Sled Skiing Advice

SteveSteppt

SteveSteppt

Member
I live in Washington but i have a cabin up in Idaho on a lake that is surrounded by mountains and gorgeous bowls so me and one of my buddies that i have rode park with for several years are deciding swap the park skis our for some powdaaa skis then buy a snowmobile just to help us tap into some of that terain. However I am quite the novice in regards to knowing about anything other than park skiing so does anyone who has had experience in this relm have any advice for a nooooob like me?

Thanks!

 
Seriously, it sounds as if you know fuck all about back country safety. First and foremost your buddy and you need to take an Avvy 1 class, get beacons, shovels, probes, etc. then think about spending some time in the BC with some experienced people.

And maybe learn to ski pow first.
 
This is exactly what I was going to say. Avy class for sure and then definitely go out your first few times with experienced people. You and your friend being new to bc with new terrain and a new sled sounds a bit sketchy by yourselves.
 
I would get more than avy 1 if you are getting sled access terrain. But this is basically spot on.

Be smart and prepared. Don't get yourself killed
 
Good luck with the sled. You are gonna have a hell of a time with that. You will spend more time digging the sled out than skiing
 
thats true to some extent but there are quite a few sledders there and there are roads up to most of the peaks... but yes there will be quite alot of digging involved. Good Point
 
Just saying from experience. I started sled skiing a few years ago thinking I would hope on and go. Not the case at all. Even sledding on roads can be challenging especially if you are doubling...I'm not the best sledder ever and you could totally get to be better than me. But my advice is: get a good, new sled and go in with low expectations.
 
I would suggest that you don't bring your skis out till you learn how to ride your sled well, they'll just get in the way. Also, you can get a better feel for the snow conditions hiking, so i would recommend buying your self some skins and touring equipment, especially for the early part of the season.
 
I was in the same spot as you about 5-6years ago. I have written quite a few posts on this already. Here is my advice:

If you know nothing about sleds: get a 154" track minimum, spend a little extra and get something fairly reliable, If its a little older make sure it has an altitude compensator.

get a good rack for your skis, check my profile pics, A good setup for gear is important because sledding is hard. Depending what sled you get I can make a custom alluminum rack for you for a couple of hundred if you want, The ones we build work really well are very durable and are almost un-noticable while sledding. There are other companys that make them as well, cheetah racks

Don't sled in ski boots, whatcha wanna do is get yourself a water tight rafting bag that can be strapped onto your tunnel, get some cheap oversized winter boots or snowboard boots, replace the liners in them with your ski boot liners and put your shells in the water tight bag, put your shells on when you get to where you want to ski. personally I put my whole ski boot in the bag and just use some winter boots. The tunnel will keep them warm enough to put them on.

Depending on where you're making laps you may want to tow instead of mantandem, get an iner tube from a mountain bike and a fairly large carribeaner. double up the ends of the tube and put it around your waist and attach with the carribeaner, kinda like a belt under your ass. take your rope and tie a loop about 2M from the end. thread the tail through the carribeaner and then through the loop, hold on to whats left of the tail. Its easy to hold the tail and let the rope pull your belt, if shit hits the fan you can just let go of the tail and it should unwind out of the loop and carribeaner.

carry grain shovels, great for everything, With the racks that I build I can comfortably put all that shit on my sled and not notice it. (not trying to sound like a sales pitch haha)

Get avy trained, get beacons and practice with them. make sure you are familiar with the terrain and pack emergency shit.

have fun, you may also never enjoy a pow day at a resort again.
 
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