – Dawson on “It Never Gets Better”

| February 15, 2012 | 0 Comments

I triggered avalanches five out of five of my first backcountry trips to Colorado. One of the more insulting ones involved having a car-sized pocket of crusty snow pull out and dump me into the surrounding rocks. The mountainscape was more rocks than snow at the time and it didn’t even seem conceivable that snow […]

Continue Reading

2 – Building a Quiver

2 – Building a Quiver

| February 14, 2012 | 3 Comments

Part 2 in a 10 part series of personal avalanche avoidance theories… Most skiers are familiar with the concept of owning a quiver, or variety of skis.  Quivers often include powder skis, rock skis, fatties, all-around, racing, resort, tele, twin tips, etc..  The idea is to have the correct ski for the ever changing conditions.

Continue Reading

1 – Above Average Skiing

1 – Above Average Skiing

| February 13, 2012 | 3 Comments

Part 1 in a 10 part series on some of my personal avalanche avoidance theories. These are not meant to replace avalanche classes and mostly fall under the “Human Factors” category. Human triggered avalanches are far more likely to occur on a 38-40 degree slope than any other. The numbers drop off rapidly on both […]

Continue Reading

Launch Pads

Launch Pads

| February 10, 2012 | 3 Comments

Ripping skins at the top of a climb is ideally done on a summit or flatish ridge, but it doesn’t always work out that way.  There are a lot of times where I end up stopping on a steep slope next to a cliff or in the middle of a steep pitch to change over […]

Continue Reading

Avalanche Talk

Avalanche Talk

| February 8, 2012 | 14 Comments

I’m going to be partaking in an informal avalanche roundtable discussion tomorrow night (probably tonight by the time you read this..), Thursday, Feb 9th at 7:00pm at the Black Diamond Retail Store.  It will also include Brett “Cowboy” Kobernick from the UAC and Dave Richards from the Wasatch BC Rescue.  I’m looking forward to it […]

Continue Reading