I spent 6 months in Antarctica in 1968-69 as one member of a two man field party. When we arrived in September we started our work on some nunataks in the upper Ferrar glacier at 7000' elevation. Temperatures fell as low as -52 degrees and there were occasional katabatic winds in excess of 80 mph.

We dressed for the weather and made sure that we had shelter handy if the clothing was not enough. We had silk underwear and over that, thick wool long johns. Over the long johns, on the bottom, we wore down pants with about 1" of loft and wind pants. On top, we wore wool shirts, a down sweater and an insulated wind parka with a fur rimmed hood. On our heads we wore a Balaklava under a down "bomber hat". On our hands we wore US Air Force rayon anti-contact gloves, thick wool mittens and gauntlet-style nylon and leather wind mitts. On our feet we wore mukluks with wool felt liners and thick wool socks. We tried the surplus "Mickey Mouse" boots but found the mukluks warmer.

The tents we used and the outer garments we wore were made of long-fiber cotton. We never gave a thought to waterproofing: the temperature would have had to climb a lot before getting wet was an issue. The snow was the texture of sand and in a strong wind would literally blast paint off of the generator we carried to power our radio.

Since my time in Antarctica, I have had relatively little interest in winter camping .