I am in New Zealand, near Christchurch, for the winter and just finished a manuscript of a children’s book about an unusual program for students in Antarctica. It is a pretty wild and exciting program that I think would be of great interest to youngsters (and educational). This will be a STEM Picture Book.
New Zealand is the jumping off point for most Antarctic expeditions, and I have made some great connections with the large polar exploration community here in Christchurch. I am very excited about this book and will start the editing and critiquing of it soon. Once I finish the editing cycles, I will submit it to some publishers.
Today we got a special tour of United States Antarctic Program’s (USAP) Clothing Distribution Center (CDC) by the director, Haggis Gray.
CDC is where the program members get briefed on polar survival and outfitted with cold weather clothes. This is a super important aspect of polar exploration, and we are very grateful to be allowed to visit this facility. Haggis was awesome!
While we may think of clothing as fashion statements up here, down there it is a matter of life and death; the CDC is a very important part of polar exploration.
Here I am at the being fitted with Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear and ready to visit the Antarctic!
Of course in reality, I would need many more layers and end up like the Michelin Man. This is just the outer layer; it was heavy and thick! Note the gloves.
Here is a layout of all the clothes that expedition members get to put on over their personal gear:
In the Wake of the Willows 