Gear of the week | Bobsleigh

Why a transport sled:

I'm currently in Japan for the winter season and am exploring the northern island of Hokkaido at a leisurely pace. In the Alps, I like to go on multi-day tours with overnight stays in huts. Because I enjoy this so much at home, I did some research here and found what I was looking for. The information about the huts in English is rather scarce and is mostly based on one or two internet sources. I would like to thank Hokkaido Wilds, who have translated a lot of the information that can only be found in Japanese with great effort and care and are true explorers on Hokkaido. But to get to the point: Huts here are often more rudimentary than in the Alps. Instead of beds, there are only the traditional tatami mats, blankets are not available and you should bring your own wood. With a thick sleeping bag for sub-zero temperatures, a sleeping mat and wood, your luggage will quickly become heavier than usual.
Luckily, the mountains here aren't that high and it's more the distance to the hut that needs to be covered than the metres in altitude. And that's when we came up with the idea of the sled.

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The sled is attached to the harness with a cord and a carabiner.

Johanna Korte

Hokkaido - Japan

Klara Stang

The components:

Bob sled
Climbing harness
Carabiner
Rep cord

A bob sled, often simply referred to as a "bob", is an aerodynamically cut sled that promises downhill fun for young and old. In addition to various sled races, we have now discovered another of its functions: it is also ideal as a transport sled for ski tours. It is light, has a flat cut and is therefore easy to pull. To pull it comfortably behind us, we put on a climbing harness. In our case, this was the Zephir Altitude high-altitude touring harness from Mammut, as it is easy to put on and take off, but a normal harness will of course also do. We then attached the sled to the harness with a cord and a carabiner. Et voilà, a wonderful expedition sled has been created.

The Ningle Forest management hut.
On the return journey, the sledge is barely loaded.

The experience report:

The sled actually fulfils its intended purpose. It is easy to pull and literally takes a load off our shoulders. In the long run, of course, it becomes exhausting to pull the weight, but that was less due to the sled than to the fact that we were carrying 10 kilos of wood, among other things. But if you take turns, it's easy to manage. In deeper snow and when making tracks, there are a few small drawbacks: snow falls on the sled as you pull it and it gets heavier and heavier. However, a tarpaulin cover should solve the problem. Our sled is also slightly wider than our track. We ran a little wider than usual and thus cleared the track for the sled. A narrower model may be more suitable, but then there is a risk of the sled tipping over. This hasn't been a problem so far, but it is critical on bumpy sections, which is why I would stick with the slightly wider version.

Conclusion:

With little effort and at little cost (provided you have a climbing harness and a carabiner), we were able to build a reliable touring sled from the bob sledge and transport our wood, sleeping mats and food comfortably to the hut. We did not test the sled on steep terrain, but I can imagine that it is not suitable for this. Our solution in this case would have been to strap it onto the rucksack, as it wasn't loaded on the way back. In the end, this wasn't necessary for us and we took it back from the hut and pulled it out on flat terrain, loaded with a little weight for stability. At times we completely forgot that it was bobbing along behind us. It slipped into our heels surprisingly little. So my conclusion is that the bob will accompany me again on my next tour to a hut in Japan.