---
title: "Building our first polar sled – a pulk"
description: "The basis of a polar expedition is a polar sled, a so-called pulk. We built ours ourselves for the trip to Sweden and here we bring you a build guide and practical advice."
canonical_url: "https://gramino.com/blog/building-our-first-polar-pulk"
last_updated: "2023-03-01"
---

# Building our first polar sled – a pulk

Authors: David Czempka

Date: 2023-03-01

The basis of a polar expedition is a polar sled, a so-called pulk. We built ours ourselves for the trip to Sweden and here we bring you a build guide and practical advice.

At the start of the year we shook hands with our ambassadors [Dvanatahu](https://www.instagram.com/dvanatahu/) and [Pavlína Adam](https://www.instagram.com/pavlina_adam/) on heading to northern Sweden to test our ultralight gear (and mainly ourselves) in harsher frosts. We had roughly a month to turn our three-season gear lists into polar ones and, above all, to get our pulks ready – polar (expedition) sleds. On freezing expeditions, chasing grams goes out the window; often you have to haul 30+ kg of load, and you really don't want to carry that in a backpack. Towing the load across the snow on a sled is far more pleasant, easier and more efficient.

## What are the options?

Supply probably follows demand, and **you won't find many expedition sleds in Central Europe**. Professional pulks with full accessories from the Norwegian **brand Fjellpulken cost around €1000**, and their simpler solution around €480. Abroad it's a bit better, but neither option fit our ideal budget. So we started **looking at rentals**.

In our part of Europe there's maybe just one official **rental outfit**, where **renting costs around €10 a day outside the main season**. That would do, but on a longer trip it adds up too. On top of that you have to **put down a deposit and sort out the logistics of picking it up and returning it**.

**That left the option of building the sleds ourselves**, which honestly appealed to me. I'd never seen a pulk in the flesh, but I found a whole range of **build guides** online. Everyone on the expedition put their trust in me, so, motivated, I started studying designs, constructions and build guides.

## The shell – the body of the sled

This probably won't surprise anyone, but **the basis of a functional sled is a good shell**. The first thought was to use the legendary plastic toboggans that pretty much all of us rode down the slopes as kids. After a closer look it hit me that **their shape is nowhere near ideal, they're short and shallow, so I ruled them out straight away**.

So we left the toboggan category behind and started **looking for something designed specifically for hauling loads**. In one **Finnish shop we came across a solid-looking piece – the ERAPro 60″ PRO 960 Expedition Sled** on sale for **€54 (€64 including shipping)**. You can't say no to that! We ordered 5 of them right away for the whole expedition crew.

## The towing system

The lightest, most packable and easiest to build is towing the sled on accessory cord (thin lines). This time, though, we decided we wouldn't go ultralight. **On a downhill the sled runs into you and can easily take your legs out from under you**.

The other option, which **we liked much more, was towing on poles**. Those **keep a constant gap** between you and the sled, and going downhill isn't such a wild ride. Next we had to sort out the towing harness. It occurred to me to use the **removable hip belts from the** [**Sierra Designs Flex Capacitor**](/p/sierra-designs-flex-capacitor-replacement-hip-belt) backpack; they're pretty robust, they have wide padding, and the side pockets for snacks will come in handy. A climbing harness or a dogtrekking harness might work too.

Next came a **trip to the hardware store**, and my girlfriend Míša and I could get down to mass production.

## Materials list and build steps

- ERAPro 60″ PRO 960 Expedition Sled shell
- 3.4 m PPR pipe (25 mm / 2.8 mm)
- 0.4 m PPR pipe (16 mm / 2.3 mm)
- duct tape
- 1 m garden hose (25 mm inner diameter)
- 1.2 m flat webbing (or cord)
- 7 m of 4 mm accessory cord
- hip belt [Flex Capacitor](/p/sierra-designs-flex-capacitor-replacement-hip-belt)
- 2x larger carabiner
- 3-4x small carabiner
- 3 m of 6 mm shock cord
- 2x bolt 40 mm long, thread approx. 8 mm, 6x washer, 4x nut
- 6x bolt 40 mm long, thread approx. 6 mm, 12x washer, 6x nut

## The shell

At the front we drilled a **hole for attaching the tow pole** on each side, 6 cm from the corner. In theory you can use the original holes in the corners, but it's better to have the joint sitting a bit further back.

