Why does no one use rigid poles for their pulk sleds on Denali?

As the title says, why aren’t rigid poles used on Denali pulk sleds? It makes no sense to me. 

I’m planning a Denali trip for 2023 and one thing I noticed is everyone uses soft cord to attach their sleds and then, no surprise, seem to have a bad time descending with them. I have personally used a sled quite a bit and with a crossover, rigid pole system I can ski down hill with them pretty well. Rigid poles are easy to rig, weigh very little and make life a lot easier.

I know the people who have climbed there for years know a lot kore than me and probably have a good reason for it so, what is it? Are poles just awkward to carry on a bush plane or something?

Anyway, thanks for answering my dumb question, hope to see you out there sometime!

Good question. I climbed Denali in 2021 and did not use poles for the sled. Definitely a hassle coming down with soft-cord pulls, but once the we figured out corded brakes, it was manageable. With a total of 2-3 weeks on the mountain, the descent is usually over in 24 hours. Most people take sleds only to 11,000 ft. Only a few steep sections below that. I think the choice is about weight, managing storage on the plane, and dealing with "one more thing". Probably also ignorance as many are up there for the first (and only) time, and it just isn't in the common lists of gear. I did see a couple people with poles as part of the their sled system, but very few over all.

Howdy Jesse, the reason why is that it is a hassle for most people to transport a rigid arm sled to Denali, but some do and they are the happy ones. BITD, Rock and Ice had a DIY guide to make rigid arms for a  plastic sleds using small diameter PVC, which my partner and I did. When we left, we gifted the sleds to a couple of very happy arriving climbers. I did have a local saddle shop attach heavy duty side loops to my pack waist belt to biner on the PVC arms.

You only spend one day descending; rigid poles might make it easier, but is it really worth lugging the whole contraption all the way to Alaska, and then all over the mountain, just to make one day easier?  Subjective call on that but our team decided it definitely wasn't.  Plus, you don't generally ski alone with your sled, you're roped to partner(s) due to the crevasse hazard, so the partner behind you can wrangle the sled.  My partner and I aren't great skiers and we made it down ok in one day with a bit of shenanigans.

I also wonder about a crevasse fall with your sled rigidly attached to your harness or pack; any crevasse fall with a sled is going to suck, but it might suck extra hard if you have poles attaching you to your sled?

Someone say DIY?!?!?   She is still waiting for her calling. Had it out once, but was all fresh powder. So much friction I about killed myself. 

Used mounts from casters, with end-links to mount poles. Added some plates to underside to reinforce and distribute the force(see bolt behind mount). Also added a retractable rudder on each side to help on slanted grades.  Oh then just robbed a waist belt from a pack. Just fold the poles down and ready to go! 

We flew in with sections of pvc. Worked well. I would do that again if I were going back in. 

My buddy and I did in 2012, worked great. I had a cheap kiddie sled with pvc poles and he had a legit sled with aluminum poles and harness (Wilderness Engineering I think). Good luck! 

If you are taking skis anyway, the length and weight of pvc poles is negligible. 

I haven't done Denali (or anything remotely like it), but I've messed with sleds and various towing systems on overnight/weekend outings around here. Two 6' lengths of PVC pipe made downhills a lot easier and more pleasant. A fiberglass pole set and a fin kit from https://www.skipulk.com/products/components/ improved things some more, but that's a fair bit of time and money for a one time deal.

I trained with one, but when I went up there there was a giant pile of discarded ones at TAT, so just used one of those. I didn't think it was that bad, but my selective memory when it comes to climbing is real lol.

I think if you're skiing with a sled, then, flying up there with a ski bag makes it easy to pack a light set of pvc poles rigged with cord at the optimum length for a kiddie sled that your air taxi will provide.  

That said...poles break.  Even the spendy sleds with fixed harness/poles.  Sucks to have a broken piece of pole jam you in the back of your legs...over and over.  I've busted several sets of the PVC poles.

Cord or webbing for me.  On the down hill, you can flip the sled over to slow it down if need be.  Or, grab the cord/webbing straps and carry it next to you out of the track.  Really not that hard to manage especially for the shorter times you'll be sledding (like one day on the way down).

Pigs (heavily loaded sled) will sometimes have a mind of their own.  They'll flip around and upside down and if you have rigid poles, they'll stress and break eventually.  Just easier to not hassle with poles.  IMHO.

We had knee to shin deep fresh snow coming from the 11k camp to the bottom of the hill prior to the up back to the airstrip.  Figure 11's with the sleds next to us down the steeps with skis.  Even tired from summitting (humble brag...ha ha)...was super fun.  We were (are?!) pretty good skiers though.  9.5 hours from the 17k camp to the airstrip with stops to pick up caches (etc).  

I used rigid poles.  No regrets.  Use C-PVC, not regular PVC.  Much less likely to snap. 

Descending with ridid poles still sucks although probably slightly less than without.  Enjoy 

The main reason I've always used cord rather than rigid (which I have tried out) is that with cord it's much easier to go back and forth to your sled to get things out, get it out of holes, over humps, turn it back rightside up etc. If you have poles you have to keep getting in and out of your harness/pack which is a PITA.