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A good OAE Polie friend of mine recently updated his site on the ins and outs of traveling to the ice. Granted, he is not a RPSC employee, but I highly recommend all of his gory details and pictures to anyone traveling to the ice.
http://antarctica.kulgun.net/SouthPole/PoleTravel/part-1.shtml
This is a very good primer for new folks. One thing to remember, though, is this is a “summer” perspective. If you are planning to come to the Ice, and particularly to Pole for the winter, even if you come down at Winfly or early summer, remember you likely will need ALL the gear they give you at the CDC and then a second set of it (Pole, emergency cache). So, don’t short yourself. It’s hard to get the gear down here later and that’s usually easiest for those who get last-minute contracts but not for those who should have done it already. If you have a Winter Pole contract, make sure you have all your gear and the spare cache bag before you leave the CDC. You’ve been warned. Enjoy the trip.
Brien, excellent advice.
When I showed up at CDC in January 2005 I was concerned about getting the Carhartts and other stuff I knew I would need for my construction related w/o Pole job, as well as stuff that would fit (size 15 feet etc :), but since it had been a few years since my first winter I’d forgotten the need for the second set of gear for the emergency cache (yes, we did that back then as well, but no one reminded me this time). So I didn’t bring the second Big Red they offered me.
The older Participant Guide (2002-04) listed the detailed requirements for summer/winter at all stations, but the newer ones only give the clothing list for summers at McM.
Oh, the Participant Guide…at the risk of being repetitious, anyone considering a job on the ice needs to read it cover to cover. Find it here:
http://www.usap.gov/travelAndDeployment/contentHandler.cfm?id=541
More stuff well worth looking at (grantee info, field manual etc) is here
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