This past weekend I led a group of Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) backpackers into the Marcy Dam area 3 day/2 night winter base camp high peaks adventure.

Usually I carry my large winter backpack, Gregory Diva 85 but this weekend I traded that in for a pulk…yes a pulk! Which is pretty much a sled attached to poles that clips onto a harness worn on your waist. 



 A trail buddy of mine, “Nails” had been talking this whole pulling a pulk thing up for sometime and when we were discussing my upcoming Daks trip, I decided to give it a try. 

Why this trip?

A few reasons: First, this trip is a basecamp, meaning that we will hike in to a designated campsite and go hiking from there each day, hopefully tagging some high peaks. Secondly, the trail leading to our base camp is approximately 2.5 miles of fairly wide level trail and lastly…it’s much more comfortable to pull a pulk with 30-35lbs of winter gear than it is to carry it on your back. 





 At the start of our trip I was a little concerned. The temperature was minus 12 and the wind was probably 20-30 mph. It was COLD! I had some thoughts of calling the trip as I was driving to meet the rest of the group on Friday morning. I had been watching the higher summit forecast for the area like a hawk all week. We would be down in the low lands but the temperature was still projected to be as low as 40 degrees below zero. Game time decisions would have to be made about what peaks to hike but my intended plan was to hike Phelps (4161′)the first day, Colden (4715′)the second day and tag Tabletop (4427′) on a quick day hike on the third day.
I attached my sled to my waist of my osprey day pack and easily glided my sled the 2.5 miles to the Marcy dam area where we set our base camp.





 The wind died down by the time our group set up camp and geared up to climb Phelps. The trail to Phelps was nicely broken out and snowshoeing was a pleasure. We hit the turn off to head the mile up to the summit and up, up and away we went. The view was spectacular and we hung out there and soaked it in for a while before heading back to camp. 



 Our group of seven hung out in the lean to and melted snow for water for a couple of hours. I was in my tent by 7pm and snoozing shortly after…winter is my time to catch up on sleep. I never sleep for more than 6-8 hours at home so getting 12 hours in my sleeping bag is just fine with me. 

 The next morning the weather had turned very very windy. Even down at our lower elevation the wind was blowing 30 mph. I really wanted to go with the plan to hike the 8 plus miles round trip to Mt. Colden but the climb to the top of Colden is exposed and steep  and would not be easy in very high winds and blowing snow. We discussed it as a group and decided that hiking to Tabletop would be a better call but three of the guys decided it was even too cold and windy to do that so they decided to hike up Mount Joe. 



The other four of us set off to Tabletop around 9am. Along the way lots of hikers and skiers were on the trails too. Quite a few hikers were headed up to Marcy which was interesting to me because if the wind was 30 mph at 2000 feet I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like on top of the highest peak in the range! Then I began to question my decision to call off going to Colden. Did I wimp out? Was I being too cautious? I’m not one to be scared by weather but I was not feeling anywhere near 100% – I had been plagued with a bad head cold all week and while I felt well enough to hike I just didn’t think pushing myself physically would be smart. If the hike to Colden went perfectly I would probably be fine but if something went wrong, if one of our hikers suffered an injury or the weather conditions deteriorated any further I might be a hinderence. As a trip leader that’s never a good scenario – so to Tabletop we hiked. 





The route up tabletop is very protected from the beastly wind and we had a lovely climb up to the top. Just enough of an opening at the summit to see Mt. Marcy across the way and take in views without being blown over. 





We headed back to camp early and I retreated to my tent to get some rest, I was definitely feeling worse. After an hour or so I psyched myself up to get back out of the tent and start melting snow for some much needed water. The wind was now blowing snow and gusting up to 35 mph. Usually, melting snow in the lean to protects me from the weather but the wind was blowing the snow right in the front of lean to. Soon I melted enough snow to rehydrate my dinner and made a hot beverage to take back to my tent. I was really glad to get back in my sleeping bag. I was even more grateful that I had downloaded one of my favorite t.v shows, Suits, to my smartphone to keep myself entertained for a while before I could take my dose of NyQuil and get some much needed sleep. 





The next morning I awoke to the sound of…NO WIND! I stuck my head out of my tent at 7am and the sky was blue and the sun shining bright! A perfect day to hike but everyone had had enough and wanted to hike out and go home. So I packed up my stuff, put it in the pulk and pulled it home! 

My thoughts on pulling a pulk…it is the way to go! I didn’t even notice I was pulling any weight until the up hills and even the  it was much easier than having the weight on my back. 

One of the big benefits to the pulk is not having to be so mindful of the weight of each item. This trip I was able to bring my alite camp chair, an extra down jacket and my BD shovel. My total weight was probably almost 40lbs with food, fuel and water. My winter backpack weight is usually 30-32 lbs and if feels much heavier! While pulling a pulk isn’t practical in every winter backpacking scenario I think there are a fair amount of winter routes that I could use this on in the future. 

When u got home, I called my buddy “Nails” and told him all about my love for the pulk. Needless to say he is making me one of my very own for next winter! So there will be more pulk pulling adventures next winter but for now I look forward to more spring like weather and getting back to my light weight backpacking kit!