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Any winter campers use a sled?

K

kr1

Joined
May 30, 2006
Messages
1,343
I made this sled several years ago and it has served me well. I usually use it in conjunction with either snowshoes or my telemark skis depending on the terrain. I love just having a small pack or no pack on my back and placing my bigger heavier pack in the sled. One of the things I love about this is I can carry really large loads in winter which means camp has lots of extras I usually don't have. Including lots of real food instead of freeze dried and dehydrated food. It even works pretty well in areas that I can't slide it because if you put your pack in it correctly you can just pick it up and carry the pack and the sled on your back for short distances with little inconvenience and then just drop it, put the PVC over the ropes again and off you go.

I think I have about $12 tied up in that. :D

Anyone else use a sled for most of their winter camping travels?

KR

WinterSled1.jpg
 
when i used to snoeshoe camp a lot i did, i used a wooden tobbagan with watertight blue barrels lashed to it.
 
I use a Paris Expedition sled. I try to keep the weight down to 30# or so, and it is easy to pull.
 
Bushman5 said:
when i used to snoeshoe camp a lot i did, i used a wooden tobbagan with watertight blue barrels lashed to it.
Click to expand...

Yep toboggan is what we used to use when I was in highschool for our winter trips. You want to wax them to help them slide. I wasn't too well off in $$ department, so I remember using my weight belt as part of my harness. Worked great! You can really haul a lot of stuff on a decent toboggan. While, most people think of them as a sled for sliding down hills, they were actually designed for this purpose in mind.
 
I have a 5' winter pulk by Wilderness Engineering. Mine is white and is the same as issued to the U.S. military. Steel powder coated stabilizer bars, cordura bag with big ykk zippers and a 12,000 cubic inch capacity. Excellent piece of gear but a bit pricey compared to the homemade version. However, you get what you pay for and it is built like a tank! You can't go wrong with them.

Check them out.
 
I took my very first trip on a sled, Behind a horse when my grandpa took my mother to town on the day I was born.:) OK so I don't remember that but what few roads there were then were blocked by snow. So it was in western SD in the 1940's.

While I have not used a sled for camping, I have used them for hauling out big game during the hunting seasons.
 
I only have bad memories from being the brake man on a 400lb+ sled back with 10th MTN Division. Don't want any part of that again!

However, with a smaller, more sane load like you're talking about it could be a great idea. Haven't done much winter camping in recent years though.

I would suggest keeping an eye out for the Army surplus sleds, they show up from time to time for sale.
 
Coolest gear-haulin' conveyance I ever saw for winter camping was a homemade rig, built like a kid's wagon, that was high enough to sit on when the gear was unloaded. A comfort thing in the winter.

Cast off cross country skis, from a recycling place, were used for runners. Thing was a piece of cake to pull and high enough to keep the trail snow off the gear. I'll see if I can find a picture somewhere.

Doc
 
k_estela said:
I have a 5' winter pulk by Wilderness Engineering. Mine is white and is the same as issued to the U.S. military. Steel powder coated stabilizer bars, cordura bag with big ykk zippers and a 12,000 cubic inch capacity. Excellent piece of gear but a bit pricey compared to the homemade version. However, you get what you pay for and it is built like a tank! You can't go wrong with them.

Check them out.
Click to expand...

+1 on Wilderness Engineering sleds. Have used one for years, put my daughter in it for ski touring since she was 18 months old. Great harness system and great capacity. I'm looking forward to getting my second daughter in there this winter, and hitting some 10th Mtn huts for a few winter/spring trips. I'll have to post some pics of this sometime (when I get a spare moment!)...

OK, here are a few older pics, from a few years back. Enjoy...
P1290148.jpg

P1120112.jpg
 
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Raindog,

You have the most precious cargo there. You're packing list beats mine anyday! You're a great dad for getting your kids out there like that!
 
There is a nice plan for a sled in "The Snow Walker's Companion" by Garrett and Alexandra Conover. Great book by the way, anyone interested in this thread would find something useful in it.
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Coolest gear-haulin' conveyance I ever saw for winter camping was a homemade rig, built like a kid's wagon, that was high enough to sit on when the gear was unloaded. A comfort thing in the winter.

Cast off cross country skis, from a recycling place, were used for runners. Thing was a piece of cake to pull and high enough to keep the trail snow off the gear. I'll see if I can find a picture somewhere.

Doc
Click to expand...


now that gives me a hell of an idea for making a cargo hauler..... :thumbup:
 
i'm thinking independent pivoting ski runners, to allow the sled to conform to any terrain without tilting the sled contents
 
Only used a sled once... and that was to get to a camp threw some very very deep powder, many moons ago. But now looking at the time of year, and the pics.. I am gonna have to do it again... maybe even take the kids too.. :)
 
Used to be a site on a "upatan," a native american @12in wide toboggan sled, pulled behind. Seems to have lapsed.

Might do some searches, one site had a step-by-step.
 
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