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.

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The Big LePowSki ~ Feb 25-27, Brighton

The Big LePowSki ~ Feb 25-27, Brighton

| February 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

Mai oui, The Big LePowSki is rolling into Salt Lake City Feb 25-27 to set up pins and knock’em down until they go click at Brighton.  This is the second annual gathering of TBLP, and last year was a blast.  The format is pretty simple – ski/ride & party, but not necessarily in that order.  […]

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150lb Crusts & The Alpine Crawl

150lb Crusts & The Alpine Crawl

| February 11, 2010 | 13 Comments

One of the more frustrating booting scenarios is when you encounter crusts which are almost supportable… but not quite.  Since I weigh in at about 165lbs with all of my ski gear, I think refer to these crusts by the amount of weight they will support. One-hundred and fifty pound crust is my nemesis as […]

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Scotties Bowl – Topo

Scotties Bowl – Topo

| February 5, 2010 | 0 Comments

Scotties is a classic little Wasatch one-hitter.  It is in danger of being over-run by Snowbird as it borders the resort, but if you time it right, it can serve up a nice powder run.

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Tuning Bench Tie-Down

Tuning Bench Tie-Down

| February 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

Trying to clamp down the latest generation of wide skis for a tune-up is like wrestling an eel in a vat of Crisco.  Forget it.  Because they are so wide, yet have a thin cross section and rounded topsheets, traditional tuning clamps will hold skis only long enough to look secure, yet the first time […]

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Arches and Avalanches

Arches and Avalanches

| February 3, 2010 | 11 Comments

One of the cruelest avalanche tricks out there is the old “I was just minding my own business skinning up a nice valley when suddenly both sides collapsed thousands of feet above me and I was buried 20′ deep.”  It is a mean spirited trick as the skier may be on flat ground far away […]

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Pink Pine Ski Tour – Topo & Guide

Pink Pine Ski Tour – Topo & Guide

| January 31, 2010 | 15 Comments

At a recent seminar, a speaker from “Backpacker Magazine” described his reader base as “geo reference oriented” which I think was a nice way of saying “geeks with GPS’s.”  As I am guilty of the same sin, I wanted to see about putting some classic Wasatch tours on-line and see how it works. The tour […]

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Scott Markewitz Photo Workshop

Scott Markewitz Photo Workshop

| January 29, 2010 | 2 Comments

I recently attended a seminar at the Winter OR Show entitled “Print is Dead” which had a panel of outdoor writers and e-commerce people, including Steve Casimiro.  Steve has been one of my favorite skiing writers since his days at Powder, and the upshot of the seminar was that print isn’t really dying so much […]

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Pulling Slope Angles

Pulling Slope Angles

| January 29, 2010 | 19 Comments

Trivia: Inclinometers are used in aircraft to show magnetic dip or the angle from the horizon. Clinometers are used by surveyors in order to measure an angle of inclination or elevation. Goniometers are instruments that either measures angle or allows an object to be rotated to a precise angular position. Regardless of what you use […]

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Glue Renew Guru

Glue Renew Guru

| January 27, 2010 | 23 Comments

I love the idea of regluing skins, not just because it is all eco earth friendly and vegan approved, but because a pair of moderately worn nylon skins have such a nice feel to them – they glide, climb and fold-up like butter.  With this in mind, I stripped the old glue off of a […]

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Deep Snow and Shallow Batteries

Deep Snow and Shallow Batteries

| January 25, 2010 | 9 Comments

It’s about time the Wasatch got some snow, dammit.  It was a mixed blessing to open my garage door this morning and find that the overnight snowfall was thigh deep and over the top of my snow-thrower hood, which necessitated a double pass, which in turn made me late, which led to getting stuck in […]

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