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
Winning the Uphill Battle – Part II
continued from yesterday… A good way to learn is to follow in the footsteps (or more likely, skin tracks) of more experienced skiers. Try to match their stride, look where they plant their poles, get a feel for the all day ascent angle, mimic their posture, and generally try to absorb what they are doing, […]
Winning the Uphill Battle – Part I
Struggling uphill is an acquired taste that doesn’t come naturally to most people. It’s hard, slow, sweaty, frustrating and at times monotonous, but if you can get over this, it is your ticket to backcountry bliss. The effort involved with earning your turns is the basic barrier that keeps the backcountry, being what it is […]
Sunday Photo – The Evil Bunny
The Evil Bunny lives/lived halfway up the first icefall on the way up to “The Hump” in the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains. Ben Ditto watching Armond DuBuque and Lorne Glick pass under the gaze of the Evil Bunny. The icefall was wall-to-wall and had a few options for getting through it, but all of them had some […]
“Heart of Stone” video debute
August 8th, 2008 was a momentous day. Not only was it our daughter’s first birthday (which qualifies us as semi-responsible parents), but the Summer Outdoor Retailer show started in Salt Lake City. As if that wasn’t enough… “Heart of Stone” was also released on YouTube.com. This was the practice film we produced at the Serac […]
Desperate August Turns – Baldy Chute
In the name of product testing, I took a trip up the Old Reliable of the Wasatch, Main Baldy Chute at Alta yesterday. Main Chute is high, north facing and gets lots of upcanyon windloading, so it is often the first line to fill in and the last to melt out. About the only downside […]
Film School with Serac Adventure Films – Editing
Raw footage is to film as a tube of paint is to a painter – it helps to start with good quality, but the real artistry is how the paint or video is applied to the canvas/screen. In our case, we shot 2.5 hours of film and then spent 16 hours editing it. This seemed […]
Film School with Serac Adventure Films
Last year, Mountain Hardwear purchased a mini HD DVD camera, wide-angle lens, solar charger and all of the accessories needed to shoot videos on expeditions. I had a chance to take the kit with me on a trip into the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains where I shot a bunch of crappy footage and edited together an even […]
Pure Misery – Cold & Wet
Note: I am in Boulder, CO attending a film class at Serac Adventure Films today and will have limited computer access. The most unpleasant and dangerous type of cold is that special blend of Pacific Northwest/Patagonian misery where your clothes are damp on the inside from sweat, soaked through from the outside by moist snow, […]
Snuggling up to the Big Chill
Note: I will be in Boulder, CO attending a Serac Advenure Films class until Tuesday and have limited computer access. You don’t have to love the cold to be a ski mountaineer, but it definitely helps. At the very least, try to fake it. As much as anything, cold is a state of mind and […]
Sunday Photo – Lost Arrow Spire
Setting up a Tyrolean Traverse (as pictured below) is often logistically harder than the actual climbing involved to get there. In this case, Lost Arrow Spire in Yosemite Valley, Rick Lovelace and I hiked to the valley’s rim, rappelled from the fixed anchors on the right-hand side of the photo down into the notch between […]
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