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Victoria University Antarctic Research Expedition Science and Logistics Reports 1999-2000: VUWAE 44

11 Field Equipment

11 Field Equipment

Comment (if appropriate) on any of the following: page break
i

The quality, suitability and performance of field clothing issued to you by Antarctica New Zealand;

In general the suitability and performance of the field clothing issued to us by ANZ were excellent. Our fieldsite is at 1600 m elevation and experiences high winds. The clothing supplied to us enabled us work well in the field despite these conditions.

One nosewiper mitt was lost during high winds, and one leather glove was misplaced (P. Cleary was notified of these losses upon our return to Scott Base). The clothing we returned endured reasonable wear and tear during our field season and will be useable again next season.

One recommendation would be that 'wind stopper' gloves (not nose wipers, but ones which allow dexterity) are made available for those persons working on or near the polar plateau.

ii

The performance and design of tents, technical climbing equipment, kitchen gear and sledges,

We were issued Polar tents, Olympus tents and an Endura tent. The Polar tents were excellent (and quite new). I would not be content to live at our fieldsite in any other tent. One of our event members slept in an Olympus tent and found it to be a very noisy due to it flapping in the wind even though it was oriented correctly with respect to the prevailing wind direction and dug down 40 cm into the snow with a snow wall built to protect it. We had the Endura tent for only a few days, but really appreciated its roominess compared to Polar tents. It is not an easy tent to erect.

Of all of this gear, only one crampon and two rubber seals for the thermoses failed during the field season.

iii

The 20 person day ration box system; detail suggestions to improve the packaging of items or improve palatability and calorific value. Comment on Scott Base diet;

The 20 person day ration box system provides good food and good nutrition and we do not have any major problems with it. It should be noted however that many of the Bumper Bars were up to two years over their expiry dates and did not taste very good. In addition, we suggest the following changes: increase the number of Raro packages in each box by 50%, decrease the amount of margarine in each box – we used about 10% of what was given to us, decrease the number of soup packages in each box.

With regard to Scott Base, the diet there was great. Andrew was a fantastic chef and I hope he's there again next year. Chris was a pretty good cook too.

In all cases fully explain any modification made by you to this equipment during the season. Indicate the general condition of items returned to Scott Base and report any lost equipment

Positive suggestions are encouraged for improvement to all equipment