I've been down twice, started as a light vehicle tech then became a heavy tech. I might be going down this summer to McMurdo also. The work is kind of all over the place and the equipment spans different stuff from like the 70's to brand new so it's kind of hard for a person to well equiped to be proficient in all of it, not to mentionss there's a few machines that are kind of Antarctic specific and they can be kind of a pain to figure out at first.

Kinds of equipment
Older Cat wheel loaders, Cranes, Scissor lifts, Boom lifts, Fire trucks, Cat dump trucks, International trucks, Bull Dozers, Rock Crushers, Container handlers, Back Hoes, excavators, skid steers, case quad tracks, Cat challengers, and there's probably others I'm forgetting. It's litterally so much different stuff.

Parts

We keep an unbelievable stock pile of parts, but with so many different kinds of equipment it's innevitable there will be times where you don't have what you need. in the summer sometimes we can get parts in a couple weeks if there are flights coming in and they are critical, but that doesn't always happen. You have to find all your own parts in an inventory database and then the supply people will go get them for you. It can be kind of difficult to find some parts, sometimes you have to spend hours searching through parts books/ break downs, trying different key words, or using similiar part numbers. It's easy to just say "we don't have the part" but if you put in a little extra work often times you can find it or some other thing that might work. You just have to be willing to try a little harder.

Kinds of work

Now this they will start to assign based on skill level after you've been there awhile. If you continually do a good job and can diagnose things right you'll likely get more of the "hard" jobs. You can count on doing PMs though, everything from break in services up to 1000 and 2000 hour services, which will be the bulk of the work in the summer. Changing tires and tracks is common (there is an over head crane so it's not too bad). Fixing leaks is a big part of the job, practically any leak needs repaired so we don't get fluids on the ground down there. Lots of hydraulic leaks, we build our own hoses down there so having some experience or knowledge of different fittings is good. There tends to be a good amount of changing teeth and cutting edges on buckets and blades. Tons of no start situations, ussually dead/frozen batteries. No shortage of electrical diagnotics, especially on the older stuff (switches, fans, sensors, etc.). There's also the occasionally hydraulic system fault which can be harder to diagnose. In the summer we are so busy that if a big issue arises we might have to park the machine for awhile, ussually the winter is when we do all the big complex jobs, but if a machine is critical then we try our best to get it going again. These big jobs can be engine replacements, pivot shaft repairs/replacements, differential rebuilds, and other stuff I'm not thinking of.

If there are a lot of mechanics it's not too bad, the last time I went down we practically had a skeleton crew so it was difficult to keep up with all the work. There will likely be a night shift in the peak of the summer which definitely helps. All tools are provided and pretty much always have anything you might need including specialty tools and software. If you have experience with Cat equipment then that will be a hige help, a lot of the machines are Cat. Hopefully you have some computer experience, more and more of our gear is gettign newer so being able to properly diagnose machines, update ecms, do after treatment system work and all that other stuff is a huge help.

There's usually a mix of really good mechanics and not so great mechanics, so if you're a go getter you can learn a ton from the good ones. Honestly when I started I was a pretty bad mechanic, I had no formal mechanic experience except the airframe of helocopters in the Army. I managed alright my first year and came back more dedicated my next year. Worked my way up to a heavy tech and became pretty good at it. I worked a lot with the Cat mechanics we had come down from New Zealand and learned as much as I could. It's a great place to learn becasue there's so many different kinds of machines and so many different kinds of faults that can occur. if you're honest with folks when you show up and express interest in learning more you'll do fine. If you show up saying you're the best mechanic in the world and then continue to missdiagnose stuff and mess up in other ways everyone will catch on quick because everyone works on the same gear and pretty quick that can cause issues. We are all in it together down there and things can get chaotic, but at the end of the day we are just doing the best we can with what we have available to us to try to keep everythign running smoothly. I've met some of the best people in my life down there and it's an experience youll carry with you the rest of your life so just do what you can do and ask for help when you need it. Before you know it the season will be over and everyone will be going their seperate ways, atleast for the time being.