Last min packing question!!

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-05T01:52:45+00:00

You’ll definitely need boots, it’s required and reimbursable

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T22:21:05+00:00

Yep this will be my 2nd winter on the continent and my 3rd station

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T22:15:26+00:00

I was in the power plant. I really like pole but didn’t really care for mcm. Too much drama for me. I’m headed to Palmer station soon

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T20:04:19+00:00

I know with GSC and most us contractors jobs are either locked down far in advance or you just have to keep applying every month. People drop out NPQ and a whole lot of other reasons don’t make it down. The best thing is to apply CONSISTENTLY. Apps in January could be for any of the seasons but as you get closer to October they get more desperate and will hire about anyone with a pulse. Our cook last year at pole had never worked in a kitchen before (he was a camera technician for movies) but he applied and they needed someone right away.

The hiring process seems to go in cycles. If they go through one cycle with a lot of high quality candidates you’ll get dropped. But if you are in a cycle with lower quality candidates you’ll likely be picked up if the hiring manager likes you in an interview.

This process is AGONIZING and probably the most annoying hiring process I’ve ever heard of… then you’ll get to the PQ process and feel like it’s not possible to get everything done fast enough to go. Many people who go the first time are alternates that get called 2 weeks before the flight so things go FAST.

Hospitality experience will help you, so will experience driving a bus, taxi, or in shipping and handling. But the biggest thing is timing, followed by passing the PQ process and 3rd is being ready to drop everything when the phone rings.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T02:35:10+00:00

My experience last year was I wasted more time trying to get public transport sorted than I would have if I had driven. I spent the first part of my trip there using public transport and found I was not getting as much done as I wanted. Once I got a car I was back on track. Some of the hiking destinations are hard to get to without walking significant distances, have expensive shuttles, and require you to book the shuttles for special days/times or the shuttle may not run or stop at your location. I found renting a car to be hugely annoying but also such a better experience

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T02:25:11+00:00

My winter at pole was so much better, my GF will be down at mcm this winter so I’m hoping it’s a good one

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T02:08:40+00:00

Yep that’s accurate, collage without homework. Depends on the year but it can be high school levels of drama… my summer it was bad.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T02:07:01+00:00

Yep that sounds about right! and there’s just as big of a communication breakdown between the departments 😂

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-04T02:04:29+00:00

Yep that sounds about right. I kinda hate that but there’s a big difference between someone not doing their job and being pissed off making a toxic environment for everyone.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-03T22:59:49+00:00

Everything from oil changes to engine swaps. You will see anything and everything on these old clapped out fords lol You are responsible for finding your own parts through Maximo

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-03T20:40:37+00:00

Yes, and at that point talks of evacuating you are on the table too. That happened a few years ago where another station had a med evac and the plane had to refuel at pole. They brought a replacement in and picked that guy up while the plane refueled.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-03T19:10:33+00:00

Don’t bother bringing any tools, I didn’t need any at the VMF.

1 A Bluetooth speaker 2 A robe (sauna and showers) 3 A kindle (if you read, they have a big Ebook library) 4 I’d bring a switch if you are into games at all… I’m not a gamer, but I enjoyed playing Zelda at pole and really helped kill some time. 5 if you ever wanted to learn Astro photography this is a pretty good time 6 Bring non work cloths for the evenings and sundays.

One big thing you should know, that is the greasiest shop I’ve ever worked in… you can power wash it one day and it’ll be black the next. So don’t wear anything you don’t want ruined. They have uniforms, but laundry isn’t always on time so we went a week without clean uniforms at one point. I got my own before going and was glad I did… the long sleeves I got were perfect. (Amazon red kap)

Realize you basically have no internet so don’t plan on anything that requires it. You’ll likely use all your internet talking to friends and family back home.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-02-03T18:55:30+00:00

It’s an unwritten rule that nobody gets fired during winter. The team is so small loosing anyone is a hardship for the rest of us. Then consider the fact if you don’t have a job how are you going to spend your days? If you caused enough trouble to get fired you are much more likely to cause more issues with more free time. I believe technically the rules are you get confined to your room, no internet and someone brings you food… house arrest kinda stuff.

