Sled is a vehicle that has parallel runners instead of wheels, so that it can move easily over snow or ice. In the Far North, where snow and ice cover the ground for many months of the year, sleds are the chief means of transportation. People in parts of Alaska and the Canadian territory of Yukon travel on sleds pulled by huskies.
Alaskan sleds are built to stand the roughest travel. The most common Alaskan sled is the Nome sledge, a long, narrow type with basketlike sides. A good team of dogs, hitched to a Nome sledge, can haul 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) of cargo. The Nansen sled, made of wood and lashed with rawhide, is wider and lighter than the Nome sledge. A 30-pound (14-kilogram) Nansen sled can carry a 600-pound (270-kilogram) load. Sleighs called troikas are used in Russia. They are drawn by horses or reindeer. In Lapland, reindeer pull sledges carrying heavy goods.
In early times, people made sledges from logs tied together. The sledges were used to haul cargo over both snow and bare ground. Later, people found that the sled would move more easily and quickly if wooden slats, called runners, were fastened beneath the logs.
Some North American Indians used a toboggan sled that looked like a canoe on a pair of runners. The Pilgrims made sleds from a box set on runners.
After 1870, the coasting sled came into use in the United States. The original coasting sled was the “clipper” type. It was built low, with long, pointed sides and runners of round steel rods. The “girl’s sled” was a light, short box, with high, cutout or skeleton sides, and wide, flat runners. The double-runner or bobsled is formed of two clipper sleds joined end to end by a board. The rider steers the sled by means of ropes, a wheel, or a crossbar. Four to 10 people ride in a bobsled. Specially designed bobsleds of steel and fiberglass are used for racing in winter sports events.
