What is a 'slider' you ask? It is a sled like device used to help protect a climbers clothing, backpacks, and soft tissues somewhat during glissading. It can also make the glissade faster, which can be dangerous under certain circumstances, and welcome during others. It allows one the ability to glissade further down the mountain than those without, especially as the snow gets softer. Glissading is a faster way down the mountain, compared to hiking, and the more you get to do, the more enjoyable the overall climb can be.

If you do not know how to make the go/no-go decision on glissading, or do not know how to self arrest using an ice axe, never attempt to glissade. Any idiot you see doing it with crampons on is literally an accident about to happen, don't be that idiot. Take a mountaineering class to learn how to do it right, like the ones offered by the Mazamas.

1) First you need a sheet of tough plastic. I use 2' x 4' sheets of polyethylene, 35 mils thick. These can be purchased in various colors from Multi-Craft Plastics, Inc, located in Tigard, OR for under $5.

2) Next cut the width to match the width of your hips, or maybe a touch wider.

3) Now you need to add notches for you legs, and add holes to attach a sling. I keep the sling attach section 3.5" tall, with four 1" holes spread out along the top to pass a sling through. The sling allows the climber to tie the slider around their waste, so their hands are free during the descent for holding on to the ice axe for speed control and self arrest. Also keep around 3" to 4" of material between the notches, which connects the sling attach to the rest of the slider.

Make sure all cuts are round, and not square (i.e. 90 degree angle). A square cut on an inside corner creates a stress riser in the material that makes it quite easy to tear. Outside corners should also be round to prevent them from digging into you. Also, the outside corners that will be between your legs and the snow needs to be a wide radius to prevent these corners from folding during a glissade. You can trim material away later if you find this happens to you. The slider shown below hasn't had the corners rounded enough between the legs and snow. I will update the picture once I trim it more. These corners have folded on me a few times, slowing the glissade some.

4) Once you have a sling attached, tie the slider to your waist and assume a glissading position on the floor with your pack on. Have someone mark the tail of the slider at the back of your pack while you are leaning back some to find out long it needs to be. Trim off the remaining material.

Note: some people deliberately use their packs as part of speed control, in addition to their ice axe. Leaning back creates more drag, and forward less. I prefer to keep my packs for a long time and choose to protect them too. You may choose to keep the slider shorter for this added brake control.

5) Now that you have completed your slider, there is one more step you can do to make your rides even more comfy. I added 1/8" foam from a craft store to the seat area of my slider. It can be attached using Shoe Goo, which is an adhesive that works well with plastics. Also be sure to add some duct tape along the leading edge to prevent snow buildup from separating the foam from the slider.

This makes for a really nice ride, and this step can be done at a later date too.

Climb safe, and have fun!