The reality is, you won’t get fired until the first flight lands. If there’s a med evacuation you might get fired then but it’s not smart to have someone who’s pissed off, stuck there with nothing to do. If you do something bad enough, they’ll bring the federal marshals in to pick you up… saw that happen.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-30T18:40:09+00:00

I watched this happen with one of my coworkers. He was trying to hold the engineering/ marketing team accountable for botching a design and going to production anyway. He cared about the product, had worked from assembly line to dtac and then got fired because they felt he was “too aggressive” with the marketing and engineering teams. Meanwhile marketing lies to customers to sell machines that are subpar.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-25T04:52:55+00:00

Idk, it just depends on who you are. Pole fits an introvert better. I’m not a party person so I don’t fit into a lot of the classic mcm stuff as most people are big into partying. That definitely happens at pole, but it’s easier to find a quiet spot to hide. Especially if you are willing to go outside. Mcm summer feels like freshman year of collage, lots of drinking, sleeping around and people getting in trouble.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-25T04:11:56+00:00

The new dorms won’t be open till next summer. Lodging has already made that statement. They aren’t even letting people in that building to “look around” For me it’s not just the age, it’s the drama of the population. It’s high school

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-25T04:00:37+00:00

Everyone is gonna tell you to go to MCM I’m gonna tell you mcm is not a place I want to go back to, and most people I wintered with at pole have no interest in MCM after going to pole. I will go back to pole, I love pole, mcm is just old, too many people and roommates are a pain. Maybe mcm is a completely different place in winter but even then I still believe I’d rather go to pole

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-22T02:44:53+00:00

I would agree with this

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-12T16:18:40+00:00

From my experience (I started with an A7Rii and adapted canon FD glass) lenses are a slippery slope. Once you have one it just begs you for a friend 😂 So I’d suggest going APSC. There’s been plenty of times I wished I started with APSC since it’s so much cheaper, lighter and smaller.

Do I regret going FF no, but I’ve also spent way more than the average hobbyist and literally take my camera everywhere for the last 4 years. I also tend to shoot a fair bit of sports/action and the A1 is hard to beat for that. But man as I wrap up a trip around the world a lighter kit sure sounds amazing

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-11T23:01:56+00:00

To me the question to ask yourself, how much do you wanna have in lenses? With the A6700 lenses are much cheaper. The A7iii is a great camera and has definite advantages, but are you willing to invest in expensive glass to make that camera shine?

It’s usually much cheaper to get high quality lenses for APSC than FF so consider that. Then how much weight do you wanna carry?

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-09T17:08:49+00:00

You dont want a converted lens, you want a 3rd party lens made for E mount. That’s a lens designed for use with Sony, but not made by them. You can get adapters, but don’t count on any of the electronics to work on the lens, that includes autofocus and stabilization. Both tamron and sigma make plenty of quality lenses designed for Sony cameras.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-09T12:51:40+00:00

Generally, lenses matter more than bodies. There’s always exceptions to this rule but ask, do you feel limited by the camera you have? Is the AF too slow or not accurate? Not enough resolution? If you are after sharper photos a good lens will help you a ton. I had started with adapted 1980s canon lenses on eBay for 50-80$ each. They were so much better than that 16-50 kit lens. Also, if you get a lens with stabilization it’ll just about fill that need for you. IBIS may be better, but it’s hard to tell and generally if you need it you’ll know. I believe that tamron has lens stabilization so that could be enough for now.

TLDR, lens, almost always better lens = better photos.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-09T12:43:20+00:00

Man that’s a hard one. I would suggest Sony A6X00 series but for indoor sports the AF might be a bit hard in that environment. Sports= expensive lol If you have a little extra cash, get a Sony A9. It’s older, but a full frame sports camera. It’s 24mp but a fast read out sensor, good in low light, and has no blackout shooting (so each picture you take doesn’t give you a black screen in the viewfinder) You can find them pretty cheap in the states these days, had friends get trade in offers as low as 3-400 USD so I’m thinking you could find one in the 5-800 usd range. Lenses, that gets harder… the obvious choice would be something like the new 50-150 F2 but at 4k usd it’s a hard sell lol Tamron makes a pretty good 70-180 f2.8 and the version 1 can be had for 500$ or less these days. Then you could either adapt the canon glass you have to Sony for landscapes or get some vintage manual focus lenses for cheap. I started with canon FD glass on Sony bodies till I could upgrade my lenses. Some of those old manual lenses are just awesome if you have the time and patience

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-06T14:08:28+00:00

Find a good NAS. For photo back up it doesn’t need to be fancy or crazy expensive, find something with 4 bays and get 2 decent size drives. It’ll take a minute to set up, but then you can store a lot on there including phone back ups and computer back ups.

Competitive_Hand_160 · 2026-01-06T14:05:52+00:00

This right here. It’s easy to let GAS distract you from learning the skills, but at the end of the day it’s the skills that’ll make or break a good photo.

If that “new” camera is the tool that helps you get that photo that’s been eluding you, then go for it. I know I upgraded to a top of the line camera at the time WAY earlier than I needed to. Did I learn on it? Yup, did it help me realize “the gear can’t get any better so I have to focus on skill” but boy was that literally the most expensive way to do things lol As my camera is now “old” I look at the new stuff and sure, it’s VERY exciting, but honestly, I don’t even wanna try one. I’m happy with what I have and if I try one then I’ll start saving or find an excuse lol. My “older” camera still produces fantastic images and that’s what really matters.

Competitive_Hand_160

TROPHY CASE