Preparation for the North Slope Visit

I will be traveling to Prudhoe Bay, otherwise known as the North Slope for two weeks the end of October. You can see on the map that I'm flying into Deadhorse! You would actually have to travel south to reach the edge of the Arctic Circle. I believe the temps will be in the single digits while I'm there. Everyone here says it won't be very cold in October...and I tell them that it sounds pretty damn cold!

BP has five 737 flights a day from Anchorage up to the Slope and I learned that from October 1 onward, you are not allowed on the plane without a heavy jacket or coat, boots, hat and gloves. In addition, if you are driving from facility to facility (which we will be), you have to have 'arctic gear' in the car in case the car breaks down and you get stranded.

Today I was taken to a room in the basement where they have 'arctic gear'...OMG. I look like a navy blue Michelin Man. The arctic coveralls and jacket I was assigned are worth $2,000 and are so heavy I can hardly get them on.

I also need a flame-retardent suit and steel-toed boots if I want to go into certain parts of the facilities. Since I want to see as much as possible while I'm there, I was given a flame-retardent suit and I bought myself a pair of steel-toed boots at the Army-Navy store across the street.

A friend of mine said, "will you be disappointed if you never have a reason to put all that arctic gear on?" I said, "no I won't be disappointed, because I'm going to don it all so that Tim can take my picture, and then it can live in the car for the rest of the time."

I promise to send pictures.