Which Sled?

[Mad Mountain Mike]

So I'm going to go for a 4 or 5 day snow shoe trek in January and I was thinking of pulling a sled rather than wearing a pack for this trip. Anybody know of a good light weight sled 60 to 72 inches long and durable to minus 25F or so?

 

[HJ Handy]

I've got an Otter medium I've used just pulling it around out ice fishing. Worked find for me for distances of up to 2 miles but he sled itself is heavy. Around 30 lbs. 65'' long x 32'' wide, never had any problem in cold to -20 F. Otter makes some smaller sleds too. If you put the hifax runners on it it makes it a little easier to pull by hand. DO NOT buy a Jet Sled because they will break. The plastic is very thin on Jet Sleds and not made for heavy or extended use in the real cold.

Maybe too heavy for being practical on your outing but if you google that sled you'll get some ideas on others as well. Kifaru has a nice sled but they start at $500.00 and go up from there.

 

[Darren Best]

http://skipulk.com/index.php/products-and-components/paris-sled-based-systems

I got the Lakes Area Paris sled with full length poles and belt, itworked absolutely perfect and much better than any home made setup I have used or seen.

If you are going off trail and side hilling, get the fins that attach on the bottom to help tracking.

 

[HJ Handy]

Otter small sled is listed as 55'' long x 27'' wide and 16 lbs. Should run you about $90.00 to $115.00.

 

[HJ Handy]

Those pulk are very nice. A little better designed for pulling by hand.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Thanks for the info, the pulk looks great but a little pricey for the first time out. This is going to be a solo trip up the Ram River / Ranger creek drainages to the Banff park boundary. Though it will be a steady incline there won't be much for steep climbing or side hilling while I'm pulling the sled. For the most part I will be making camps on the drainage bottoms. After googling Otter I see there is a dealer in town as well as an Equinox dealer, I'll have to check them both out.

 

[Darren Best]

Yes they are pricy, but by the time you get all the parts you need and put them together yourself, you have nearly as much money into it and it wont be as good.

If winter camping is something you think you are going to do often, get one, it will pay for itself in the long run.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Sounds like solid advise, I bought more than a few packs before I finally sprung for a kifaru. Till now all my winter camping has been out of a wall tent, I'm really looking forward to this adventure.

 

[Darren Best]

The advantages of a pulk are that you can haul more weight and your back doesn't overheat so bad from wearing a backpack.

By using a belt mounted pole system it keeps your hands free to use trekking/ski poles which gives you more pulling power.

We take the boy scout troop into Montana every year and they build snow caves to sleep in, so I have seen a big variety of home built sleds and the Ski Pulk one blows them all away and then some. I have three home made setups here that I built which are pretty good and they don't compare.

If you really want to have fun winter camping, get one of these. A word of caution though, bring another shelter just in case and practice with it first, it does have a bit of a learning curve to it. I slept in one through a howling Montana snow storm and was as toasty as a bug in a rug, it was really cool to look out and see the swirling snow storm at night while I was all snuggled up in the igloo.

http://www.grandshelters.com/

 

[justinspicher]

I have a home built sled that was made from a kids sled. I am thinking though I am going to upgrade to something better.

 

[Lawnboi]

Iv had an assortment of sleds for ice fishing. I don't own a kifaru, but probably will in the future.

Ill say this though, if your on flat ground, any old sled will probably do.

Once you start going up, down, and sideways is when you will be cursing a crappy sled... as I have a lot of experience with those.

 

[tuffcity]

Well. I learned a bunch of stuff today from this thread. Previously my thoughts on "sled" was turn the key and fire it up!

RC

 

[Yellowknife]

Thanks for the info, the pulk looks great but a little pricey for the first time out.

I just built a pulk from an Otter Mini. Total cost was around $65 with sled and all hardware. Took about an hour to build. The Mini was the only Otter sled I though might be narrow enough to fit in snowshoe tracks. No field time with it, so I can't tell you precisely how it is going to work out, but I'll post some photos from the construction.

