Winter hiking sleds

“Looks good to me....but if there is any chance that it wont hold all of your, err, essentials, let me know, we'll work something out.....



Wouldn't want someone to go into the woods without the 10, 15 or 20 essentials , don't ya know.


Wouldn't be prudent......”

“Wolfeyes, your sled came out kick@ss. I am actually gonna rebuild the harness setup for me and Sass' sleds as my new design (birchmeister03) is far superior to the 2002 model.”

“LMFAO! Birch, you da man!!! You did great keeping busy this weekend. FIne job and I cannot wait to see it! Better yet, I cannot wait to use it! Thank you so very much!!!!!!!!!”

“How many cubic inches can that hold? And, how many reindeer will you need to pull it?

Birch or wolfeyes - be sure to post pics. I'll be working on Buddha II "Frozen Beer Stikes Back" this winter, and you know I love plagerizing Birch's ideas.”

“BB - I beleive that I will be taking photos of my new ho-mobile with Birch posing next to it before I am allowed to remove it from the premises. Of course I will post a pic ASAP!”

“Hey Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit outta my sled!

Dood, where'd you get that? I want one.”

“check out these intructions...

not sure how to do the link "thingy" so here's the url:

http://wildernessengineering.com/manuals/Basecamp.pdf”

“Phaedy, I bought it at Big 5 Sportin' Wood.”

“We all know that size doesn't matter.

It would be wise to look at your user interface options. A good comfy belt/harness would be very good for the long haul. We went through 3 different belt configurations before we got a good comfy one. We tested all 3 out a local park for 2 hours each with a load. The first two were clearly unacceptable, giving hip pointers or no control downhill. The third gave control and no pain. I was able to haul 75 lbs, plus or minus, for 12 miles that day. And then later that night I went for a ski trip of an hour or so, just looking around. It's pretty nice when a design works well enough that you aren't dead at the end of the day.

There are many designs available here, and test runs are always good.”

“I found one of these sleds in the trash a couple years ago, and made some slight modifications, and the thing works great. One thing I did was add two pieces of one foot sash chain between the sled and the pull rope, so when the rope went slack, the chain would drop down in the snow and slow the sled down. This keeps it from ramming into your ankles and will stop a runaway sled.”

“I'm getting one of these and modifying it with trailer poles.

Also, while we're up there we can go sledding! WOOO!”

“Rockman, I've seen that same one used with a tarp put in the base then wrap it around your gear with a rope or bungy cord. I've seen those at a used sports place in Stockton too which was where I was going to buy mine.

Phaedrus, oh yeah! Weeeeeeee a sledding we gooooooo!”

“Here are a couple sleds we used backcountry skiing in Yellowstone last winter. My friend, Peter, bought one built by a guy in Utah and I had a home-made one. His was more stable than mine on side slopes and had a tent that came with it that you use the sled as part of the tent frame; you drape the tent over it. Worked well, but was small.

Yellowstone backcountry winter trip”

“I'm gonna name my sled "green bud" and put racing stripes or flames on it. How cool am I?.

but seriously, what should I use for pull poles? pcv piping?aluminum? wood?”

“How 'bout steel I-beams? You're a big strong guy, aren't you, Rockman??”

“Birch, do you have the plans for your sled? now that i have room to build one, i might just start doing it asap.”

“Ya' gonna haul around some frozen turkeys, mape?”

“I'm going to use aluminum. something like a tent pole, if I can find it at Home depot.”

“I used to have a sled like that one RM. I eventually bought another one with two plastic "rails" on the bottom. The rails, or runners, help it to stay straight whenever you're pulling it across a slope. My original one used to slide sideways sometimes, a pain in the #$@&. The next thing I did was add a homemade "harness" so that I had something solid connecting me to my sled. I did this because when you're headed downhill, the sled will sometimes go faster than you, banging into the backs of your legs OUCH!

Anyway, I found it well worth it to make the modificatons, and pretty cheap to do as well. MY "harness" is made out of that cheap plumbing stuff, it's like $.98 for an 8 ft. section!”

“I know the Holidays are close when the "Winter Hiking Sleds" Thread makes it's way back to the board. :p”

“I think I'll hold off on making runners for my sled right now. I figure I'll just be using it to get to Winterfest basecamp and surely there will be a rut/trench already in place from all the traffic.

Mtnsteve, I want that trench nicely groomed. I don't wanna do any work!”

“Chip's idea for a brake sounds great! I'll have to incorporate that!

Rockman, why the need for runners? Out here(midwest), most of our snow is powdery and fluffy. Are the trails so compact on the West Coast that you folks need runners to make the sleds more efficient?”

“Hell if I know. I don't do snow. I'm a virgin snow camper.”

“Holy Smokes, there will be blood at Winterfest!”

“BB will be my first. HA! Be gentle!”

“Ok, so now I have to get some of that foamy stuff to go around the cord. Is that right? And then a 1 ft chain. Boy this is turning into a lot of work!

LOL at rockman! Green bud! I know what that means, Mr.”

