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.
Andrew McLean's Latest Posts
Speedy Bowline Tie-in Trick
I took a skiing time-out yesterday to go crack climbing at Indian Creek, Utah with Brad Barlage. While we were roping up, Brad showed me this cool little trick for tying a Bowline knot around your harness. Bowlines are the King-of-Knots as they strong, simple and easy to untie after they have been loaded. Because […]
TR – Shooting Star Saloon, Huntsville, Utah
My mother’s side of the family immigrated to Utah five generations ago, but not for the usual reasons. Instead, they were here to start a brewery – Fisher Beer. The brewery has been gone for close to 50 years, but beer in Utah remains a topic which is close to my heart, or liver in […]
Superfly Open – Kiting Festival
The second annual Super Fly Open kiting festival was held this last weekend at Powder Mountain, Utah. Affectionately known as Pow Mow, the Eden based ski resort has an exposed ridgeline perched right at its summit which makes for perfect kiting conditions. There aren’t many obstacles to collide with and the wind can be moderated by going […]
2009 PowderKeg
Last Saturday, for the first time in seven years, I was on the other side of the starting line of the Wasatch PowderKeg as a racer instead of an organizer. I love this event and thought it was a goner when Black Diamond and Patagonia pulled their backing out of it this season, but fortunately […]
Work, Work, Work…
I got out yesterday with Noah Howell and Jay Beyer, which was a blast. Noah is Mr. PowderWhore and Jay is an outdoor photographer, so between the three of us, the Independent, Freelance, Self Employed, Outdoor Consultants of the Wasatch were well represented. The skiing has been a tad bit lackluster lately, but today was […]
Selective Stopping Spots
One of the basics of avalanche avoidance and good backcountry travel protocol is to always stop below your partner(s), not above them. The reason for this is two-fold; one is that you might blow your last turn and take out your partners from above, and the other is that the weight of a stopping person may cause the slope to […]
Leapfrogging to Safety
Whenever possible, I prefer to ski a couloir or avalanche exposed shot in leapfrogging segments. The idea is that one person skis, then tucks out in a safe spot and watches the other person, then they do the same. Ideally, the stopping points will be staggered so that you can see your partner at all […]
$2.00 Helmet Cam
If you have an old helmet, a Point & Shoot Digital camera and about $2.00, you have all the fixin’s for a dirt-bag helmet cam. More often than not, I’ll shoot POV footage just by holding my G9 camera in my hand and skiing with it, but at times, two hands come in handy for […]
Skiing with The Alpinist
Christian Beckwith, the former Editor and co-owner of Alpinist Magazine came down from Jackson Hole this weekend for his first ever Wasatch backcountry tour. We had never skied together and I had always thought he was more a climber than a skier, but after an 8,000′ day of touring, there’s no doubt. CB is a […]
Steep Skiing 101 – Part IV
One reason there isn’t more super steep skiing footage in ski films isn’t that it is so hard to shoot, but more that it is kind of boring to watch. Slip, slip… slip. Pause. Turn! Slip, slip, slip. Pause. It is way more fun to do than to watch. Steep skiing is like this because when the stakes are high, […]
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