Wilderness Engineering BaseCamp Sled

Owner Review
October 14, 2006

Tester Information

Name: Raymond Estrella
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 3" (193 cm)
Weight: 210 lb (95 kg)
Email address: rayestrella@hotmail.com
City: Huntington Beach
State: California
Country: USA 

Backpacking Background

I have been backpacking for over 30 years, all over the state of California, and also in Washington, Minnesota, Nevada, Arizona, and Idaho. I hike year-round, mostly in the Sierra Nevada, and average 400 to 500+ miles (640 – 800+ km) per year.  As I start my 4th decade of backpacking I am making the move to lightweight gear, and smaller volume packs. I start early and hike hard so as to enjoy the afternoons exploring. I usually take a freestanding tent and enjoy hot meals at night. Many of my trips are taken with my brother-in-law Dave.

The Product

Manufacturer: Wilderness Engineering
Web site: www.wildernessengineering.com
Product: BaseCamp sled
Year manufactured: 2004
MSRP: N/A
Volume (with duffel): 11,000 cu in (180 L)
Packaged weight (complete) stated: 14 lb  (6.35 kg)
Length at longest point stated: 45.5 in (116 cm)
Width (at widest point) stated: 22 in (56 cm)
Height of fully loaded duffel: 19.5 in (50 cm)
Color: White sled, Green duffel (Duffels available in many colors)
Warranty: (quoted from the instructions/information booklet) “We warrantee this sled to be free from manufacturing and material defects for the period of one year from its purchase.”

Product Description

The Wilderness Engineering BaseCamp gear sled (hereafter called BaseCamp or sled) is an expedition-type gear sled for winter backpackers.

The main component is the sled body itself. It is made of white Cross Linked Polyethylene. The manufacture claims that it remains flexible at temps far below -109 degrees F (- 78 C). The sled has 7.5 in (19 cm) high sides. On the bottom are three molded-in runners. One is in the center with two deeper runners on the sides spaced 15.5 in (39 cm) apart. Wilderness Engineering says that this width allows it to track in cross-country ski tracks, something I have never been in a place to verify. At the back of the sled is a steel D-ring that allows another sled to be towed in tandem with the Wilderness Engineering sled.



The sled is pulled by a pair of two-piece ChromeMoly steel poles. The poles hook together by sliding one (inner) inside the other (outer) until a spring loaded stud pops through the corresponding hole locking them in place.  At the sled the poles run through some nylon attachment bushings which allow them to flex freely.

The other end of the poles attach to a hip belt made of 2 in (5 cm) wide nylon webbing. Two loops of nylon pull through a block at the end of the poles and clip with provided carabiners. Wilderness Engineering suggests that these same loops may be sewn on to a hipbelt of a pack to make for more comfortable pulling when a pack must be worn at the same time as pulling the sled. The hipbelt fastens with a large Nexus fast-clip buckle, and can adjust for width with the use of two sliding side buckles. By adjusting the front and side buckles I can tailor fit the belt to get the poles exactly on my side.

The sled has a large duffel bag made of 1000 denier Dupont Cordura nylon. The web site claims that “Two buckles and all your gear comes off the sled at once, together.” I do not remove it when I use it though. Most of the time I leave non-necessary gear zipped in the duffle outdoors rather than clutter up my tent.

The duffle has three straps that go over it to secure the load. I replaced mine with some 1 in (2.5 cm) straps from REI so as to be able to carry three extension straps that will snap into the main straps in case I ever need to secure something very large. (Like a hurt person.) The duffle has two big handle/straps that allow it to be worn as a pack. I have never tried it that way but have carried the sled past bare spots a couple of times.

Field Conditions

I have used this sled on six winter backpacking trips. Two were in the Bristlecone Pine Forest area, three in the east side Sierra Nevada and one on BLM land east of Lone Pine California. The coldest temp encountered during use was 9 F (-13 C), the warmest about 30 F (-1 C). The highest elevation I have had it was 10600’ (3231 m), the lowest about 5000’ (1525 m). I have pulled it on fresh powder, packed snow and ice, and once on rapidly melting rained-on snow.