**Carry handles** – On the back near the Expedition lettering we drilled 2 holes; at the front the holes are already there. **We cut the flat webbing into 60 cm** long pieces and melted the ends. We threaded the webbing through the holes from above and secured it with figure-eight loops – **carry handles done!**

Just like the flat webbing, we cut the accessory cord into **ten pieces – each 60 cm long** . We attached the cut cords to the holes along the sides of the sled with two figure-eight loops. We tied one **end of the shock cord to the cord** at the front and threaded it through step by step – through the cord loops on one side of the sled, through carabiners on the other; the picture probably explains it better. We tied the other end of the shock cord to the last piece of cord. **That gave us a system for securing the load** that you can easily release using the carabiners.

## The poles

If you're going to use the sled with snowshoes, the poles can be shorter. If you're traveling on skis, they have to be longer so the sled doesn't run onto the back of your skis. **We went with a universal pole length of 1.7 meters**, which should be fine for both options. **We made the poles in two parts**, so that we could **pack them inside the sled for air travel**. If you're traveling with skis, you can leave the poles in one piece and pack them with the skis. **So feel free to keep the poles whole and save yourself a chunk of work.** You can also go for a different material and pole diameter. **Ours, though, worked without a single problem in the end.**

**Joining the two pole sections takes the most time and adds weight**. We cut the poles (1.7 m) into a 1.2 m long and a 0.5 m long piece. The joint isn't exactly in the middle, and there's a reason for that. We didn't know how much we could trust the joint. If it happened to fail, we'd still have a 1.2 m long pole in one piece 🙂. In the end, though, it seemed to us that the joint stiffened the pole nicely. A pole in one piece (1.7 m) could flex unpleasantly, and under load on a downhill there'd be a risk of it snapping under the pressure.

**And now to how we made the joint**. First we **cut the garden hose** (1 m) into four 25 cm pieces. **We cut the thicker poles with a hacksaw** into two 120 cm and two 50 cm long pieces, and the thinner pole into two 20 cm long pieces.

**The thinner pole serves to reinforce the joint**. To stop the narrower pole rattling around inside the thicker one, we wrapped it in silver tape. Then we slid the thinner pole halfway in (10 cm) into the 120 cm long section and fitted the hose over it. **We drilled through all 3 parts** and secured them with a bolt, washers and a nut. Then we attached the 50 cm long section, drilled through again and secured it with a bolt. Then we did the same with the second pole.

**Attaching the poles to the sled** – On the bottom end of the 120 cm long section we fitted 10 cm of hose. Approx. 5 cm from the edge we drilled through and secured it with a bolt. On the other side of the hose, approx. 5 cm from the edge, we **drilled a hole for attaching it to the sled**.

We attached the poles to the shell using a thicker bolt. **We secured the bolt with 2 nuts so it wouldn't work loose**. The bolt in this joint moves as you turn with the sled.

**Connecting the poles to the hip belt** – At the opposite end of the poles we drilled 2 holes 5 cm apart, 5 cm from the edge. We threaded accessory cord through the holes, tied a knot (we recommend something other than a figure eight, that one works itself loose) and **created a loop for the carabiner that clips onto the hip belt**.

## The hip belt

We didn't want to sew anything onto the hip belt, so we **sewed a loop out of flat webbing** that simply slides onto the belt. The loop had a dedicated eye for attaching a carabiner.

