Sledge, Pulk?

jeff potter wrote:
With any kind of heavy load a suspended pole is needed otherwise you
have a wretched sense of starting/stopping all that momentum no matter
what your mode of travel. Maybe there's a place for a rigid pole,
though.

The poles I use are 1/2" diameter solid fiberglass and can be
obtained in any farm supply store. They are sold for putting up electric
fences.
I too experienced the hercky jercky motion until I got the entire
linkage so it had no slop in it. Now the pulk and I travel as one.
I've skied full speed down through the trees with the pulk in tow
and had no problems.
I've also had the sled roll over when the weight was loaded to high
and I was traversing a side hill. The poles twisted up like pretzels but
were fine once I took off the waist belt and untwisted them. I can't
imagine this with metal poles.

Have fun!

Yes, always.

Ed Huesers
Http://www.grandshelters.com

[ jeff potter ]

With any kind of heavy load a suspended pole is needed otherwise you
have a wretched sense of starting/stopping all that momentum no matter
what your mode of travel. Maybe there's a place for a rigid pole,
though.

I've heard that people travelling over glaciers with a really heavy
pulk (think skiing to the South Pole) sometimes use really long, rigid
poles. The theory being that if you fall through a snow bridge the
pulk stays on top and the poles hold you up. I'm a bit skeptical, as
you usually make a big hole if you fall through with skis on, but it
might be better than nothing.

Around here (Norway) many people ski with their small kids in pulks. I
think the poles currently are aluminum mostly, and they're hinged in
the middle for easier transportation. This is the most popular one:

http://fjellpulken.no/


Martin
--
"An ideal world is left as an exercise to the reader."
-Paul Graham, On Lisp

In article ,
Martin Thornquist wrote:
I've heard that people travelling over glaciers with a really heavy
pulk (think skiing to the South Pole) sometimes use really long, rigid
poles. The theory being that if you fall through a snow bridge the
pulk stays on top and the poles hold you up.

The problem is that this presumes your sled's travel is perpendicular to
the line of the crevasse and not colinear to the snow bridge. Most of
the time: it won't be. Skis are very good distributing weight compared
to unshod walking boots except for very wide crevasses as in large enough to
swallow a sno-cat (think Mawson's Will and his ponies breaking
through snow bridges). Then the ski gives you a false sense of security
until you get to the thinnest part of the bridge.
You can get over thin Antarctic snow bridges with skis
which you can't do with a sledge.

I'm a bit skeptical, as
you usually make a big hole if you fall through with skis on, but it
might be better than nothing.

People trying solo traversals and winter ascents of Denali have tried
horizontally carrying ladders or long strong poles (and back packs). The
advantage on temperate/continental glaciers unlike ice sheets is that
you have an idea of flow direction and some sense (but not always) how
crevasses run (rememeber: not always like bends/turns).

N. Uemura's body has never been found on Denali, and he used this solo glacier
travel system.

--

People trying solo traversals and winter ascents of Denali have tried
horizontally carrying ladders or long strong poles (and back packs). The
advantage on temperate/continental glaciers unlike ice sheets is that
you have an idea of flow direction and some sense (but not always) how
crevasses run (rememeber: not always like bends/turns).

I have also read (source?) that some people use two long poles that are put
together to form a cross and attach this to their hips, so you don't have to
worry about the directions of the crevasses (as long as the crevasses are
not bigger than the cross). However I have a hard time imaging how help
yourself once such a cross has stopped you from falling (remember you are
still soloing).

Bernd

People trying solo traversals
horizontally carrying ladders or long strong poles (and back packs). The
advantage on temperate/continental glaciers unlike ice sheets is that
you have an idea of flow direction and some sense (but not always) how
crevasses run (rememeber: not always like bends/turns).

In article ,
Bernd Nebendahl wrote:
I have also read (source?) that some people use two long poles that are put
Likely Tejas and others.
together to form a cross and attach this to their hips, so you don't have to
worry about the directions of the crevasses (as long as the crevasses are
not bigger than the cross). However I have a hard time imaging how help
yourself once such a cross has stopped you from falling (remember you are
still soloing).

One presumes one doesn't always punch all the way through
(figure that most of the time you are toast [Simpson being a rare exception]).
You'd have many of the same problems breaking thru lakes except
snow bridges are weaker than lake ice, and you don't get any buoyant
advantages with air below your feet.

The problem is figuring out how long to make the poles. Longer - heavier,
so it's just another part of the knapsack problem.

This is why Messner doesn't like soloing across crevasse fields. But he
does it (w/o any of this).

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to unshod walking boots except for very wide crevasses as in large enough to
swallow a sno-cat (think Mawson's Will and his ponies breaking
through snow bridges). Then the ski gives you a false sense of security

I thought Mawson used dogs and got vitamin-A poisioning from their
livers.

Wasn't it Scott who tried ponies?

--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

to unshod walking boots except for very wide crevasses as in large enough to
swallow a sno-cat (think Mawson's Will and his ponies breaking
through snow bridges). Then the ski gives you a false sense of security

In article ,
Hal Murray wrote:
I thought Mawson used dogs and got vitamin-A poisioning from their
livers.

Wasn't it Scott who tried ponies?

Scott used Siberian Ponies, Shackleton also used ponies. Every one used
dogs. Scott tried tractors. I can't remember all the details of Mawson
w/o going back to Will (those polar books blend together) but I recall one
of the accounts watching some disappear into the abyss.

Scott's ponies had snow shoes, those are still at Cape Evans, and I
remember seeing horse feed at Cape Royds outside Shackleton's hut.
All the English had problems with dogs and skiing. Scott only had 4
pairs of skis for the five of them on his ill fated push. This little
fact tends to get overlooked by armchair explorers.

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