Observations

I got the BaseCamp in November of 2004. I got my brother-in-law one two weeks later. I had never thought of using a sled as my transition to winter backpacking was in keeping with the notion that I put it on my back, and hoof it to my destination. What changed my mind was Dave’s dream of climbing White Mountain, California in the dead of winter. Starting from highway 168, the last point that is (sometimes) plowed free of snow. This point is 33 miles (53 km) away from his goal, making for a 66 mile (106 km) trip.

We had gone up there twice and I did another run myself to try to figure logistics for the trip when it hit me that this would be perfect for Randonee or Back Country skis. And as the downhill portions of the trip could be steep I thought that a good sled might help with keeping the stress (weight) off my knee that had just had an operation six weeks before the first attempt. My research led to Wilderness Engineering.

I had seen a lot of kits for sleds that utilize ropes to pull them. But that would be a hindrance on the descending portions of our hike. The Wilderness Engineering sled’s metal side bars were what I needed. I took it on a couple of shake-down trips to get used to the set-up.

The first was a trip to Lundy Lake above Lee Vining CA. It had been snowing for a week and the roads in were unplowed (closed) so I figured that would be a decent test of the pull-ability of the sled. (I did not have any major elevation loss or gain on this trip.) Right before I took the trip that area experienced a two day warm-up in temps followed by a drop back down below freezing. As a result I got to pull the sled on almost pure ice. I could not use the skis ascending from Hwy 395 towards the lake. But the sled pulled nicely behind me as I booted it up in my Koflache plastic-double mountaineering boots.

The effect of the sled taking a second to “catch-up” with each pull was a little disconcerting. As I would get into a rhythm walking the sled would get into its own rhythm sloshing my stomach out of time with my walking. I never figured out how to counter the effects of it on that trip. I was impressed at the tracking of the sled even when I had to climb up and way down a berm to get to a good camping spot to set up my Hyperlight tent for the night.  (Review is here along with a pic of the sled.) I was sure it would flip but it did not.

On the way back out I put the skis on and glided all the way back to my truck. The ice made it very hard to control skis but the sled was barely noticeable behind me. I definitely noticed when I tried to stop. It is hard enough to do on ice without 48 lb (21.8 kg) pushing me.

My next trip was in a huge storm in December of 2004. I went to do a two day run into our planned hike just to get an idea what to expect. I could not even get to the turn-off and had to go back to the Owens Valley. Since there was so much snow everywhere I took the only plowed road east and parked where I could see the impression of a dirt four-wheel-drive road. I loaded up the sled and started hauling plastic.

This area had much more elevation gain than the previous trip and I was at first bothered by the same stomach jarring motion I had encountered earlier. But I figured out that I could subtly change my stride to compensate for it and soon was not noticing it much. Unfortunately the second of the three storms that were hitting us (and was on me in the afternoon of this day) was warm. The temps rose above freezing and the going started getting mushy. My skis started grabbing the snow (wrong wax) and my boots and bindings started turning into snow balls. The sled did not fare as poorly. Even though I could hear the difference and feel a bit of grab, the plastic did very well in these cruddy conditions. It started raining around 3:00 PM and it was “warm”! As I watched the snow started collapsing and I realized that if I do not get back to the truck I could be carrying the skis and sled all the way back out wearing plastic-doubles. “No thank you”!

I turned around and started blasting back down the trail. As the snow was getting slushier and stickier by the minute I found my self poling as hard as I could to keep momentum. The sled was tracking wonderfully behind me. I forgot it was there. Until I caught a rock through the quickly deteriorating snow cover. My brain registered the snag and the scrape that conducts its way through my bones. Thinking “Arizona skiing” I slightly release pressure on that ski expecting to sail on past.

Bzzzzzt! Wrong answer.

The weight of the sled that I had been getting used to, and ignoring, shoved that little granite edge deep into my ski and I did my first sled-assisted face plant. The difference from a regular face plant? Instead of stopping when my big nose overcomes gravity and friction, I get the added push of 50 (or more) pounds (23+ kg) riding on a wonderfully efficient base pushing me down the trail. I found some more rocks with my hands. A little more carefully I made it back down to the truck. But the positive note from this trip was that what took me all day to climb I went back down in one hour and forty-five minutes. (Told you I was cranking.) The sled and I were ready for White Mountain.