Out in the field it turned out that **every non-rigid element connecting you and the sled causes kickback and a longer delay in your movements, which isn't pleasant**. So it was more practical to clip the carabiners straight into the loop (see the picture) and likewise to tie the cords on the poles as short as possible. While towing, the loops on the hip belt slid backwards on us (ideally you want them on your sides), so we fixed them in place with the strap that sticks out from under the pocket on the [SD hip belt](/p/sierra-designs-flex-capacitor-replacement-hip-belt) (you can do it with cord too).

**We recommend crossing the poles before attaching them to the hip belt**. Going downhill, the sled felt much more controllable that way.

## What to carry your load in?

For gear, **tough waterproof duffel bags are ideal.** Our sleds have an internal size of roughly 39 x 130 cm. I went with one big duffel bag (approx. 140 l), Míša with 2 smaller ones (60 + 95 l), and the other team members had one duffel + a [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Junction](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-55l) backpack, which they took on the plane as carry-on. The shock cords are then great for strapping down a shovel, snowshoes, a [foam sleeping pad](/p/therm-a-rest-z-lite-sol), bags of chips or a down jacket, for example.

**I recommend storing heavy items at the bottom so the center of gravity is as low as possible**. You could really tell when you'd loaded the sled badly – it would tip over. A well-loaded sled, on the other hand, tracked as if nailed down.

- [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Junction 40 (2025)](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-40.md)
- [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Junction 55 (2025)](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-junction-55.md)
- [Hyperlite Mountain Gear Unbound 55](/p/hyperlite-mountain-gear-unbound-55.md)
- [NEMO Switchback](/p/nemo-switchback.md)
- [Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol](/p/therm-a-rest-z-lite-sol.md)
- [Yate Emergency Blanket Silver](/p/yate-emergency-blanket-silver.md)

## **Transporting the sled**

The ERAPro 60″ PRO 960 Expedition Sled shell weighs just over **2 kilos and isn't exactly super robust**. You need to keep that in mind, especially when flying. For transport it's a good idea to **nest several of them together**, they stack nicely. For the plane we wrapped the pulks in bubble wrap. **One complete setup (shell, poles and hip belt) weighed approx. 4.5 kg.**

## Conclusion

All the sleds got through our 9-day trip along the Swedish Kungsleden with just a few scrapes on the bottom from rocks. We were equipped with spare bolts, nuts and washers, but surprisingly nothing worked loose during the trip, no repairs were needed and the spares went unused.

**Building one sled came to roughly €90 (without the hip belt)**, which in the end is less than renting would have cost us. Plus we now have our own sleds for future expeditions. 🙂

Our lowest temperatures were about (only) -10 °C and (apart from fine-tuning the hip belt attachment) everything worked as we'd imagined. How the sleds hold up in harsher frosts we'll have to test next time.

We enjoyed building the sleds just as much as our first polar expedition. We documented the whole process, and because the sleds proved themselves, we decided to share this guide. If you throw yourself into building your own sleds, don't take this guide as the only way to do it, but as possible inspiration – don't be afraid to improvise and improve on it. Here's to frozen backsides! 🙂

- [DexShell Ultra Thin Crew](/p/dexshell-ultra-thin-crew.md)
- [DexShell Heathered Rib-Knit Beanie](/p/dexshell-heathered-rib-knit-beanie.md)
- [Fizan Compact 4](/p/fizan-compact-4.md)
- [Montane Anti-Freeze XT Hoodie](/p/montane-mens-anti-freeze-xt-hoodie.md)
- [Montane Anti-Freeze Hoodie](/p/montane-mens-anti-freeze-hoodie.md)
- [Montane Women's Anti-Freeze XT Hoodie](/p/montane-womens-anti-freeze-xt-hoodie.md)
- [Montane Icarus Hut Slippers](/p/montane-icarus-hut-slippers.md)
- [Warmpeace Foot Warmer](/p/warmpeace-foot-warmer.md)
- [Liteway Choonie Apex](/p/liteway-choonie-apex.md)
- [Cumulus Teneqa 850](/p/cumulus-teneqa-850.md)
- [Yate Emergency Blanket Silver](/p/yate-emergency-blanket-silver.md)

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