Expeditions: 1911 to 2016
What to wear?
Packing for Antarctica is no easy task - there have been hundreds of research expeditions to Antarctica and packing is always a topic of conversation. What to bring? What to leave behind? Survivability is paramount in the harsh conditions of the Antarctic and what we decide to bring along takes that into account - along with comfort. On the most famous expeditions was the 1911 Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen to get to the geographic South Pole and in his two volume account of the expedition he lists the complete inventory of the expedition. He lists ski boots, suits of sealskin from Northern Greenland, Inuit style clothes from reindeer skins, wolf skin, Burberry cloth and gabardine, and woolen undergarments.
In this illustration by Thomas Griffith Taylor (a survivor of the ill fated 1911 British Terra Nova Expedition) depicts the typical clothing as used by 20th century Antarctic explorers.
Although we may look slightly different, the clothing generally remains the same. Along with our high-tech fabrics, we still have mittens with leather and wool, our bunny boots (Extreme Cold Vapor Barrier Boots) were originally engineered by Navy for use in the Korean War, and fur lined hoods for our parkas.
A student at Timberline PK8 in Longmont, Colorado tries on the numerous layers of clothing required by a modern expedition.
More different than our clothing might be our other equipment. As opposed to sleds and sled dogs, we will have two snowmobiles that we use to travel from McMurdo Station and short trips around out camp. Our tents are made by Black Diamond equipment and you can buy them as well - but are not the tents of the Amundsen expedition which had built-in floors. Comfort is still important - Amundsen brought along 3,000 books, a gramophone, a large quantity of records and a range of musical instruments on his ship - we will have our iPads with books and music (I'll be leaving the record player at home).
Weather - It's Cold and Windy
As I write this the weather at Minna Bluff (a rocky bluff near to our expedition camp) is nearly -19F and the weather across Antarctica is reaching down below -80F.
The September 26, 2016 temperatures reported by the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), University of Wisconsin - Madison.
The September 26, 2016 wind speeds reported by the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC), University of Wisconsin - Madison.
You can explore the current temperatures as you read this by surfing over to the Antarctic Meteorological Research Center (AMRC) of the University of Wisconsin - Madison, the map above came from here. The temperature at Minna Bluff however is considerably colder thanks to strong winds blowing out of the Trans Antarctic Mountains and across the Ross Ice Shelf. Using the National Weather Service conversion chart (located in the photos section of this Journal entry and can also be viewed here, the current temperature of -19F with the wind speeds in the area of 31 mph, the current wind chill could be estimated to be around -51F! At that rate exposed skin will be frostbitten in less than 10 minutes.
Clothing is essential - and with the proper clothing comes comfort. We can live and work in the harsh environment of Antarctica but we need to be prepared - whether on an expedition in 1911 or today in 2016.
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