Despite being up early at the hotel this morning, I somehow had it in my head that we would start at 9am and got to work about a half hour late. Of my AntNZ work days so far, this was probably the worst to be late to, as I held up the beginning of kit out for our group of four.

Kit Out is the process where Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear is issued to people before they travel to Antarctica. Among the paperwork (pretty much all actually done online) between signing a contract and travelling up to Christchuch, I’d filled out a form with my clothing sizes, and this morning I was presented with a bunch of clothes to suit. My task was to ensure that clothes all fit, make any adjustments, and learn a bit about how to pack for flights to/from Antarctica. We’ll also store a spare change of gear on one of the sleds, in case of some disaster like a vehicle catching fire.

Compared to my fuzzy memory of how this process worked in the USAP a decade or two ago, the main differences I noted are that AntNZ’s ECW issue seems a bit more personalised, and some of the gear is higher quality. Instead of polypro long underwear, we get brand name merino stuff, and the people who’ll be spending longer in the field are issued an extra set. There were more jackets offered than I could imagine actually using (plus, I’ll take my trusty old Western Mountaineering jacket) so I left one or two. Our ECW boots seem like a good improvement over the old FDX boots that I’ve used before, they look quite similar but feel noticeably more stable. A couple of the small hat/glove/gaiter accessories probably won’t get used much either, but they are light and don’t take up much space so may as well tote them along just in case. Finally, we’re issued a shiny new 1L AntNZ branded Nalgene bottle, complete with instructions printed on the side :).

The only shortcoming I noted was that the AntNZ kit only comes with one pair of mittens - the big ECW ones with fur on the back - which are very warm, and required for flights, but they’re a bit impractical day-to-day. When it’s cold out, there’s always a compromise between warmth and dexterity, for me the sweet spot is a pair (or two) of thin liner gloves inside a mitten. Perhaps even with one of those little chemical heat packs for good measure! So, I’ll have a little bit of shopping to do next week.

Perhaps clinging too tightly to my fuelie past, I did opt to swap the newer insulated bib pants with some broken-in insulated Carhartt canvas ones. The new style bibs seem quite warm and I’m sure they’re plenty tough, but they’re also quite bulky, and I like the Carhartt pockets. Time will tell if that’s a good move!