You have some crazy tough conditions with the creeks, rivers, overflow, open water, sucker holes, glare ice, and no snow - you da man! I hope the wolves show up for the party and conditions improve.

Wow tough conditions for sure.Hope things tighten up for you soon.

I’m just curious, can you snowshoe in overflow?

It depends upon the overflow. Slushy overflow with lots of snow when it's cold can be tamped and walked on to build a bridge to get your sled out to dry ground. It will freeze to you shoes though and get really heavy. If it is warm out then you will just walk on the bottom and will not set up. I used military magnesium shoes with rubber slip on bindings and they work well for me. I can get them on and off and bang them against a tree to get rid of the ice. I don't put my snow shoes on very often though.

Wow, tough going for you, hope you catch a break soon with the river. Stay safe in that overflow!

jeepers man. Last Monday had open water!!!! More nads than i! Enjoy the pics. Hope alls well!

Trapping up in that neck of the woods looks like a recipe for a disaster to happen at any time. Dangerous. Good luck and safe traveling. Beautiful country and pics.

Weird creek conditions up here also, too warm nowadays for a solid freeze up. Travel safe

Dang and I thought I was lacking snow!!! Be safe out there and hope the wolves return

Getting cold this week, but then was told it will get above freezing by next week here. Not good for getting over the river. Uggg..

-TJ

If this keeps up, I'm gonna have my entire fleet of sleds over at the cabin. My buddy came out and across 2 days after I flew out and said the Tanana was alright but Dry creek was a handful on the lower end. Said I had some marten hanging so that was good.

So I thought I'd post a picture of my Extraction or Retrieval bag for you guys see and maybe you can get some new ideas on your gear. This is a cheap back pack and I carry one on each machine. This one weighs 25#'s. I don't move this from machine to machine and about the only time it comes out is when I'm using it to get me or someone else out of a bind.

I did a presentation at our monthly ATA meeting a couple months back on this bag and my survival bags. Here is the low down on the contents. Name brands aren't as important as availability and durability.

1. Rope-a-long with 100 to 150' of 1/2" hard wound nylon rope.( I make a removable handle for easier packing. Have the rope already loaded in the rope-a-long)

2. A couple pieces of 1/2" rope 20' to 30' (this is used most of the time for pulling out a sled or securing to a tree or rock to use as the deadman to pull from or too.

3. A few shackles and caribeaners (Make sure these are rated for what you are using them for)

4. A couple of shivs or pulleys ( used to change direction of pull and increase power by parting the rigging)

5. A couple hundred feet of Mule tape ( Light weight, doesn't take up much room, cheap and used to extend pull to longer reaches)

6. A couple Ice screws ( For anchoring in the Ice when stuck)

7. Rope ratchet or ratchet strap ( can be used for extension, very useful when working on machine suspension, many uses)

8. Couple flares to start a quick fire when the extraction is gonna take a while or you got wet.

There's about $300 in that pack depending on where you shop and name brands. This is one of those priceless tools on the sled that ya hope you never need but always prepared and have it.

Thanks for sharing. I also carry most all of that gear every time I go out.

Reminds me, I need to get some flares. And making the rope-along handle removable is a great idea. Thanks for that post.

As always JR that's a great collection of tools to get a person out of a tight place when out in the hills no matter if your in Alaska or Montana or beyond.
Where does a person get mule tape, I've not seen that before.
If your wondering where some of your snow is ? It's found its way down here, we have a white out at the moment.
Stay Safe out there and keep up the good work !
Allan

You should be able to find the Mule tape at a good electrical supply store...it's used to pull wire through conduit. Very strong and lightweight.

JR - I like the removable handle idea...do you feel it is as strong as the factory handle?

Intrigued by the removable handle idea as well. Do you have any closer pictures of how you made it up? Thanks!

Just curious. How'd you get that Skandic out? Did you anchor off a boulder or put an ice screw in and rope-a-long out?

You can find Mule Tape on Amazon...

Here's a close up of my removable handle. It is a piece of 1 3/8" of chainlink fence top rail with a swaged end welded on the rope-a-long frame. Works for me an is stronger than the original.
I put a keyway in to make alignment a little easier.