in this video I'm gonna show you how to pack a pulk sled I'm gonna give you a
basic gear list and some special occasion add-ons and a couple of things
that you can do around camp to improve your living situation so stick around
for years I taught survival and outdoor leadership in the Marine Corps now my
passion is helping you to develop the skills and techniques required for
outdoor recreation i'm Norseman and this is SURVIVOLOGY 101 so if you're new
here consider subscribing hey so let me know in the comments what's your
favorite time of year to go camping
winter camp is an amazing time for not only solitude but for some really unique
training experiences in an environment like this there's a lot less resources
for you to rely on so your two choices are to either bring more with you or
venture farther from camp to gather it one thing to always keep in mind in a
snow-covered environment like this is everything's a little bit harder to do
and takes a little bit longer to accomplish everything from movement to
basic camp chores it's always just a little bit more difficult fortunately in
an environment like this our greatest adversary the snow is also our greatest
ally but that only works if we have the right gear and we know how to use it
snowshoes and skis are both excellent options for mobility over the snow but
they do take practice and patience to learn and master and one thing to keep
in mind is that the more weight you put on your back the less effective skis and
snow shoes are going to be and the more draining they're gonna be on you
physically so go without saying that the only real effective way to move gear
over this environment is to pull it in a pulk sled which does take practice I'll
put a link here to a video that I did on how to build the pulk sled that you see
in this video and then you can decide if that's the right tool for you so hey put
it down in the comments what are you preferring the backcountry skis or
snowshoes one big advantage of camping in the winter in a snow-covered
environment is that there's a lot less people interfering with your good time
but that also means you have a lower probability of being rescued if
something were to go wrong and if there is a rescue it's gonna take more effort
on the part of the rescuers to locate you and get you home to safety so now
let's take a look at the gear list figure out what to put in our sled
to mitigate as many of these problems as we can and make our trip as safe and
comfortable as possible so let's talk for just a second about the four
classifications of gear that we put into our pulk sled the first is going to be
permanent gear and that's gear that lives in the sled even in the offseason
when you store it away it still has that gear in it the second is going to be
camp gear and this is going to be camp specific to your trip and then there's a
lot of little situational kits you can add to that depending on what your trip
is going to consist of the third is transitional gear and that's generally
not something you bring with you but when you're using your sled around camp
to move firewood or evac a casualty or gather water or dragging your resupply
materials those are the kind of things that would be classified this
transitional gear and the last is going to be your safety gear and that's
generally a small survival kit and some small sustainment gear and that's going
to be strapped onto your body either your chest or your back so that if you
have to ditch your sled you still have enough gear to make it back a lot the
first and main parts of our permanent gear are going to be obviously the sled
shell itself the poles the sled bag and I suggest using like a large duffel bag
and preferably one that has shoulder straps as well like a military sea bag
that way if something catastrophic happens to the sled you can still put
your gear on your back and you can still get it out of there or get it into camp
additionally I keep a piece of closed cell foam cut to fit in the bottom of my
sled so if I'm tossing in some transitional gear like some tools that
I'm taking out or firewood I don't have to worry about it puncturing the bottom
of the sled also if I have to move a casualty then they're not in contact
with the cold bottom of the sled they have a little bit of an insulation
barrier also part of my permanent kit is a stove a cook set and a thermos for the
tools that live in my sled I have a snow shovel a folding saw an axe
a Leatherman and a fixed blade knife for shelter I keep a tent with a tent repair
kit a tarp that can be strung up above the tent or below it depending on the
conditions a small whisk broom to either clean snow off of gear before I enter
the tent or to clean dirt and garbage out of the tent and a space blanket and
the last thing that lives in my pulk year-round is a set of snow goggles or
at a minimum a pair of decent polarized sunglasses in a durable case so keep in
mind this is just a basic list and your needs may vary and you can adjust it
accordingly but the next thing I'll talk about is camp specific gear that pretty
much goes every time no matter what kind of camp I'm gonna do usually my camp
specific gear I keep in a canvas laundry bag so that it's separate from the
