Bob Marshall winter ski traverse

[Tom M]

This has been on the radar for a long time. Im hoping to get this going early 2021. Still deciding on routes. Initial route would be Monture to Meadow creek.

[Tom M]

“To pulk or not to pulk” I have zero experience with a tow behind sled but the thought of not having to carry a large multi day winter kit intrigues me. School me on the pro’s and con’s.

[Tom M]

Here is my first attempt at building a pulk. .030 aluminum came in at 2lb 12oz. as shown. I am going to build another one out of .0625 UHMW Polyethylene.

[Ryan Jordan]

“To pulk or not to pulk”

Depends on your route.

Sidehilling will suck.

But your pulk looks awesome!

I’ve skied the length of the Bob in winter twice, from E Glacier to Trixie’s. I used a pulk on one where I tried to use river corridors for as many miles as possible, and on steep sections, I carried it.

[Tom M]

Ryan,

Thanks I copied the design from other sleds I searched.  My route is mostly following the south fork flathead. I have upgraded the pulk using some .0625 UHMW it came in at 1lb 8oz. I did some limited testing this weekend and I agree sidehill traversing is awful. Did you find that the increased efficiency was worth the hassle?  

[Ryan Jordan]

On the trip with the pulk, I crossed 3 passes, and traveled N->S. Two of the passes (between my start on the CDT at Marias) to the Spotted Bear River were early in the trip and involved a lot of blowdowns. I was regretting the pulk, the pack weight, and the whole idea at that time…!

By the time I got to the Spotted Bear, everything got so much better. I spent the rest of the trip on river and road corridors except Hahn Pass, and only the lower part of the trail as it left Youngs Cr was difficult.

I was very glad to have the pulk, overall. It was a long trip (14 days) and the pulk was critical in keeping my pace up. I planned on 12 days and had to really make miles at the end because I was running out of food. And once over Hahn’s, it’s all downhill to Ovando, with still a lot of miles to go…but a pulk and skis on the flats and mild descents through Monture’s snow-covered sandbars and the FS roads – what a ton of fun.

I left the pulk behind on the 2nd trip because it was a high route with more passes and more difficult terrain.

[Tom M]

Ryan,

What type of harness did you use? In my limited testing this weekend I found that the pulk felt better anchored in between my shoulder blades.

[Ryan Jordan]

I made a crossing split pole system similar to the commercially-available ones at skipulk.com, and attached them via eyebolts and carabiners to my a daisy chain on my backpack hip belt.

Early in the trip, when my backpack was also pretty loaded, the pack interfered with the poles and it was uncomfortable and unwieldy to turn, but if I had to do it again, I might carry less weight in the pulk and just pull with a rope, attached in a Y-config to either side of my hip belt. I do this now for routine pulking on easy terrain and it works fine. Not awesome for steep downhills or tight turns in the forest though.

[Mike M]

rulk, not pulk :)

sidehilling is always a bit of a pain- even with rigid crossed poles; the beauty with a rulk is if becomes too big a pain (sidehilling, blowdown, super steep, etc) throw it on your back.

[Author]

Posts