Just a thought on personal gear.

I don’t know how many of us have been in temperatures of down to 50 below but it was suggested that I post a thread about gear.

I tend to run rather light in terms of gear. I almost always run in a Wintregreen Northernwear parka and a fleece hoodie, fleece hat, a pair of Neos and down booties and one pair of socks, a pair of Refrigwear bibs, a pair of light fleece pants, knit gloves and some sort of fleece work-style gloves on top. This is my go to set up even down to about 40 below. The coldest I have ever run dogs was -46.

I do have a Canada Goose Expedition parka that I paid over $1000 for that I rarely use. I never use hand warmers. I do have a pair of those Trans Alaska Pac boots that have never been on my feet. Beaver mitts rarely used. Seal/Otter hat rarely used.

I know we are all pros and have been doing this forever but it is still a thought that we should consider in planning. Whatever gear you think you want to use, test it. As we all know, the trip itself isn’t the best place to figure out if something is going to work.

In terms of booties and coats for the dogs. I am lucky that most of my dogs rarely need booties (although I will be packing and sending them out). I think I used less than 50 all last year. I also rarely use dog coats. Most of my dogs are pretty thick coated and most of the dogs that will be on my team will be from Brenda Mackey’s lines and all have great feet and thick coats. One nice thing about living here in Willow is that we get to run in some pretty cold temps as we head up the trails towards Hatcher Pass and along the rivers on the other side of the highway.

One of the comments was about sleds as well. I will be using the expedition sized sled from Sled Dog Systems. I want to say its the Grizzly model. Its about the same size as the Prairie Built ones. It works well but not my every day sled which is a much smaller SDS sled with a retro-fitted trail dragger. I haven’t decided yet if I will be bringing a trail dragger on my expedition sled or not.

~Robert