permanent gear that lives in the sled so if I need to separate them for any
reason it's easy enough to do and in that bag would go situationally my food
and water supplies extra warming layers or extra clothing that I might need to
bring my sleeping bag and my sleeping pad for that camp
depending on the weather conditions I may bring a different rated sleeping bag
not something that I want to live in my sled I'll always bring extra stove fuel
and sometimes even an extra stove and this bag will also contain my hygiene
items for camp as well as any comfort items like a camp stool or something
along those lines that I may bring into camp just to be more comfortable while
I'm there some additions I recommend adding to your camp kit not to your
permanent kit would be a set of over whites if you're going out and you may
have a need for camoflage then a set of over whites is fairly lightweight and
easy to pack a clothing brush to brush the snow off of your clothing some extra
cordage a headlamp or a lantern and the reason that that item doesn't live in
the sled is because batteries corrode and I want to make sure that I take that
out every year and then replace it with fresh gear and fresh batteries every
year in the last edition that I highly recommend would be a first aid kit
my sled bag has a pocket in the front so I can keep my first aid kit easy to get
to even when I'm on the move if you're skiing on your trip some things to
consider that you might want to add to your kit situationally would be climbing
skins a waxing kit some way to repair damaged bindings and an extra set of
baskets for your ski poles or possibly even a complete set of poles and if your
snowshoeing essentially the same equipment - the wax kit if you're going
out hunting consider bringing extra ammo game processing equipment maybe game
bags ropes and drag straps and even rifle cleaning equipment can all go in
that situational kit and lastly if you're traveling in Avalanche prone
terrain something you're always going to want to have accessible is beacon shovel
and probe you're going to want to wear your beacon and it's gonna be in a
transmit mode you're gonna have a probe and you're gonna have a shovel so you
can dig out your buddies hey let me know down in the comments what would you add
to the permanent kit and to the camp kit the safety kit is an essential part of
dragging a pulk sled through most terrains it's often overlooked any
situation where you have to pull your quick-release and get your sled with all
your gear this is what's gonna bring you home so you want to keep this gear on
your body either on your back in a haversack or in my case in a
chest rig what I have in my kit is a small survival kit some Titan survival
cord some fire making materials and a pocket knife with a saw I also have
extra mittens and a wool hat a folding cup for drinking and some hand warmers
in the back of the bag I have a 72 gallon trash bag just in case I need it
as a sleeping bag or some other weather protection a small space blanket a pair
of wool socks and a folding cook pot and last but not least my ember lit fire in
so this kit is enough to stay warm and dry and have an uncomfortable night or
two so I could come back home so what do you think of my for kit system do you
like it give me a thumbs up and let me know you like it and put down in the
comments let me know anything that you would add or take out of the kit maybe I
can adjust my kit so it can serve me better in the backcountry when packing
the gear and the sled you want to try and keep the heavier objects towards the
bottom to keep the sled from tipping they have a tendency to roll when
turning corners additionally on the outside of the bag
usually just tucked into the strap somewhere I keep my snow shovel and my
axe so if I need them real quick to clear the trail I don't have to unpack
the entire load the first thing I do when I get into camp is I stomp out my
trail with snowshoes or skis and outline every location in the camp where the
tents going to be where the fires gonna be where the restrooms gonna be where
I'm gonna store the food all those things and then once I get a nice track
lined out I get out my snow shovel and go to work then I have a nice camp and I
don't have to worry about snowshoes or skis to get to any of the necessities
around camp that's called a track plan when you're
done using your sled in camp for the day you're gonna have to store it and I
recommend storing it like this because there's nothing worse than waking up in
the morning and finding all your gear frozen into a block of ice
so we just had a great time out in the snow we had a cup of coffee
we covered the four kit system for winter camping and we covered a few
little tricks in camp that might make your job a little bit easier the next
time you decide to head out into the backcountry for winter camping so I want
to thank you guys for stopping in watching the whole video I know that
spring is coming and the snow will be gone soon so the best thing that you can
do is subscribe to this site so you can find it when the snow flies again as
always I appreciate you being here thank you for stopping by and I'll see you on
the next one