‘Pulk’ is the Norwegian word for a sledge, though it’s commonly one that is pulled along, usually on skis. Pulks have been around since the beginning of time and were used for transporting goods around initially. Lots of Norwegian children got their first taste of the great outdoors by being towed along, by their skiing parents, in a pulk. Dogs are often used to pull pulks, though it’s usually just one dog and a small pulk rather than a team of dogs and big sledges. The Sami (Lapp) people use reindeer to pull bigger pulks, which they call pulhke.

Skidoos and various other forms of mechanical transport have left pulks pretty much for recreational use and the one we have here in the collection was used by Mike Parsons on a trip to Denali in 1997. Mike was owner of a company called Karrimor at the time and was often out on wee expeditions testing gear and enjoying himself. He bought this pulk at an ‘REI’ outlet in anchorage, though, as we can see above, it was made by Mountainsmith in Colorado, a specialist outdoor gear manufacturer that is still operating in 2026.