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
Adversity – Making Friends with Pain – Part II
Note: I’ll be in Boulder, CO until Tuesday attending a Serac Adventure Films class and will have limited computer access. A major part of surviving adversity is anticipating it and being prepared. Spending a day out touring in the maw of nature’s fury as it is dumping snow, blowing, avalanching, and going off the charts can […]
Adversity – Making Friends with Pain – Part I
Surviving adversity is a big part of ski mountaineering. After all, if it was fun, easy and safe it would be called resort skiing. Beyond the basic discomforts, surviving adversity with comfort and style is what separates the pros from the amateurs. Scotty Lee and Mark Holbrook laughing it up during a howling storm. Skiing […]
Inside Info – Part II
The snowpack is the third major factor and also the trickiest one. Like the weather, its history is more important than its immediate surface conditions. The plot thickens with the snowpack as there are almost always weaknesses in it, but they are difficult to quantify. Snow is the building block of avalanches, but it is […]
Inside Info – Part I
(continued from Monday’s ABC’s of avalanche train of thought) With so many variables hidden under a blanket of white, where do you even begin? Simplify the process by breaking it down into the big three categories; terrain, snowpack and weather. Will it stay, or will it go now? New snow, steep slope and nice weather… […]
Crested Beauties
Polly has been trying to get me to go to Crested Butte, Colorado for the last couple of years under the pretense that “it has beautiful wildflowers.” I’d hardly walk outside the front door to look at wildflowers, let alone drive for eight hours, but after three years, I caved in, and am happy I did. What she […]
Back From Crested Butte – Trip Report to Follow
We got back late Monday night from a fun wildflower-crushing trip to Crested Butte. Trip report to follow later today and eventually a little mini unicycle movie. The mountain biking in Crested Butte lived up to its reputation!
Snap, Crackle & Pop – The ABC’s of Avalanches
The physics of an avalanche is as easy to understand as placing one book on top of another, then tipping the lower book up until the top one slides off. Voila – a bookalanche! The grip or amount of friction between the books will determine how easily they slide apart. If they are both dry […]
Sunday Photo – Ben Goes into a Crevasse
Part of the reason I like this photo so much is that it had a happy ending, but it could easily have gone the other way. This incident took place during a 2007 trip up to the Wrangell-St.Elias Mountains with Ben Ditto and Grant Guise. We knew there were crevasses on the glaciers, but once […]
StraightChuter.com Raison d’être – Selling Out?
Last summer I went to an all-day seminar by a woman who helped professional athletes promote themselves. About halfway into her talk people were squirming in their seats at many of her suggestions and she said “I’m getting the impression that in the climbing and skiing world it’s not socially acceptable to promote yourself or […]
StraightChuter.com Raison d’être – Content
As an avid skier, I’m always interested in what skiing friends are up to in different parts of the world and often check out their websites. In the winter this is great, but it in heat of the summer, it becomes apparent that skiing is a seasonal sport and there is not a lot going on. […]
Recent Comments