Clothing for Antarctica

Clothing Store in Kingston Hobart



The clothing supplied to expeditioners is mostly pretty good. Some of the actual work clothes are fairly average, but do the job. The most interesting part of the clothing is more about how to wear what is provided. The layering system consisting of a first layer of fine merino wool thermals to wick away moisture from the skin. The second layer is polo fleece, and the third layer is your wind proofing layer. The wind proofing maybe just a windcheater or a goosedown style jacket. Us tradies get what they call a "Carhart" jacket and pants for heavy duty works. Socks are woollen backed up by Sorell boots which are lined. The steel capped Sorells are bloody cold and are avoided when possible. The best boots are those worn by the wintering crew or those who work up at the Wilkens airstrip.Beanies, balaclavas, gloves of various types are also supplies. The fleecey lined riggers gloves are not bad, but don't last long. They are easily water logged making them cold to wear. I've found it surprising how little one has to wear here when the layering system is applied and to be honest, Antarctica during the summer months is not that cold.



Some of the gear I got issued



OK, so -5 C average is a little colder than back home, and -30C during a savage blizzard is getting cold, but I think I've had colder feet back home in winter than down here due to not having the right gear on.

My biggest challenge has been sizes. I'm just too

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