“If you:

a. Hate bugs
b. Hate being grimy and swaety
c. Like eating real food
d. Like the cold
e. Enjoy hiking in diffent places.


You'll love winter backpacking/climbing!”

“Oh, and most importantly:

f.) hate the crowds of "tourists"”

“I've used a home made plastic
kiddie sled pvc pipe combo. I still wear a light pack. I put clips on the rope to connect to
my waist belt. I think winter camping is getting popular. Some places different groups gravitate to..like tribes I guess.”

“maple, I dont have a digital camera but wolfeyes does, maybe when she picks up her sled she'll do some pics.”

“Hey, Birch...I am off tomorrow and can come take pics tomorrow if you will be around? Let me know. It is only right to post a pic.”

“Here are a couple of sleds. Mine is the blue one, "store bought". My friend made his from a plastic sled. My sled has fiberglass poles with an aluminum sleeve joint in the middle. You could get fiberglass tent pole replacements and do the same. His sled did better on rocks and dirt. Mine really took a beating. He used a section of chain for his brake and it worked great. Mine uses rope and works well in snow, not so good on ice.

”

“Runners are only helpful whenever you're pulling your sled across a slope. Without them, your sled can slide downhill, the runners keep your sled goin straight. Prolly not necessary if you're not going far, just a nice convenience that makes pulling a little easier.”

“Thanks for the pics, Pathman. That'll help a lot!”

“Lots of good ideas. I think we may get a cheap plastic sled and attach stiff poles to pull it.
Better to hold off on spending a lot of money/time until we see what we think of winter camping. I'm sure we'll like it more, though, if we can carry replacement socks and boot warmers. Also, when I think of what I want to eat at Winterfest, I keep thinking of scampi sauted in butter with garlic. I definitely need a bigger pan than my little SnowPeak cookset, in case I feel like sharing......”

“Replacement tent poles are cheap. Find a local Eureka tent dealer and the probably have the poles. Make sure they are long enough that your skis, shoes will clear. Drill holes and use pins or rings to attach. You can rivet a duffle into it too. That is very handy to keep snow out. IO haven't seen anybody add tracks to a sled. The molded ones are enough.

I have a waist belt, but prefer using a 1800 cc pack and attach the poles to the waist belt of the pack.

If you use a belt, make sure you have at least one over the shoulder belt or you may have your belt down around the ankles most of the time.

We skied into Tolovana Hot Springs, near Livengood AK. The snow was terrible. The hot springs were great.

Photos”

“I was going to going hiking today but it's supposed to rain everywhere. Then just last night I had a dream that I was with a lot of you tt'rs at someone's house. We were talking about making our sleds. Mine was done and I was anxious to go out and use it. You guys were just taking your time making yours.

So, guess what I'm doing today? I'm buying the sled, and going to call around looking for aluminum tent poles. Wish me luck!

One thing I'm not clear on is how you hook them to your waist. Is it with a buckle or what?”

“Flatten then. Drill a hole, put loop bolt through the hole, attach a carabiner to than and to your pack belt.

At least that's how I'm thinking of doing it.”

“I'm sure Amy would like to share her photos”

“My traces are hot water heater drain pipes that I got at Home Depot for $5 each (Pennsy's idea). These work the best for me, and I've tried PVC and chimney cleaning poles, which would be a little stiffer than the tent poles.

I ran a line through the pipes, capped the pipes off by duct taping plastic caps with holes in them on the ends, and attached swivel clips at the ends of the lines.

I don't like having the sled attached to my day pack because I didn't like taking my pack off every time I left my sled, so I made a belt out of seat belt webbing and a pack clip which fell apart 5 minutes into a 13 mile trek. I fixed it and it worked fine for the rest of the trip, but this year I'm using a pack belt instead.

It's fun working on it every year!”

“HC I've tried a number of ways to pull my sled, pro's & con's to all methods. What I've settled on is wearing a (somehat) light day-pack & attaching my sled to it. I like that because I have hipbelt & shoulder straps, so can adjust the sled so I don't have too much pressure on any one area. Since my main pack is atached to the sled, I then carry my quick-access items in my daypack, spare gloves, water, snacks, etc.”

“We used a padded double layer work belt from Home Depot, about $20 each. Burn thru the outer belt with a solder iron and separate the inner and outer belt and insert an elevator bolt, or a carriage bolt will work, thru while it is still hot. Then place a fender washer over the bolt, then the pipe, another fender washer and a nylon lock nut. Good solid, no play attachment.

Enjoy”

“Ok I'm looking to build myself a gear sled for FYAO. Below is the picture of the sled I have and I would like to know if this would be a good sled for gear (does it look like it will tip in deep snow, I have only used it for ice fishing so I haven’t tried it on any hilly terrain). Dimensions are 42”x20”x8”. Any modification suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


”

“Hell, Lumberzac, that looks like all you need is an Evinrude motor and a seat in there with a small steering wheel! LMAO! It sure doesn't look like it would tip at all even in water!”

“can I be the capt of that snow boat?”

“I've got a 4horse outboard, but I think it may be a little too big. What the he!! I'll try it out on the lake.”