Sumara of Weymouth

April 2014

Sweden

Being in Sweden they should really be called Pulkka (from the Finnish pulkka) but pulks or sledges will do. The one we used was made of wood to a design of one of Svarte’s relatives. The design was so successful that it became part of the Swedish army’s equipment.

It was light in weight and Svarte had tarred the base. It had three runners which I think had brass strips on them but I could be wrong – it has been known.

The gear has to be placed so it is well balanced. The large nylon fish type box seems de rigour in the Arctic. Ours had a slide-in lid but we did see a nice touch on Lars’ one which had a wooden lid, foam padded and covered in vinyl so he could sit on it while ice fishing.

From the front of the pulkka was attached the skakel which are light poles to attach the pulkka to your harness. You need rigid poles to stop the thing mowing you down on the downhill stretches! Ours were made of bamboo and attached with leather. I suppose this was the “Classic Pulkka” and obviously appealed to a wooden boat owner like me.

The runners were waxed with some “glide”. The waistcoat drew up around everything and was secured by tieing the draw cord.

The skakel was clipped onto your harness. Our harness didn’t have braces but I think I would have preferred them. The harness felt like it was slipping down from time to time. Padding would help a bit but ours wasn’t and we didn’t suffer too much. On flat ground one person with skinned skis can pull away merrily for a while but on hills or long distances it can be good to share the load. It would be worth considering two light pulkkas rather than one heavy one. To share with two extra people we fed the hauling line (8 mm x 16 plait matt braided polyester) through an oscillant Petzl pulley attached with bungee to the person attached to the pulkka. The two other ends of the line went to each other skier. The pulley meant one can pull ahead slightly and the bungee gave a smooth transmission. I’m afraid the picture was a bit of a pose!

With one extra person pulling the 8 m length of rope was perfect. On hummocked ice it meant the front skier was on her/his way down the bump while the aft person was on his/her way up. Refinements would concern very quick attachment and release of all ropes. Maybe nylon “Cod End Rings” and light Karabiners would help.

It is good to be able to unclip rapidly because the person attached directly to the pulkka can start to run you down on downhill stretches bearing in mind your skis may well have skins on them. Our pulkka was never weighed but we think it was about 60 kg – mainly cheese.