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
The Dying Art of Slideshows
I had a great time last night showing some “slides” at the Mountain Hardwear store in Portland, Oregon. A year ago, I told a skiing buddy I was giving a slideshow and he responded “Oh gawd – you still do those? I haven’t given one for years.” Truth be told, they take a lot of time and effort […]
Travel to the Northwest
I’m heading up to the Northwest from Monday afternoon through new Sunday, so StraightChuter updates may be spotty. The first stop is in Portland on Tuesday night for a Mazama’s Club presentation at the Mountain Hardwear store. After that I’m heading up to Seattle for a few days to see my parents, brother and sister, […]
Rocky Powder – December 06
If you keep your expectations low and look in the right places, the Wasatch backcountry has some pretty good skiing. The trick to finding it is to look in what is usually the most avalanche prone areas around – high, north-facing and wind loaded. Narrow chutes seem to have held on to almost all of […]
Surprisingly Good Skiing!
Despite reports of only five inches of new snow, the skiing this morning was great. Maybe even beyond great, in a stable, face-shot, knee deep kind of way. We found a chute that had additional depth from the sides sluffing into it. B-Rad Barlage booting a chute in knee deep pow. This photo was taken […]
Skiing this Morning – report to follow
Yes, Utah got FIVE INCHES of graupel on top of nothing, so I’m going to go check it out in the early morning hours. If you can’t see the rocks, maybe they aren’t as big.
Ushuaia 2008 – Trip Report & Gallery
Although this barely qualifies as a trip (it was only six days or so) and we never even came close to our intended goal of skiing in Antarctica, this trip was one of the funnest outings I’ve had in a long time, mainly because it had so many great people involved. Doug Stoup of Truckee, […]
Holy 108m Unintended Huckfest!
My brother-in-law, Colin Samuels of La Grave, France sent me this link to the “official footage” of his Norweigan friend Fred misreading his line and skiing full-bore off of a cliff and catching 108 meters (354′) of air. And surviving. Ten feet down, only 342′ left to go. I’d suspect that right about now Fred […]
Gear Deals Page Added
I hate physically going shopping, which is one of reasons I love Backcountry.com so much – I can get the best gear on-line at the best prices. StraightChuter.com stays in business (to use the term loosely) through the Affiliate Sales program at BC.com, which means I don’t have to clog the front page of this […]
Self Retrieving Ski Anchor
I learned this sketchy rappel technique, where else, but in France, although in all fairness, it was a Swede who showed it to me. The idea is that with nothing more than a length of rope, you can set up a rappel in the middle of a snowfield, then after you’ve rappel, you can pull […]
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