Kimmyt
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I figured there might be some others out there with younger kids that might like to get out into the backcountry, do a family winter hut trip, or just fool around on a sled.
My husband and I planned an early winter hut trip with some friends, so we decided that since the baby (who is not really a baby anymore but more of a small toddler man) requires a bit more gear than just we would require, and so we started looking at our options when a friend pointed us towards the idea of a pulk sled.
A pulk sled is a sled used for hauling gear long distance, attached to a person's hips via harness or backpack, and is sometimes used for hauling children as well. They can be made easily and there are many youtube tutorials out there, we used this one as our basis, but there are many on Youtube to choose from.
We used a cheapo hardware store sled. It would probably work better with a burlier sled made for hauling, but any sled with a fairly straight design and flat bottom, high-ish sides and 3-5' in length would work. If you want to spend more money you can buy what is called a 'utility sled' but we went the cheap route.
It took us less than $25 to make this, and we did it during a small portion of the baby's nap, so it's pretty easy.
A closeup of the holes drilled and tie downs and cord in place. We ran out of cheap carabiners so used a few old rappel rings, and in hindsight might have just used inexpensive quicklinks so we could use bungee cords more easily.
Here is a closeup of the front of the sled. We used weight bearing carabiners for clips onto the backpack/harness of the hauler. In hindsight it would be nice if these were keylock so they didn't get caught on things as easily. The knots we used were clove hitches, because they allow you to tension the cord and it's really important to get the cord as tight as possible so your sled doesn't weeble and wobble all over the place, and we duct taped the tails back down on the handles to add a bit of extra security and because we had some sweet duct tape I wanted to use.
We also decided to use a length of wood because the front of our sled was a bit narrow and my husband thought it might stabilize the forces when pulling a bit. So that was just a piece of scrap wood with some holes drilled in and tied to the sled using a knot (I think double overhand? But maybe clove hitches, who knows, any knot would really do for either of these applications).
We didn't get to use it on our hut trip due to the baby coming down with a bad cold, but we did take it out when we got a Christmas tree. And today I took it out on a nice neighborhood jaunt with my son and a neighbor's son since we got a bit of snow.
Notes after use: The steering is pretty challenging. It has very wide turning radius, and there is a bit of flex in the cord/pole system. We are thinking of adding some rear webbing straps to allow for help steering from behind as it is prone to tipping if you're not traveling fairly straight distance and on even-ish snow. Also the sled we bought was cheap, and seems to have warped a bit so the sled is pulling crookedly. It works, but probably not as well as a more expensive Utility sled would work. I haven't tried this with skis, yet. I know it is supposed to work with them but I'm interested in seeing if it would need any adjustments. It pulls weight really well though, for example today I was pulling my 25 pound kid and the neighbors extra big 3 year old without an issue. The weight is all centered right on your hips so it makes it super easy!
Anyway, thought some others might enjoy this easy diy project. If you have any questions, fire away!
My husband and I planned an early winter hut trip with some friends, so we decided that since the baby (who is not really a baby anymore but more of a small toddler man) requires a bit more gear than just we would require, and so we started looking at our options when a friend pointed us towards the idea of a pulk sled.
A pulk sled is a sled used for hauling gear long distance, attached to a person's hips via harness or backpack, and is sometimes used for hauling children as well. They can be made easily and there are many youtube tutorials out there, we used this one as our basis, but there are many on Youtube to choose from.
We used a cheapo hardware store sled. It would probably work better with a burlier sled made for hauling, but any sled with a fairly straight design and flat bottom, high-ish sides and 3-5' in length would work. If you want to spend more money you can buy what is called a 'utility sled' but we went the cheap route.
It took us less than $25 to make this, and we did it during a small portion of the baby's nap, so it's pretty easy.
A closeup of the holes drilled and tie downs and cord in place. We ran out of cheap carabiners so used a few old rappel rings, and in hindsight might have just used inexpensive quicklinks so we could use bungee cords more easily.
Here is a closeup of the front of the sled. We used weight bearing carabiners for clips onto the backpack/harness of the hauler. In hindsight it would be nice if these were keylock so they didn't get caught on things as easily. The knots we used were clove hitches, because they allow you to tension the cord and it's really important to get the cord as tight as possible so your sled doesn't weeble and wobble all over the place, and we duct taped the tails back down on the handles to add a bit of extra security and because we had some sweet duct tape I wanted to use.
We also decided to use a length of wood because the front of our sled was a bit narrow and my husband thought it might stabilize the forces when pulling a bit. So that was just a piece of scrap wood with some holes drilled in and tied to the sled using a knot (I think double overhand? But maybe clove hitches, who knows, any knot would really do for either of these applications).
We didn't get to use it on our hut trip due to the baby coming down with a bad cold, but we did take it out when we got a Christmas tree. And today I took it out on a nice neighborhood jaunt with my son and a neighbor's son since we got a bit of snow.
Notes after use: The steering is pretty challenging. It has very wide turning radius, and there is a bit of flex in the cord/pole system. We are thinking of adding some rear webbing straps to allow for help steering from behind as it is prone to tipping if you're not traveling fairly straight distance and on even-ish snow. Also the sled we bought was cheap, and seems to have warped a bit so the sled is pulling crookedly. It works, but probably not as well as a more expensive Utility sled would work. I haven't tried this with skis, yet. I know it is supposed to work with them but I'm interested in seeing if it would need any adjustments. It pulls weight really well though, for example today I was pulling my 25 pound kid and the neighbors extra big 3 year old without an issue. The weight is all centered right on your hips so it makes it super easy!
Anyway, thought some others might enjoy this easy diy project. If you have any questions, fire away!
