Base Layers...
Oh dear, what am I going to wear?!?
This is my first trip to Antarctica, and I've had to figure out what clothes to bring. Luckily, my dad is an experienced mountaineer, and I have a number of friends who have been to Antarctica that I can ask for advice. I'll do several posts on clothing since I know Bailey and Emily will want to make fun of my lack of color coordination when they see the pictures. Thus, I want to justify my choices before they can make fun of me.
First, you don't want to take cotton. It absorbs water and gets cold. Wool and many synthetics stay warm when they get wet. And although Antarctica is a desert, when you are in the cold and wearing plenty of clothing, and then you do something like moving equipment, it's easy to get too hot and start sweating. That gets you wet from the inside. As soon as you stop moving, you cool off quickly. Thus, you want to be more careful of what your clothes are made of than what they look like. This is especially true for your base layer.
The base layer, or the clothes next to your skin, is in many ways the most important. This is particularly true for my group for two reasons. First, we are going to Antarctica early in the season when it's really quite cold. That first layer is essential insulation. (My friend Audrey said Antarctica wasn't really all that cold. When she heard we were going in early October, she said never mind. It's cold.) Second, we'll be camping in a remote area in the Dry Valleys for seven weeks. There are no showers. We can do some washing, but the Dry Valleys are an ecologically sensitive and protected area. We have to capture and return all of our waste - yes ALL of it. (Use your imagination until I cover that part of things in a later post.) Thus, we need base layers that don't enhance body odors and can be washed with minimal water. (I'll also experiment with Tyler's suggestion that I use the ozone hole to sterilize my clothes. Most body bacteria die from too much UV, but I don't really think there is enough to sterilize dirty clothes. And they'll blow away if I'm not careful.)
Here's what I'm taking for my base layers:
The first layer is on the bottom. I'm taking synthetic sports socks, plus some stretched out wool socks that I can wear over several other pairs. My dad really likes the sports socks for mountaineering trips, and I find them much more comfortable than wool. I haven't counted how many pairs are in the sock bag. A dozen, I think.
Next comes underwear. I had a hard time deciding what to take because many of my normal ones are either cotton or don't do well without a very thorough washing after a day of wearing. I decided to go for diversity. I bought several pairs of Patagonia and ExOfficio travel underwear. People rave about them because you can go on a long trip with only one pair, washing them out each night. Apparently, they'll be dry by morning. I'm not concerned about the drying time because I have several pairs and we're staying in one place. However, I want to minimize water usage and still be clean. I figure they probably don't absorb too much water. I've been testing them out, and all four varieties I got are comfortable. I'm also bringing lace underwear. They don't absorb water either, and they are cheap so I can bring a lot. (The Patagonia and ExOfficio are ~$15/pair on sale!)
Tops were easier. I'll bring several swimsuit and sports tank tops because they are super comfortable. Then I'll throw in a few regular bras. This doesn't seem nearly as important to me as the underwear. One can always go without, especially with many other layers of clothing.
For insulating long underwear, the choice was easy again. Everyone I asked said wool was much less stinky than synthetics if you are wearing them day after day. I really like the Ice Breaker tops with baseball style sleeves and the SmartWool bottoms, so I have two of each. I also already had two silk tops and bottoms, so I'll take those as well. The silk bottoms will be easy to wear under the wool ones if I need extra warmth. NSF issues some long underwear, but I'm sure it won't be as nice to wear as what I picked out.
I tried wearing my long underwear at night and on hiking trips without washing it to see how much it smelled. My mom said it didn't get too bad by the end of our backpacking trip; actually she said it smelled like me, which she said wasn't too bad. It didn't seem bad to me, which is why I asked her, but then I might have just become immune to it. Next month, seven of us will all be in the same situation, and I'll find out what it's really like!
This is my first trip to Antarctica, and I've had to figure out what clothes to bring. Luckily, my dad is an experienced mountaineer, and I have a number of friends who have been to Antarctica that I can ask for advice. I'll do several posts on clothing since I know Bailey and Emily will want to make fun of my lack of color coordination when they see the pictures. Thus, I want to justify my choices before they can make fun of me.
First, you don't want to take cotton. It absorbs water and gets cold. Wool and many synthetics stay warm when they get wet. And although Antarctica is a desert, when you are in the cold and wearing plenty of clothing, and then you do something like moving equipment, it's easy to get too hot and start sweating. That gets you wet from the inside. As soon as you stop moving, you cool off quickly. Thus, you want to be more careful of what your clothes are made of than what they look like. This is especially true for your base layer.
The base layer, or the clothes next to your skin, is in many ways the most important. This is particularly true for my group for two reasons. First, we are going to Antarctica early in the season when it's really quite cold. That first layer is essential insulation. (My friend Audrey said Antarctica wasn't really all that cold. When she heard we were going in early October, she said never mind. It's cold.) Second, we'll be camping in a remote area in the Dry Valleys for seven weeks. There are no showers. We can do some washing, but the Dry Valleys are an ecologically sensitive and protected area. We have to capture and return all of our waste - yes ALL of it. (Use your imagination until I cover that part of things in a later post.) Thus, we need base layers that don't enhance body odors and can be washed with minimal water. (I'll also experiment with Tyler's suggestion that I use the ozone hole to sterilize my clothes. Most body bacteria die from too much UV, but I don't really think there is enough to sterilize dirty clothes. And they'll blow away if I'm not careful.)
Here's what I'm taking for my base layers:
Next comes underwear. I had a hard time deciding what to take because many of my normal ones are either cotton or don't do well without a very thorough washing after a day of wearing. I decided to go for diversity. I bought several pairs of Patagonia and ExOfficio travel underwear. People rave about them because you can go on a long trip with only one pair, washing them out each night. Apparently, they'll be dry by morning. I'm not concerned about the drying time because I have several pairs and we're staying in one place. However, I want to minimize water usage and still be clean. I figure they probably don't absorb too much water. I've been testing them out, and all four varieties I got are comfortable. I'm also bringing lace underwear. They don't absorb water either, and they are cheap so I can bring a lot. (The Patagonia and ExOfficio are ~$15/pair on sale!)
Tops were easier. I'll bring several swimsuit and sports tank tops because they are super comfortable. Then I'll throw in a few regular bras. This doesn't seem nearly as important to me as the underwear. One can always go without, especially with many other layers of clothing.
For insulating long underwear, the choice was easy again. Everyone I asked said wool was much less stinky than synthetics if you are wearing them day after day. I really like the Ice Breaker tops with baseball style sleeves and the SmartWool bottoms, so I have two of each. I also already had two silk tops and bottoms, so I'll take those as well. The silk bottoms will be easy to wear under the wool ones if I need extra warmth. NSF issues some long underwear, but I'm sure it won't be as nice to wear as what I picked out.
I tried wearing my long underwear at night and on hiking trips without washing it to see how much it smelled. My mom said it didn't get too bad by the end of our backpacking trip; actually she said it smelled like me, which she said wasn't too bad. It didn't seem bad to me, which is why I asked her, but then I might have just become immune to it. Next month, seven of us will all be in the same situation, and I'll find out what it's really like!
