Pulk harness

Hey Josh – I used a pull harness for the 400 mile Arctic ultra (I didn’t finish due to starting to get frost nip – I’ll try again in ’27).

some people used the belt even with a fully loaded sled. I preferred the harness I added packs that would hold some readily accessible food and gear.

what ever you decide, train with it. I pulled a tire up and down a local trail. 

Josh, a topic near and dear to my heart!

I’ve done quite a lot of pulking, here’s my take: never just use a waist belt. Having a shoulder harness that still attaches your poles at the waist is essential to comfort and producing the kind of force necessary in those awkward ‘popping over a small bump’ situations. It’s like this: a waist belt will eventually feel like it’s cutting you in half, whereas a shoulder harness will let you use your whole upper body leaned forward.

Having used a dedicated harness, I actually prefer my current method: Osprey Osmo 65 with stainless d-rings band-clamped to the bottom of the bag frame (which is basically in line with the hip belt.) It required a small slit through the fabric to run the clamps through but then you have an absolutely bomber connection to your poles that lets you leverage the shoulder straps and natural forward lean to pull with your whole body. And then you have close access to all the normal backpacking crap (hip pockets, waterbottle pockets, etc,) AND more storage than just the pulk (I usually just put on the go clothing into the backpack, not having to dig through a well packed pulk bag for jackets/gloves is quite nice.)

Regarding where to connect the poles, I’d suggest in line with hips/lower rather than higher. It helps keep your balance when the pulk starts pushing you on the downhills- more control with the force coming through your hips instead of pushing on your torso.

@devin

do you have a picture of your set up?

Have you pulled with out poles? It seems like (based on google searching and blogs) that most artic trips and I think Denali trips they use ropes instead of poles. For going down hill they use rope “breaks” to prevent the sled from over running them. Andy Kirkpatrick is one example

I’ll have to dig up some photos, if I can’t find any good action shots I’ll put it together in the basement for reference.

Poles- always. They give you a level of control you absolutely need with a bunch of weight riding along behind you. Solidly connected poles in an X (attached together where they cross! don’t omit that!) gives such a measure of control I cannot imagine trying to wrangle a pulk without them.

I make mine from 1/2″ galvanized electrical conduit, flatten a short section at each end, round the corners and drill a hole through the flat section for stainless locking carabiners that go to the pack d-rings and sled d-rings. It’s a very secure system that lets you control the load very finely, without any lash as slack gets taken up and released, and the sled can’t over-run you on downhills. I’ve had friends try to outsmart my system by going lightweight and it breaks, their sleds flip constantly, it’s uncomfortable and occasionally dangerous (side hills!)

+ for Devon on the total harness. just a belt only lets it get pulled down every few minutes.  the “pop: feature is for real a thing. to make best of both worlds, for me, use my backpack so a good belt there, and shoulder straps the handle the vert load. the only Peter thing I can add is that being as where I manhaul, the terrain is sea ice and dead flat (mostly) so no poles, just ropes, as per Jerry Kobalenko, and … I do not run one line from each side of the belt, but rig a V shaped harness from the sled to a point about 6′ in from of it, where the lines come together in a knot and a beeper. then from the pack I run a long line from the belt, thru the sled beener and back up to the shoulder area mountings. the result of this is that for the most part the holders do the towing, and I still have a solid hip pop to bust it over the tougher stuff. good came from lowering the upper mountings a little bit, to maybe half way down to my elbows level. you can make that tow lines form one really long section, but using a pair of them , one of each side, makes for fewer tangles. check Kobalenko’s site archives for info on correct line lengths. and maybe, check Peter vacco arctic 2017 for my stunningly viral u-tube vid on towing from Cambridge bay to talyoak (spence bay)

cheers,

v.

SUGGESTIONS:

1.)CROSSED poles held at the X  a bit loosely with a heavy duty O ring helps immensely with turns.

2.) Aluminum hinge brake bolted to the stern of the sled & reinforced inside with an aluminum plate greatly helps when stopped on an uphill or when unhitched on an uphill. This also prevents runaways (don’t ask…)

3.) If you use clevis pins at the waist pole attachment take EXTRAS. If ‘biners,  LOCKING ‘biners and one extra. Again, jus’ sayin’…

All this because of O’Toole’s Corollary –  “Murphy was an optimist”