Winter hiking sleds

“oooo, cool pics pathman.

yep, i should start on a sled now!”

“You can have both, you know!!
”

“Only 4 months left until ski season. It's hard to believe that in two months, the leaves will be changing. Summer will be over before we know it.”

“that's ok. this humidity is killing! let it snow snow snow!!”

“What, no sled talk!?!?”

“I was hoping to get a Ziffco mountaineering sled this winter and I can't seem to find them. They made great stuff. Did they go out of business? Anybody hear anything about Ziffco?”

“Hey, I've been looking for a bigger sled for my gear also. Rei has a Ziffco sled. Is that what you're looking for Buck? I'll have to measure mine to see if that one at REI is bigger. I found one online last year but it was way out of my price range. I think they called it a puck or somthing like that. I can't even remember where I saw it. I'm still looking and if I find one, I'll let you know.

You guys should go on the Loon Lake Fiasco '06 trip next month! Check it out on the trips page.”

“yep..looks like it's no longer available..I did find these:
http://www.kifaru.net/sleds.htm
http://www.granitegear.com/products/winter_gear/pulk_sled/”

“Well shoot dang son-of-a-gun. I was really wanting a Ziffco. I should've prodealed one when I had my chance. They seem to be *poof* now.”

“hikerchic, I'd like to go on that trip but I sprained my back on New Year's Eve (don't ask) so it's gonna be a while before I can do anything too hardcore. That's why I wanted a Ziffco sled, so someone could pull me out on it. :^D”

“buck, you have mail...and, after looking at these sleds and their prices I can only be grateful I have Lorax as a friend. He made me a wonderful sled last year that's super light, being made of wood and glue, roomy and tracks beautifully...
last edited: 1/13/06 6:11:49 PM”

“Thanks, mataharihiker�! I can't access it from work so I'll hafta read it tonight. Hopefully you included pics as well. :�”

“mataharihiker, I'd like to see a picture of your sled. Would you mind sharing?

oh, I found my bigger sled! It's 66 inches long. I few weeks ago, I bought a snowboard bag which fits perfect in this sled. I'm not sure how to attach it. Does anyone have any suggestions? I was thinking of velcro to the bottom or drilling wholes and closing with some type of screw & bolt.

I love how low to the ground it will be. It is long though. I hope that won't be too awkward. Has anyone else used this size before? Buck mine is an H20 brand and looks almost as durable as the ziffco. Sorry to hear about your back. Good luck on a quick recovery.”

“Sheila, I recommend something with brass grommets and eye-screws to bolt the bag to the sled. Velcro will let you down. The eye-screws provide a way to lash things on top using parachute cord. We'll talk at the Fiasco, but I recommend grommets in the sled to keep the plastic from tearing out. Low profile is very good, keeps the sled from turning over.”

“Does the sled have some holes along the sides of an overhanging lip? If it does, that's what we have, then you can use bungee cords. Works great! You can use 3-4 depending on how confortable you feel about the security of it. Criss-cross them as far as you can, at an angle, from end to end and if there's handles on your bag you can also go through them really securing them so it doesn't fall out. See if that works.”

“I got a new sled this year, the Paris Expedition Long. It's 66" long and has worked well for me. The lower load makes it feel like I'm hardly hauling anything. Last trip I attached another sled to the back and it still hauled easily.”

“Hey tb, I was going to call you about how you attached your zippered duffle to your sled. Is that how you did yours?

skeetah, it has indentions for holes. I'm recharging my drill as I type. I'll start drilling tomorrow.

hey twigeater, that's what I like to hear! It hardly feels like you're hauling anything. hummm...I think I'll be happy with this.”

“Twigeater, so you can pull two sleds okay????”

“Hikerchic5,we used those holes for threading rope all around the sled. Then we use the bungee cords to secure whatever we are bringing down real good in case of a tip over, not that, that usually happens, but its nice to know that everything won't dump all over the place.

Hey, Twigeater....how strong you feelin..... think you could pull my sled this year? LOL , JK ;) My leg is getting better, we didn't do any skiing, so, I'm saving all my strength for next weekend. :)”

“har har, you two...
:)

I didn't do much of anything with my sled this time around, I actually attached the conduit to the sled at the trailhead. Bungees kept everything in place. I'm sure I'll drill some holes sometime when I get a chance to look at it, just because I can't help myself. :)

I did look for a long flattish bag to go in it, I'll have to check out the snowboard bag hikerchic mentioned.”

“I found an Angler Chest Wader at Wally world which turned out to be perfect for hauling my sled..and it was cheap! with pockets!”

“About tip over ...
I have a deep pulk (a pelican 45" rigged with grey Cpvc conduit), but also have an older Paris Expidition rigged with std pvc. With miles of Maine winter camping behind me with these two sleds, I've never dumped a load. Usually I have my ski partner hold the aft tether rope whenever traversing.
Nonetheless, usually hauling for two, I grab the deep Pelican more often than not. And too, the Pelican is better designed for adapting a cover I think.
About a hip belt/attachment: years back, I grabbed a cheap L.L. Bean backpack at Goodwill, and cut the pack from the belt. Have had no problems with such a belt rig.”

“Update time!

Who's got their sleds ready to roll?? What works best for hauling kiddies?

Thanks!”

“What works best for me is my kiddies hauling me.

You're welcome!”

“who wants to make me one?”

“My sled doesn't roll, it slides. If yours rolls, I think you're doing it wrong, lol.

I use a Jet Sled. I think it's considered an ice fishing gear sled here in the Midwest. I like the high sides on it. For the two towing poles I used three fiberglass tent pole sections (three for each pole) through which I threaded a coated cable. I made a loop in the cable at each end of the pole using materials (clamps and loops) found at Home Depot. For my harness I use a turkey hunting waist pack that has shoulder straps to help distribute the load between my hips and shoulders, rather than just pulling with a waist belt. Plus I can stuff items in the pack itself. The connections to the sled and pack are with carabiners. (I plan on tweaking the whole setup a little bit this year.)

Make sure there's snow. Pulling a sled through the Adirondacks when there's no snow is not fun---ask Tarabull and Y2!”

“Hey, but wait. Aren't the fiberglass tent poles solid? How do you thread cable through them?”

“I connect to my sled via a backpack hip belt and a piece of bent electrical conduit. I just threaded the rope through it.”

“That Twigeater is one bent chick.”

“Nope. The shock-corded poles are hollow. Just snip the elastic cord and pull it out. You can either buy a set of replacement poles or use some from an old car camping tent like I did.

-NC”

“Oh, rad. Thanks for the info, NC.”

“I don't know if this was posted before... but I found it... so check this out...

http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/sled.htm

Looks pormising...”

“who wants to make me one?�
The Dutchess of Road Kill
12:36:07 PM
11/18/08

a kid or a sled?”

“Yah, ncthiker. I was eyeballing that site. They have some nice stuff. Pricey, but nice.”

“looks good if you got the scratch for $110 ....”

“Yah, ncthiker. I was eyeballing that site. They have some nice stuff. Pricey, but nice.”
roseymonster
4:55:40 PM
11/18/08


http://www.rei.com/product/609482

I bought the sled from REI, made-up the poles and mounting hardware, then bought the ski-pulk hip-belt, which at the time, was slightly less than what they are priced at now.”

“The skipulk is a good bit of kit.”