Field Equipment

Detailed notes on field equipment have been submitted separately (G. Gillespie, End of Season Report) and are held by Antarctic Division. In general the quality and quantity of field equipment was excellent and it was good to see that many of the suggestions made last year have been implemented. The following suggestions and observations are made: The weights stated in the field manual for toboggans and sledges are up to 20% too light in some cases. The purple Olympus Tent was difficult to see when pitched on rock and the sewn in ground sheet rather unsubstantial. Both these problems could be fixed by the inclusion of a standard yellow ground sheet, this could be used as added protection to the floor of the tent when pitched on rock and as a high visibility object in the event of a SAR or similar operation.

Frozen food is difficult to keep frozen in the standard red food boxes while camped on rock or hard ice where they can not be buried. The provision of white boxes (with red stripe if required) should be considered.

Much time was spent repacking food boxes, maybe field parties should be given the option of pack your own or prepacked boxes. For long stay or deep field parties total repacking is often necessary to reduce bulk and to remove unwanted items while including others and little time is saved by having prepacked boxes in such cases.

The provision of a steering compass, such as a marine hand held navigation compass that could be used for both steering and position fixing would be useful. A handle bar mount for Tamworth sledges should also be provided. The new yogurt was great.