The first trip to the Bristlecone Pine Forest was at the end of January, 2005. In the first two days we hauled about 90 lb (41 kg) of gear and sled combined about 13 miles (21 km) with 3600’ (1100 m) of elevation gain. The sled worked great for me. Dave on the other hand did not take any warm up trips and complained of the stomach jarring rhythm induced by pulling it. He did agree that it was better than hauling a 70 lb (32 kg) pack by foot. Unfortunately the sleds were the only thing that worked out well on this trip. (Too small a tent, horrible conditions, bad condensation problems, bad attitudes, etc.) We decided on the morning of the third day to bail out of the trip. We made the 13 miles back to the truck in 9 hours because of having the sled and skis allowing us to sail back down hill.

The following January we went back for attempt number two. (See picture above.) I had a bit smaller load than the previous year. My total weight including sled, pack, skis, and snowshoes was 106 lb (49 kg). Dave had a much larger one for some reason. I never did find out what all he had in his sled. I just remember as we were getting dropped off seeing his sled duffle zipped up and asking if he was ready to go and he said as soon as he puts his pack on top of the sled. It was still by the SUV. It made for a very high top heavy load. We got going at 11:45 AM. I felt very good about the trip and set a decent pace. We went almost as far in today’s half-day as last year’s first full day. By now I have the rhythm thing down. The sled pulled great.

The next day was a great one again. I was averaging two miles an hour (3 kph) climbing with the sled into winds of up to 30 mph (48 kph). I do not think I could have done that with my Bora 95 on my back, catching the wind that most of the day was blowing snow parallel to the road right in my face. Dave on the other hand was having problems with the altitude. He did not acclimatize as well as hoped for. His top heavy load was also tipping over on him on the areas of road where the snow had drifted over at too steep an angle. I had to keep stopping to wait for him to catch up. The sled made a great wind block for these ever lengthening stops. I would sit on the snow with the sled up-wind and lean against it. Here is a shot of Dave starting out with his highly loaded sled.

As the day progressed the snow changed. We were getting into three to four feet (1+ m) of sugar-fine snow covered with a crust of hard snow two to three in (5 to 8 cm) thick. The crust would break through under our snowshoes. I switched to skis and skins to spread the weight out better. The skis would still bust the surface and I watched to see if the sled would sink into the fine granular snow underneath. It did not even though at times it would further break the crust. It got to where I could tell when it broke through by the little tug on my hips as it settled into the snow a bit, but it would pull smoothly along still and climb back on top as the crust was less disturbed.  We pulled the sleds to a somewhat protected spot at 10,600’ (3231 m). Checking the map I saw that we were a half mile further than we were on day two last year.

Once I set up camp for the evening I put what ever items I think I will need during the night in the tent with me and everything else goes inside the gear sled’s duffle. I anchor the sled with an ice axe to make sure that it does not blow away during the night. I fold the side bars backwards so that they are resting on the load which keeps the harness up in the air instead of sitting (and possibly freezing into) the snow.

The next day Dave decided to stop the hike as he was worried about the snow condition. The drifts were getting deeper and the snow was perfect for plate avalanches. We had some areas coming up that we would have to traverse that he was very concerned with. (We later found that the University of California had not been able to get their Snowcat up there because of the 40’ (13 m) drifts and the snow conditions. We would have only got another day or two anyways.) Once again the sleds and skis made for a speedy retreat back to the highway. As I use longer skis (170s) than Dave I was cranking on the down hill stretches, the sled tracking wonderfully behind me. The added weight even helped push me further along as the road would level out. I only flipped the sled at one spot where a ‘cat had got stuck and torn up the snow very bad. Dave on the other hand flipped his quite a bit, which proves that the sled should be loaded with heavy items on the bottom and the loads should not get higher than the provided duffle.

In conclusion I have to say that I am very happy with the Wilderness Engineering gear sled. I plan on using it this winter to take some less challenging trips where the sled can be used to add a “luxury” component to the hikes with its added space and weight handling ability. I have yet to have any problem with the sled or its separate components.