Load Carrying.

The kit requirements for cold weather camping tend to stretch our load carrying capabilities, not due to weight but because of the sheer bulk required.

Warm layers of extra clothing, two sleeping bags a bivi bag and a good sleeping mat fill the main part of my pack so side pockets, sadly lacking on my trusty old Roc, are needed for the rest.

Due to pure good fortune and a tip off from a friend I managed to obtain a rare old Crusader made of canvas instead of Cordura. A quick modification of the zips allowed me to attach a set of detachable pouches and this has been my main pack for a while now.

This is spacious enough for a short winter trip but still a bit small for extended trips so it’s time to look at another advantage of snow.

Most serious travellers in winter conditions drop the back pack and turn instead to sledges for transporting the gear.

The two most popular options for this are Pulks and Toboggans.

The hauling ropes are connected to aluminium brackets via loops of bungee cord that act as shock absorbers and this will attach to a tump / shoulder strap rather than a harness for convenience.

At the first opportunity after a bit of snow I had the chance to try out a few bits.

It wasn’t all that cold really so for most of the time that I was hauling the pulk I was stripped down to my base layer top but I decided to try the Pac boots to see what sort of moisture problems might occur.

Having replaced the synthetic liners with some good quality felt liners from a company over the pond I was very pleased with the results. Even in these relatively warm conditions my feet remained dry from inside and out.

As mentioned on the clothing pages, one of the greatest challenges working in the cold is not just keeping warm but keeping dry.

Too much clothing can result in perspiration problems that are just as dangerous as getting your clothing wet from external sources.

Regulating body temperature while working or resting by adjusting clothing layers is of vital importance in extreme cold and some of these test runs really helped me to refine my layer system before committing myself to the kit that I took out to Norway with me in 2012.

When I was out there it proved invaluable. Allowing me to cover far greater distances than I think would have been possible with a heavy pack.

It served other uses too from hauling firewood around to being a makeshift door for my quinzhee.

As I have described in more detail on the 2012 trip report, the weather we experienced was unseasonably warm which led to a number of problems.

Greatest of these problems for me was that the snow on the tracks and roads that I travelled out on thawed enough to expose a mixture of grip and ice that heavily abraded the bottom of the pulk.

This on it’s own might not have been a problem but unfortunately the design of the shell meant that there were extruded ridges on the bottom which wore faster than the rest of the surface.

I was able to make a rough and ready repair while I was out there using multiple layers of duct tape which got me out of trouble but it is absolutely certain that this sled will not be making another expedition with me.

The other kind of sledge that I had considered making was a toboggan and Pete, another of the expedition members, had already decided that was the way he wanted to do it.

I have to admit I was impressed with the performance of his toboggan and it’s load carrying capabilities that is definitely what I’ll be making before my next trip.

The toboggan is a style of sledge that was developed by the First Nations of North America.

Originally made from thin wooden planking they have largely been replaced with plastic sheeting these days which is stronger, requires less maintenance and can even be rolled up for transport on aircraft.

While waiting to get my hands on my sheet I set about sourcing the rivets, tape, wood, nuts and bolts that would be needed to complete the construction.

I selected oak for the hauling bar and stiffeners and marine grade stainless steel for the bolts with nylon inserted locking nuts for fastening them.

I counter-bored the bars using a flat wood bit before drilling the holes through for the bolts. This allows the nuts to sit no higher than the top of the bars. There is also a slot worked into the underside of the hauling bar for 25mm climbing tape which forms the first link in the hauling system.

The 10mm tape, shown left, is secured along the edges for load securing with counter sunk pop rivets and washers, stainless steel again.

One of the main objectives on this build was to produce a sled that could be rolled up tight enough to fit inside an expedition barrel bag of a size that would be acceptable on most airlines as checked in baggage.

The complete toboggan, weighing in at just under 7 kg. easily fulfils that objective and once in the bag can be filled with much of the awkward shaped equipment such as snowshoes, boots and shovels that are often troublesome when packing.

Here you can see all the important parts of the rigging.

The side tapes are fitted directly to the base which makes them the only part that is not field interchangeable. A bit of a risk but I think there are enough attachment points that if one fails the rest should suffice.

The curl is held in place with a simple cord and prusik knot system.   I had intended to make “whoopie” slings for this but in the end I went for the simplest approach.

Running through the front stiffener bar is the all important hauling loop for man handling the sled over awkward ground and obstacles.

The black tape forms the first link of the hauling system. I will attach a loop of shockcord to this and the harness will attach to that.

The sticker was salvaged from my old pulk, I don’t know how long it will stick on this new one but time will tell.

At the trailing end of the sled we have another stiffening bar and another grab loop. Currently this goes through the base of the sled. On reflection I think this may be a mistake so I may well change it to run through the bar, parallel to the sled surface, where it is less likely to snag.

Loaded on the sled below are the two barrel bags that I am using to fly all the gear out. 

Although not completely waterproof the one I used last year proved to be airport and snow proof which is good enough for my needs.

The toboggan rolls up tightly enough to drop into the top of the bag and slide up to the end for packing.

These two bags leave a considerable amount of the load area for another bag which will contain the provisions we obtain locally.