So here is part 2 of the ski kick sled adventure.  I made a bunch of videos as I thought of things or had warm fingers and things to say while walking with Kevin.  I can’t promise I’ll manage to get all of those thoughts here, and I might have thought of some things here than I didn’t in the videos. I’ll sprinkle the videos through the text to keep things less monotonous.

I made about four main upgrades after a few walks with the initial sled design.

 Firstly, in no particular order because I did them all on the same day (another cold day waiting for it to warm up a smidge), I added the traction devices to the ski backs where my feet tend to be. Total game changer to my ability to stay on the ski or skis while moving!!!  I had been planning on repurposing an old bike tire by cutting out segments of the tread and cutting the inner part of the circle which would touch to the rim with slits to allow it to lay flat on the ski. But then I remembered I have a bunch of porch mats which come in for the winter (so they don’t get mangled with the snow blower or shovel, and they end up accumulating ice if they are left outside anyway and stop being useful).  They tend to overwinter in the basement.  And at least one of the rubberish one is very experienced and has been trying to rip in half for years, then did this fall when I brought it in.  So I used a pair of cut-all scissors and cut 2 strips from the small half and screwed them to the skis.  I think I’ll probably do a future segment more on details of construction so if anyone is interested in trying to replicate or do something similar, it’s all in one place.

The second upgrade was adding the … well it’s not an actual brushbow like on a dog sled, but it’s as close as this ski sled will get. I used tiny bolts to hold washers to hold closed end S hooks to each ski tip, then strung paracord between it with a scrap piece of PVC pipe around it.  This addition was to help keep the gang line and bridle from getting run over by the skis and wrapped around them.  With this, it still does sometimes run over one or more of the lines but they aren’t as wrapped around or annoying when it happens and it’s way easier to get them back out (usually just stop moving the sled forward and let Kevin (when he starts moving again hehe) pull the gangline and bridle out. It also helps to keep me from getting SLAMMED in the heel by the wooden segment of the sled when I’ve been up front of the sled and Kevin takes off and I don’t move sideways fast enough for some reason and the sled comes up from behind me.  It’s happened once, and it was painful enough I don’t need to do it again (even with thick Keen hiking boots on).  The addition has bumped me a few times and that was way less painful.  The PVC around the paracord is supposed to help it ‘roll’ over stuff when it runs into it.  It won’t climb over large rocks but if it hits something slightly higher than itself, it has skimmed or rolled over it.  The pipe is also to help maintain rigidity between the ski tips, so it won’t sag and then reduce how effective it is at helping the gangline and bridle from getting wrapped around the skis.

Thirdly, I upgraded the bridle (which is what I’m calling the ropes which attach to the sled and run to the gang line). It was just a quick single rope looped around the first 2×4 and connected up to the gangline with a carabiner.  The new one is Y shaped, with 2 connections to the sled, coming to a single short line which then loops to a brass clip with a swivel.  The swivel is nice because sometimes Kevin goes so sideways to sniff something that we end up doing a loop around the sled and the swivel reduces twisting of that rope or the gangline.   The intention and seems to be result of swapping from a single central point of pull on the sled to a point on each side of the sled is that the sled seems to track a little better in a straight line behind Kevin (or both of us).   I think it may also help it turn because instead of pulling it sidewas from one point in the middle, it pulls more from the outer side on a turn as the inner side of the turn’s part of the Y loosens because it doesn’t have much pressure on it.  I wasn’t sure if I wanted to move the attachment from the front 2×4 to the middle, but due to the addition described next, I ended up moving to the middle because that’s the simplest way to do both.  

The fourth addition was the bottom skid plate.  I ordered some of those sleds which are basically a sturdy but very bendy sheet of plastic which rolls into a tube for storage, and cut it to side to fit from the top edge of the first 2×4, wrap around and under the 2x4s between the skis, and I meant to have a bit of extra but left more than I expected (as I kinda was measuring by holding it in place, drawing some lines, and guessing a few other things).  I wanted to wrap the full leading edge of the first 2×4 to allow a smoother glide over deep snow or bump things it goes over. If I had it just on the front edge of the board, I figured it may snag on things, but wrapping it from the top and around seemed smarter.  I actually am happy with the amount of extra trailing plastic, it’s not excessive and sometimes I miss the ski and sorta hit that which means I don’t snag as hard on the ground, but also it doesn’t go back far enough to get in the way of kicking.   The skid plate helps keep the three 2x4s from each scraping along on things, just the front edge of the sled scrapes and the rest slides along.  It’s also reduces friction from the wood on stuff, as the sled skid plate thing I added is actually designed to slide on snow, where as this isn’t what most 2x4s are designed for…  I think it does allow a bit more snow to accumulate on top of the sled when it’s in deep snow but I’d rather carry a bit of extra snow than scrape as much as it did before it.  I ended up getting a 2 pack of sleds to have extra material for later, and it came with a bright pink one and a blue one.  I like blue a lot, but in this case, if there is ever an emergency so bad that I need to be spotted from the air or even I guess rescuers on foot, I like visibility.  I don’t expect to need it but if my options were “I like blue” versus “in extreme unlikely but possible emergency, bright easily spotted may be useful” I went with may be useful.

A fifth thing I did which I don’t think was super major was waxing the bottom surfaces.  I could have gotten a more easily applied wax, but I found one which while it’s supposed to be heated before applied, is made entirely of plant based stuff so it’s not adding extra petroleum products to the environment.  I just rubbed and rubbed and rubbed while pressing on it, and yes, it shattered a bit but I did manage to get an eventual coating of wax on the bottom surfaces.  It may or may not help slide, and also my main goal was to help protect the skis from stuff like scrapes from sand and small rocks.

I think this will be the end of part 2, I’ll start working on the more physical description and material lists and how to ish of what I did. Here are a bunch more videos!

The next video has a section where I was able to actually spend some time on the sled ski and kick a bit! Kevin seems to like when he gets to go fast but definitely stops suddenly sometimes… holding the phone to film while balancing on the ski or skis, or kicking, as well as manage the slack on the rope between me and the bridle attachment… and forward motion management. I get a fairly good shot of just deciding to not be on the sled anymore and stepping off and continuing.

So the next video, you get a quick view of my face which isn’t exciting but is part of an exciting thing I discovered: the joy of ski goggles which are designed to go over glasses. If I wear a balaclava or a neck gaiter and cover a good portion of my face so the wind doesn’t make it all hurty when it’s cold, my glasses fog. Really really badly. So this summer, I had an idea and hunted around on the big online store and found a medium cheap pair of them which promised to not fog because they’re vented (a lot of them promise this). I also plan to use them for snow blowing (but haven’t really because this winter has been WEIRD). And I may do night walks or hikes, so I wanted to have a good amount of light transmitted through the lens, and got lucky. I found a pair that has a slight ‘sun glasses’ effect on one lens and was able to purchase a swap out clear one for total night time (sometimes I do snow moving in bright but seriously cold windy conditions, so some protection from glare would be nice, or on hikes in those conditions). Success! I can wear a gaiter around my face and minimal to no fogging of the glasses. Even without the gaiter, the foam of the goggles on my face keeps my nose and the part of my face under the goggles warm and that helps the rest of my face (not as warm as with the gaiter but in conditions I expect to be exercising enough to get sweaty I don’t use the gaiter usually now). Anyway, that’s why you see my face in the next video.

All right, that’s the last of them for this part. I had an experience today which luckily was caught on camera and I’m hoping to get it for the next part (part 3) because it’s a great example of what you do want to happen if what you don’t want to happen happens. And remember to always ALWAYS be aware of where the sled is.