ABOUT ANDREW
Andrew McLean lives and works in the Wasatch Mountains, where he also partakes in his alpine specialty — steep ski mountaineering. By merging his background in both ski racing and rock climbing, Andrew has explored new terrain all over the world and, in the process, helped redefine what can be descended on skis. With the legendary Wasatch Mountains for a backyard, he has specialized in descents that involve cliffs, narrow couloirs, slopes steeper than 50 degrees and huge, exposed alpine faces.

His passion for skiing has resulted in over 50 first descents, many of which have been documented in his book, The Chuting Gallery - A Guide to Steep Skiing in the Wasatch Mountains, which was the first book of its kind devoted entirely to skiing expert backcountry terrain.

His descents include the 5,200-foot, 50-degree Messner Couloir from the summit of Mt. McKinley with Mark Holbrook, the Ford-Stettner Couloir on the Grand Teton, also with Mark, and the Hossack/MacGowan route on the northeast ridge of the Grand Teton with Hans Saari — just three of numerous ascents and descents on his climbing and skiing resumé.

McLean remains an active rock climber and is currently on-sighting 5.11 rock climbs. He has five El Capitan ascents to his credit (three under the tutelage of Alex Lowe), as well as Half Dome, eight walls in Zion National Park, and many desert towers. As a means of getting up potential ski routes, he has climbed many of the classic peaks in America, including Mt. Rainier, Mt. Shasta, the Grand Teton, and Mt. Whitney, among numerous others.

A product designer by profession, McLean has worked for Black Diamond Equipment for nine years. His writings and photos have appeared in Couloir and BackCountry magazines, the Black Diamond and Patagonia catalogs, Powder, Fall Line, Rock & Ice, and Climbing magazines. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1985, is single, and has two Bernese mountain dogs.

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