what do you carry on trips?

I'll document it and put something up when I get it done. You'll be surprised how rigid this thing is -- I have high hopes for its performance, but we'll see how it goes.

After making a list of all of the items mentioned in this thread, perhaps I'm not as out of step as I thought. I'll just have to adapt my gear selection for the Cascades.

To check the soundness of the smaller hardware for the rescue sled, I did a few quick tests this morning. I used a 3/16 stainless machine screw, a piece aluminum conduit I had in the junk pile, a piece of 1/2 plywood, and an old ski. In the plywood, there was no problem breaking it, so I moved on to the old ski, and as you can see in the last picture the tubing collapsed and the ski started to delaminate, I did not want to rip the ski apart, but I'm sure I could have. There was no sign of bending or deforming on the machine screw. I think they would be fine. The hardware was collected at my local ACE.

Ouch! it does not look like your skis (or shovel handle) liked those wing nuts...

Maybe it would be good to test a duct tape ski and shovel and pole sled against the wingnut ski and shovel and pole at the Cascade Backcountry Ski Patrol Mountain Travel and Rescue course this year. we can throw in a Fager flier while we are at it...

Good to try this on old skis. If you are a bent (injured), its OK to destroy your skis with wingnuts to get you home quicker, but not every one has holes drilled in their skis....

Oh yeah, AND this a shameless pitch for CBSP.

cascadebackcountryskipatrol.org/CBSP/Why.html

We are always looking for experienced or eager safety-conscious people to add to our ranks. The on-the-hill refresher in the first weekend of December and you can post me if you are interested to find out more about what we do....

saw a new shovel out by K2 that has the kit in the shovel handle to make the sled.. directions included... a bit heavier is the "brooks range " mountaineering rig.

Marcus, have you (or anyone here) tested this sled on snow?

The improvised sled is a good thing to have in your bag of tricks but they typically do not perform well in deep snow (and why would you be skiing anything else).  The drag bad style sleds are much more effective and work well as an emergency shelter.  Brooks Range makes one brooks-range.com/Eskimo-Rescue-Sled.html , but my favorite is the Alpine Threadworks Rescue Tarp because it works better as an emergency shelter www.alpinethreadworks.com/products/sledkitvideo.html

I carry this thing every day out guiding but not that often when skiing with friends.  It's a pretty handy piece of gear so I'm thinking about carrying it more when I'm out with friends this winter.   

The vid showed him post-holing with it at the end... I'm wondering how well this works with the puller using ski's/skins?  ...looks like the poles being used to pull need to be longer? I'm also wondering... if the victim has to lay flat how that backpack works being dragged like that? and then the ski poles... I keep thinking the baskets could pop off the poles being used to pull, if I saw it correct, they are pulling with their baskets?

You need to have a long cord for pulling whether using an improvised sled or a commercial rig.  The ski poles don't give you enough length when pulling the sled with skis on.