Andrew McLean
Andrew McLean lives in Park City, Utah and is a gear designer, writer, photographer, ski mountaineer, climber and Mountain Unicycle rider. He and Polly Samuels McLean are the parents of two very loud little girls.
Andrew McLean's Latest Posts
New Zealand 2006 – Trip Series
This trip came about in a serendipitous manner. In 2006 I wanted to see if I could ski all seven continents, and had just happened to meet Grant Guise through Ski Mountaineering racing, which Steve Romeo was also involved in. Grant lived/lives in New Zealand and so we decided that was a good enough of […]
Iceland 2006 – Trip Series
This trip was made infamous in the 2007 movie “Steep” due to the avalanche footage we accidentally provided. “I hope you got that, ’cause we’re not doing it again!” Background This trip came about through my friendship with Matt Turley, who is/was a photographer and had been to Iceland in the summer. At the […]
Trip Poster Series
Starting in 2006, I began putting together 8 x 10 inch “trip posters” to commemorate special outings. I stole this idea from Ruedi Homberger, aka The Snow Monster, while I was on a trip to Switzerland and saw a similar trip montage in his house. Ruedi’s version involved cutting mats and carefully placing photos behind, whereas […]
2014 Ice Axe Expeditions Antarctic Ski Cruise Trip Report
Another Ice Axe Antarctic Ski Cruise has gone down in the history books, and like all those before it, this was yet another good one. I love how these trips start by collecting people from all over the world, squeezing them into South America, and then distilling all of that down to the very southern […]
2014-15 Ski Setup
There’s still no snow on the ground and the temps are downright balmy, but it is never too soon to assemble a ski set up for the upcoming season. The ski crampons are just for Antarctica, but the rest is my standard issue touring gear. Skis All around skis: Black Diamond Link 90’s in […]
November 1st – 2014 Utah Snow & Avalanche Workshop Public Session
Avalanche education is one of the best ways to avoid being caught and/or buried by an avalanche while backcountry skiing, or, as the Utah Avalanche Center says “Know Before You Go.” To that end, the UAC is hosting a very concentrated avalanche workshop this Saturday, November 1st at the Southtowne Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. […]
Slotterhouse AK – Photo Trip Report
Rarely, if ever, have I experienced a place that gets me more excited about ski mountaineering than the Slotterhouse in the Wrangell-St.Elias National Park & Preserve in southeast Alaska. As a disclaimer, I like exploring remote areas with plenty of options, not just a single huge peak or exclusively steep skiing terrain. This preference evolved […]
How to Build Wands
I know – the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Both of you. As detailed in my previous post, I’ve built a lot of bad mountaineering wands before arriving at this solution. I like this design as they stay put in deep snow for weeks on end, withstand wind, are easy to place, easy to […]
Ski Mountaineering Wand Making – Greatest Fails
According to Malcom Gladwell’s theory that a person can only achieve true mastery of an activity by doing it for ten thousand hours, I’m almost a wand building prodigy. This is nothing to be proud of (except if you are my mom) and came about accidentally when I was building wands to mark ski mountaineering […]
Wands for Ski Mountaineering – Part One
Wands are an obscure and trivial part of ski mountaineering, which makes them a perfect topic for straightchuter.com. I’ve carried thousands of wands, placed hundreds and actually used them for emergency navigation about five times, which made it all worthwhile. It’s hard to describe how calming and reassuring finding a wand can be when you […]
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