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
Chuting Spree Clue #3 – Mountain Hardwear Tent
Follow the rules and five weekly clues, then be the first to correctly identify where the tent is hidden to win a Mountain Hardwear tent of your choice! Clue #3: This protected ZONE is located in the country identified in clue #2 and consists of four mountain ranges and a total area of over fifty-three thousand square kilometers. Know the […]
First Annual Big LePOWski ~ Feb 26-28 SLC
Tune in at 10:00am for the third Chuting Spree Clue – coming soon… I love attending “First Annual” anything as the events tend to have a great mix of new energy and borderline control. The Big LePowSki, coming up Feb 26th – 28th in Salt Lake City and Brighton promises to be just such an […]
Skinning Outside the Box
A common skinning malady is to turf face-first just as you are committing to an uphill kickturn on a steep, greasy switchback. This can be fun the first few times it happens, but gets old quickly and can be easily remedied. Over time, skin tracks get beat-out for a variety of reasons. One of the […]
Death by a Thousand Missteps
I’m always tormented when I see ragged skin tracks as I feel compelled to say something, yet at the same time it’s hard not to come across as being rude. “Excuse me my friend, but do you know your skinning technique is all phucked up?” It’s kind of like seeing someone with an open fly […]
It’s All About the Up
Coming from an alpine skiing background, it took me a few years to warm up to the idea of backcountry skiing. It didn’t help that the guy I learned how to backcountry ski from was wicked-fast, which meant my early outings were exhausting efforts of trying to keep up where all I could think was […]
Chuting Spree Clue #2 – Mountain Hardwear Tent
Follow five weekly clues and be the first to correctly identify where the tent is hidden to win a Mountain Hardwear tent of your choice! Click here for the Chuting Spree Mountain Hardwear Tent contest rules. Clue #2: This skier comes from a famous skiing family and was a Big Mountain Freerider 25 years before […]
My Best Powder Day of the Year
A short photo Trip Report (TR) to pass the time until 10:00am when the Chuting Spree Clue #2 comes up… With dubious weather and no real objectives, I was planning on just going out for a few turns with Polly today, but the Wasatch had something else in mind, namely one of the best powder […]
Ten in Ten Notes
Between ten days of skiing and then having the Outdoor Retailer show come into Salt Lake City, it has been a good reminder of how fortunate I’ve been to have so many excellent skiing friends. I’ll occasionally go skiing solo, but it is people and friendships that really animate the mountains for me. Below, I’ve […]
Top 10 in 10 – South Face of Mt. Superior
#10 – The South Face of Mt. Superior If the Wasatch Mountains were to have one single classic mountain face, it would have to be the South Face of Mt. Superior. It has been memorialized on the label of Wasatch Beers “Superior Ale” and anyone who has skied Alta or Snowbird can’t help but look up […]
Wasatch BC Skiing Park & Rides
With Salt Lake City being so close and the access to the Tri-Canyons being so limited, most Wasatch backcountry skiers end up carpooling for all or part of their trip up to the trailheads. There are seven or so Park & Rides to chose from and the choice of where to meet can sometimes be more […]
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