Weight of the sled was listed at 8 lbs. It's 18" across the bottom, and around 23" across the top (including the lip) and 43" long. Easily big enough for one mans winter gear.



I attached a couple of 1/4" eyebolts to existing holes in the sled.



The traces I made from a set of 1" dia fire killed black spruce sticks. I know I can't trust PVC in cold weather, and black spruce is both light and extremely tough. These were cut just over five ft long. Also the hardware can be easily reused if I do have to do a field expedient repair.



I ran a set of long eyebolts into each end of the sticks and attached them to the sled with a set of QR clips. A set of mini carabiners were attached on the other end to attach to a harness.



Last steps was adding rope around the rim and gluing some thin foam in the bottom.



Initial yard tests seem to work out well. Time will tell.

Hope that helps.

Yk

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Looks real nice YK, I'd say you put some thought into your rig. The idea of getting a store bought pulk is slipping away on me. I haven't bought a sled yet but I have started building the traces. I found some fibreglass tent poles in the shed that slide snugly inside 1/2 inch pex pipe. I cut some short pieces of 3/8 stainless tubing that slides over the tent pole and riveted solidly into place. I beat the end flat and drilled a 5/16 hole in it, this is how I will attach them to the sled and harness. If I ever get home from work before dark I'll take some pictures. I like the glass poles inside the pex, they feel rigid enough but will flex if I fall on them. Time will tell how good they are when I get a chance to field test them.
Just wondering, what is a reasonable amount of weight to pull over long distances?

 

[Yellowknife]

Just wondering, what is a reasonable amount of weight to pull over long distances?

I'm sure that's an "it depends" kind of thing, and really I don't have the kind of pulk pulling experience needed to give you an answer... but based on a few hundred off trail miles on snowshoes WITHOUT pulling anything, I'm going to say AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE!

A note on the sled. I chose the Mini Otter because I wanted high sides for pulling my 2 and 4 yr olds. I suspect that a longer sled like the Paris or similar may pull easier on decent trail just due to the lower ground pressure. I have used a Paris for pulling camping gear when I was a kid, and as I recall it worked well that purpose, as long as there was a trail or the snow depth wasn't too bad (sides are low).

Yk

 

[Darren Best]

Yellowknife is right, if the going is good, you will barely notice it, heavy compact snow on flat ground and you can haul 50+ lbs with ease. Deep fluffy powder over hills, lots of twisty turns and brush, your suck o meter is going to peg out and you WILL question your sanity, even with the sled nearly empty. I would guess my first winter pulk trip I hauled in 60 or 70 pounds and I noticed it on the up hills. This year I bet I clocked in about 30 pounds, a pretty big improvement.

What I do is get a really big cheap canvas duffle bag and put my gear in that, which allows it to spread the full length and width of the sled. Then zip it shut and use bungee cords to tie it all down. This keeps the center of gravity low and the weight dispersed over the whole length and width of the sled so it doesn't sink and drag or want to tip over so bad in powder. Over wet heavy snow it will skim along easily.

They do make gear bags just for this kind of thing, but they can get expensive, save your money for the sled and decent snow shoes/skis if you are on a budget.

Are you going to snow shoe in? X country skis? On foot?

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Planning on snowshoeing or boots if there are some frozen snowmobile trails to follow. Thanks for all the great info, it is very helpful for planning my trip.

 

[Darren Best]

Happy to help, if you have anymore questions about pulks or winter camping in general, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Well I finally got a chance to finish my pulk and get it out for a test run. Used glass tent poles inside of pex pipe for the traces and fabricated a cv type joint out of light steel to mount to the predrilled holes on the sled. Used an old pack belt for a harness. I bought a Lynx boggan and spent a few hours sanding the bottom smooth then waxed the hell out of it. The system is working well so far, pulled it for a few miles up and down some hills with a 120lbs of kids in it on the way out and 200lbs of kids and old dog on the way home.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

Mike that's a nice looking pulk. Good looking family too.

I'm planning to get my pulk out for a quick trip the first weekend in January. Hoping there's enough snow in Colorado to use my Kifaru SST pins with the tipi.