In case you're curious about what I'm bringing with me.
Most of my time preparing for this trip was spent figuring out what to
pack and fitting it in my bags. Figuring out what to pack to be away
from home for 4 months is already difficult, but also accounting for
camping/working in sub-zero temperatures was a whole extra level.
Growing up in central Virginia/North Carolina, where even the mention of snow could shut down schools for a snow day, left me particularly unprepared for this task. I utilized the internet and my colleagues at work who've spent multiple seasons on the ice. But I think the best way to learn what to pack is from experience, so I'm going to keep detailed notes of what items I use most and what I wished I had to make packing easier in the future.
Being.... my very over-prepared self.... I created a detailed spreadsheet listing each item (down to the individual sock), if I already owned it or needed to purchase it, and what bag I ended up packing it in.
We are each allowed 85 lbs. of checked baggage on the ice flight (flight from Christchurch to McMurdo). The 85 lb. limit includes our ECW gear, which Cohort 4 will pick up later this week. ECW = Extreme Cold Weather; these are outer-layer clothing items, like a giant red parka, wind/snow pants, and outer gloves.
Since our ECW gear weighs 10-15 lbs. on its own, I aimed for ~75 lbs. of personal luggage. It's packed in two huge, orange duffels and my purple daypack. Here's a picture of most of it:
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| Here's the gear I packed. Unpictured: most of my clothes, ditty bag, a third laptop, snacks, notebooks/pencils, etc. |
Clothing: Lots of layers (and no/little cotton)! For my base layers, I've got 4 pairs of wool long underwear (light, mid, and 2x heavy weight). Over top of those, I'll wear my fleece sweatpants and jacket. Then, a pair of water resistant pants (borrowed from someone at work), and a down jacket.
I have a few fleece hats and buffs / neck gaiters for my head. And wool liner socks with heavy-duty mountaineering socks on top for my feet.
A lot of our field work will consist of digging our stations out of several feet of snow, so I want to make sure I can pull a layer or two off while digging. And absolutely NO cotton, which does not dry easily and would leave me super cold!
In addition to the clothes I'll be wearing in the field, I have a pair of leggings and a few cotton t-shirts for quarantine life. I also threw in some running shorts, because McMurdo has a gym.
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| The clothing duffel. Who knew winter clothes would take up so much space?? |
Glasses: Wearing glasses is a bit of a hassle. I have a pair of back-up glasses in case mine break, my prescription sunglasses, prescription glacier glasses, and a huge pair of goggles that should fit over my glasses. Plus the normal glasses that I am wearing. 👀
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| An artsy picture of my glasses because I'm in quarantine and have too much free time. |
Ditty Bag: I've got the typical (shampoo, soap, toothbrush), and spares of everything, because it's not like I can walk into the nearest Walmart and buy toothpaste if I run out. Sunscreen is very important, since the sun is always up, and the ozone layer is thinner down there (letting more UV light through).
You aren't allow to pee in the snow anywhere on the continent, so when out in the field, we carry "pee bottles" with us (basically just Nalgene bottles). My anatomy does not allow me to pee in a Nalgene very gracefully, so I'm bringing a pee funnel to make things easier.
On that note, I've been told that tampon/pad supplies are limited in McMurdo. I already use a menstrual cup, so I'm just taking that. Plus, it would be a bit of a hassle to bring a 4 month supply of tampons down with you, and then pack that trash out from the field.
Shoes: Most of my bag space is taken up by my shoes. Taking care of my feet is important! I've got 6 pairs:
- Giant, clunky mountaineering boots (provided by work)
- Normal hiking boots (for when the clunky boots are too clunky)
- Running shoes (for the gym!)
- Merrells (for airplanes and around McMurdo)
- My beautiful lemon yellow crocs (because I love them, and for the shower)
- Bright blue down booties (for keeping my feet warm in my tent in the field)
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| A picture of all 6 shoes, featuring my lemon yellow crocs at the center of the picture, and the center of my heart. |
Work-related: I am bringing 3 laptops (lugging these around the airport was so not good for my back): my work laptop, a field laptop (to take with me when we service our stations), and a really old Mac that only runs this one outdated program that we absolutely cannot update (we'll use the program to keep track of our cargo).
I've also got 3 hard drives to download data from the stations, several cables to allow my field laptop to talk to our equipment, and a crappy camera to take pictures of the stations.
I have some serious ear protection, since we will be flying on small, loud, military planes.
In the center bottom of the picture is a Garmin inReach and Iridium Satellite phone. It's really like stepping back a few decades in technology. I'll be able to send (160 character) texts to my family from the inReach, and make calls to work/family on the Satellite phone. It's got a clunky antenna on the back. Super old-school.
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| Garmin inReach (left) and Iridium Satellite phone (right). |
Other: A co-worker let me borrow an old yoga mat, and it's been the most used item so far. Super awesome during quarantine! I also brought a small fleece blanket on recommendation from someone else at work to keep cozy inside my sleeping bag. A camelback and 2 nalgenes (gotta stay hydrated in the desert). And, finally, my 2 kindles, notebooks and pencils, and assorted chargers.
And that's about it! It's a lot of stuff, but I'll be gone for 4 months and in one of the most extreme places on the planet!
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