Planning for the 6633 Ultra (-40*c trek of 380 miles)

The concept of this race is beyond my comprehension – First I’ll wish you the best of luck and hope you and the other racers are able to stay safe.  My experience in cold like that is limited to a week-long dog sledding trip I took in the Yukon years ago – I don’t think it went below -32F.

If I were looking for ease of setup (and since you’re modifying your pulk anyway with the wheels), I’d look for a way to sleep in the pulk.  Your pads and bivy could remain in place and you’d then just pull out your bags and stack them around you as an additional windbreak.  You’d just want to anchor your pulk well (or dig it in) if you’re on any kind of a slope so that you don’t wake up far from where you fell asleep.

Just a thought…

I like the Outdoor Research Alti-mitts for those temps.

I’ve been along most of that route and my first question is, Do you travel along the highway for that route?  On the highway?

That would greatly reduce any navigation issues and also effect my choice of sled/pulk.

I’m not a dog musher but I’m willing to play one on TV.  I do know lots of Iditarod mushers, go on 10- and 20-mile runs with them, including my doctor and an insulin-dependent one I supervise at work.  I’d focus more attention on your sled/pulk than anything other then your personal clothes.

People like us use pulks with flat bottoms.  Real dog mushers who are trying to go 1049 miles as quickly as possible all use sleds with two narrow runners.  If you’re in any kind of powder, a flat-bottomed pulk crushes that snow for its entire width and packing snow down requires force over a distance so that’s WORK – real work that comes only from your body.  A dog sled has two narrow runners, about 2 inches wide each, that compress far less snow so it requires far less force to propel.  So I’d start there.

Second – get a glide wax on your sled/pulk.  Always.  I once thought maybe not on a hilly trip (because the sled is sometimes behind and above you), but it will run you over either way so you might as well make it much easier to pull up hills and on the level.

Third: Keep the center of gravity in the sled low, so it tips over less.  Duh.

Fourth (cutting edge concept here): sleep in your sled.  I’ve long felt a monocoque,  stitch-and-glue shell (like a kit-built plywood kayak) would be lighter, stronger, lower wind resistance, and COULD SERVE AS A BOMBER SHELTER for the musher.

Nice that David and I had the same thoughts, but I’m a total newbie on this.  When I was dogsledding I had lots of time to contemplate how I would turn the sled into a bed.  David has been thinking about the Pulk-Shelter concept for more than 5 years:

Expanding on David Thomas’ Pulk-Shelter Idea

For pulks I’d take a look at Northern Sled Works, they have a variety of UHMW pulks that may fit your bill, but use case is the biggest factor here. I’ve used their 4’ pulks on a few trips and I actually like taking my backpack tied down with the straps facing up so you can wear the whole thing when going over difficult terrain, but for 380 miles you’ll probably be wearing a bag and pulling the pulk.

Clothing wise I think you should look into vapor barriers:

1. Gloves: simplest way is bringing 3-5 pairs of nitrile gloves and just wear them under your liner gloves then large expedition mitts over top. You can reuse these for days, even in extreme cold. To put them on outside just blow some hot air in them and they will come on easily. I’ve been told RBH designs has good vapor barrier mitts if you’d like to try that route.

2. Footwear: This one is a bit tricker, but very important. We wear ‘bunny boots’ (US Army issued vapor barrier boots, but they would be rough going extremely long distances in. Rab and other companies make VB socks that work pretty well.

3. Vest: 40 Below sells a VB vest (never tried) that just has VB on the back so it won’t soak your insulation while wearing a backpack.

4. VB sleeping bag liner. Rab and western mountaineering among other sell these. These are a must for multi day extreme cold trips without a hot tent.

And as far as a neck gaiter, I’d bring a few different weights/thicknesses and just rotate through them as the temps change. Thinner ones are great for high exertion. As they ice up just spin them around your head, then swap to a new one once they become too frozen. You can stick them in the arms of your wind shell to kind of dry them.

Ive seen many sew a patch of neoprene to googles to kind of make a protective flap over your nose/mount and prevent some fogging.

One piece of gear we like is a ‘No Fog Mask’ which can work well as it allows breathing, prevents goggles from fogging and doesn’t get saturated with breath like many other face coverings. Stay away from ‘Cold Avenger’ masks, they don’t prevent fogging and they ice up too fast in extreme cold.

I’m a Canadian Army Arctic Operations Advisor, if you’re wondering about my experience.

Thanks all!  Great recommendations.

You can make a nice runnered sled- mini komatik I guess, using 3/8ths ply mounted on top of old cross country skis, very efficient on packed snow or ice. I like double rag mitts over liners and with a wind shell mitt for really cold weather. The wool is more resistant to compression than the lightweight filling materials.
your bivy doesn’t need to be waterproof, just wind proof. Also consider a synthetic quilt on top of your bag to move the dew point away from your bag. Take down socks for sleeping!

I’d do Brynje for base layers. The Scandinavians know a little something about staying warm and dry in cold weather (dry is VERY important!). Also, consider layering a few polartec alpha direct layers for midlayers. They won’t hold moisture and are warmer than wool for the weight.

@ Perry You dont say whether you are walking or skiing to pull the pulk.

Ray Jardine, one of the co-fathers of lightweight backpacking wrote a book about his trek to the South Pole, it might be a fun read along with your other preparations.

He describes in detail his training regime, and his gear most of it DIY and MYOG  Skiing to the South Pole by Ray Jardine free on his website http://www.Rayjardine.com. If I remember correctly, he had an issue with the harness for his pulk that compromised his insulation and managed to suffer frostbite.