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SLED:
This is the sled Aliy rode during her 2000 Yukon Quest Championship run. It is an aluminum and plastic toboggan sled, tough and durable. It has been raced in three Yukon Quests and has close to 10,000 training miles on it.
A sled's construction depends greatly on it purpose. Aliy's relatively light long distance sled is huge and bulky compared to a sprint-mushing sled. We will be talking about distance sleds, but much is the same with the lighter sleds.
A sled is based with the skis. These skis run the entire length of the sled and are connected into the brush bow. The skis extend beyond the basket of the sled and this is where the musher stands. The brush bow is the front point of the sled and the dog lines are attached to it. Stanchions hold the sled together to the driving bow and handle. Some sleds are a toboggan style (see above) and have a piece of plastic, wood or a strong material lying on the skis creating the "basket".
The toboggan sled is best for less snow or packed trails. The basket style, as its name implies, has an actual basket above the skis. The basket sled with the space between the ground and the basket is better for deeper snow.
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This is a rather important piece of equipment. Brakes are attached to the sled so that the musher can use her foot to press the bar down. A brake is normally a bar with two spikes set into them. When the musher picks her foot up, the bar lifts back up using bungies.
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This is an important braking devise. This sharpened claw is attached to the sled by a line and can be kicked into the snow or put on to a tree to hold the dog team back.
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Not everyone uses a drag. It helps slow the dog sled down like when going down a hill. Drags are often made of old snow mobile tracks.
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The sled bag encloses the "basket" of the sled, even a toboggan, to hold equipment and supplies and occasionally a tired musher or dog.
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Lines are what connect the dogs to the sled. Skunk's Place makes their own using polyethylene line in whatever colors are on sale. You can buy lines from where ever you buy mushing equipment, but we need something to do while watching movies.
Lines are fashioned in sections of two dogs. This is a standard line set up.
This is actually 3 lines. The two Tug Lines and a connecting piece. The Tug Lines are shorter than normal Tug Lines. They are about 20 inches long with a spliced loop on one end and a spliced loop with a snap on the other end. The looped ends are attached to one loop on the connecting piece. This piece is 10-12 inches with spliced loops on both ends. The second loop of this piece is connected to the front loop of the Main Line (were the Neck Lines are connected).
