Thank you to our partners: we couldn’t do it without you

18/02/2025

Shop manager Dale Ellis would like to say an enormous thank you to the following brands for supporting our Antarctic team this season.

As the end of the season approaches, we have been taking stock and thinking about how so many people have played their part in supporting our time here. Today, we want to just take a moment to thank some of the companies that stepped up and helped out by providing clothing and equipment for the team down here in Antarctica this season.

Each year, a new team travels down to the bottom of the world on behalf of the charity to work in one of the harshest, most remote regions on the planet. This year, I’m part of the seasonal team working at Base A, Port Lockroy, and soon, we will have a team of specialist heritage carpenters joining us on the continent to work on the exciting restoration of the Blaiklock Island Refuge.

XtraTuf outdoor boots

The season runs over the austral summer on the continent. Our base is located on Goudier Island, which is surrounded by shallow waters. At the start of the season, the island is covered by over six feet (2m) of snow, which over the season, melts to reveal our rocky island. As such, at the beginning of the season, we had to dig our way onto the island and into the buildings!

Digging out the steps (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

Maggie, our wildlife monitor, leads us in our penguin counting duties, and we also conduct regular shoreline debris picks – not to mention having to navigate the island every day. We genuinely couldn’t have done these tasks without our XtraTuf boots. 

We can traverse through snow, water and rocky climbs with ease and also feel safe from slipping and sliding, which is important when you consider how safety is paramount whilst working here. This particularly comes into play when the snow has melted. You would assume we’d be working with dry hard surfaces, but the snow melt reveals a lot of historic penguin guano that they continue to add to, year after year, and so a lot of our routes can become very slippery and mucky. 

The team sporting their XtraTuf boots (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

The waterproof boots also keep our feet warm and dry, which is great when living in an environment like this because wet feet would make our lives pretty miserable, especially with how long it takes to dry out socks! They also look really good! We love the brown and cream toe caps and when we visit ships, we never fail to get complimented on them.

Iridium satellite communications

When we first arrived at Port Lockroy, we had to make sure our gas was connected for heating, our jerry cans were filled by the ship dropping us off at Goudier Island for water, and, the third vital component for our isolated safety, our comms were set up. 

For us, this was our Iridium GO! exec and satellite handsets. The ship that dropped us off at Goudier Island stayed with us until these things were in place to ensure that we were safe to be left alone which highlights just how important our Iridium system is to us and living at Port Lockroy. Whilst we do have access to some wifi on the island, satellite communication technology is still the most important system we have to keep us in contact with the world beyond our radio reach. 

Base leader Lou testing an Iridium handset (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

Our Iridium sat phone enables us to contact the UK and emergency health care backup options. Whilst on the island, we run medical drills to ensure we all have retained the important knowledge from our pre-deployment training, including ensuring we all know how to use the communication equipment. I’m delighted to say we have not had a medical emergency on the island but having the technology here with us really does make us feel safe and looked after should we need it.

Peli protective cases

Our Peli cases are such an integral part of life here at Port Lockroy. At first, we used them to securely carry all of our really important equipment down from the UK to Antarctica. We have to bring a lot of equipment with us because the harsh winters on the continent mean that temperatures can plunge low inside the buildings to store certain items like our comms and technical equipment. 

Storing comms gear in a Peli case (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

When you’re travelling for as long as we did to get here, we were grateful for the visual clue of the bright orange cases to know we still had all of our bags! This has continued throughout the season when we go on board ships to deliver onboard shops. As this year’s shop manager, I have co-opted the ‘The Small Peli’ and it has been great in carefully transporting our iPads and payment machines safely from the island to ships via zodiac rides. 

The team about to land at Port Lockroy (UKAHT/Dale Ellis)

I always know we have our tills when I see the orange hard case chained on and off the boats and I know they keep our tech safe. George, our postmaster, uses a second larger Peli case for our onboard post office items transporting postcards, postage stamps and ink stamps to our eager and excited onboard visitors.

If your business is interested in supporting our work, either through corporate sponsorship or by making a charitable donation as part of your CSR programme, you can reach out to our Head of Development, Camilla Johns at camilla.johns@ukaht.org. 

– Dale Ellis, Shop Manager, Port Lockroy