13 June 2013 Gearing up for the Arctic

Extreme Cold Weather Gear

In the Extreme Cold Weather Gear (ECW(abbreviation) Extreme Cold Weather clothing) Kit is a parka, snow pants, bunny boots, mittens, hat, neck gaiter, and goggles. My seventh and eighth grade students had a great time with the kit trying on pieces or the entire outfit. Sometimes the dressing in the entire outfit was a group effort....LOL! See the slide show below.

http://youtu.be/aDGIgsL0yWU

My Gear arrives!

Different types of gloves to use depending on the type of work I will be doing. Keep reading and viewing below to find out what else was sent. (The base layers are my own personal gear.)

Staying warm one layer at a time.......

Have you ever heard the phase "Cotton kills!"? Cotton holds in moisture and causes the body to chill in extreme environments such as the Arctic and Antarctic. The best clothing to wear is made of synthetics, silks, wool blends, or wools because they can wick (take away) the moisture. The next piece of advice is to layer your clothing to adjust your temperature. As you are working in the field you can take off layers so that you do not overheat or add layers for additional warmth. In the slide show below you will see the layering technique. My first layer is a base layer of a top and bottom, socks, and glove liners. The second layer includes Bama socks (blue booties) over my socks, fleece top and bottom, and balaclava (head and neck cover). The third layer is a coat, gloves, hat, ski pants and steal toed boots. Since I am required by the Coast Guard to wear a Mustang Suite and steel toed boots on deck.....I will play around with my first two layers and leave out the third layer. My last picture is of me in my rain gear as my third layer.

http://youtu.be/jB3mVr2R5II