Antarctica trip - appropriate clothes

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  1. #1

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    Antarctica trip - appropriate clothes

    Are there any extreme sports or outdoor shops/chains in Hong Kong? I need to buy some seriously warm clothing for a trip to Antarctica.


  2. #2

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    Are you going to be there in Summer? If so, it's not that cold - only about zero or down to minus a couple of degrees, even at night (because it does not get dark except for a couple of hours). When we were there, just normal winter hiking or skiing clothes were perfectly sufficient.

    Layering is good - more thin layers are much easier to manage.

    Anyway, yes, there are some good outdoor/hiking shops in Mongkok - the best one I have found is on the corner of the Ladies Market and the street that you come out of if you come out of exit E of the MTR heading towards the Ladies market. (Sorry, not good with street names, I think it's exit E, near the one labelled "Bank" anyway). It's right on the corner, with a few hiking poles and then some stairs you go up to a really large store, next to a Lafuma shop (also not bad for outdoor gear) but this one is a technical shop so you would get good gear there.

    Another good one is in Yau Ma Tai - exit C of the MTR, then cross the little side road and go into the building opposite and upstairs (you can see the signs for the store in the upper windows - no signage as you enter the building though, the entrance is about 10m from Nathan Rd past the first shop which is an open one selling plastic junk).

    Back in Mongkok - there are a couple of average stores up in Langham place (more "fashion outdoor" gear than real outdoor gear tho); and also a few more past the Ladies Market near Argyle st (so about 3- 4 blocks from the MTR exit).

    If you speak Cantonese, just go to Mongkok and ask and people will help - otherwise I hope these directions are understandable!!!!

    Last edited by MovingIn07; 16-11-2008 at 09:53 AM.

  3. #3

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    The store described by Moving is Chamonix Alpine Equipment- pretty much the only really 'serious' mountaineering store in HK. It's owned by a Mr Chueng, the only Hong Konger who has done the seven summits. There are 4 stores owned by the same guy. You want the Exit E store, which carries more gear.

    Exit E, go forward two(?) blocks and look on the left hand corner. They have a website at http://www.hongkongclimbing.com/chamonix/chamonix.htm



    Chamonix carries Rab and Valandre down suits, I think the former being standard issue to the British Antarctic Base people. Then again, if you're just going in summer these may well be overkill.

    Last edited by jgl; 16-11-2008 at 10:51 AM.

  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    The store described by Moving is Chamonix Alpine Equipment- pretty much the only really 'serious' mountaineering store in HK. It's owned by a Mr Chueng, the only Hong Konger who has done the seven summits. There are 4 stores owned by the same guy. You want the Exit E store, which carries more gear.

    Exit E, go forward two(?) blocks and look on the left hand corner. They have a website at http://www.hongkongclimbing.com/chamonix/chamonix.htm



    Chamonix carries Rab and Valandre down suits, I think the former being standard issue to the British Antarctic Base people. Then again, if you're just going in summer these may well be overkill.
    Thanks for adding this info - I found it really interesting to know this too! I had figured that this was a good store but did not realise the history of the owner! We were looking at ice-axes in there last week and thinking what a good range they had - your info explains it!

  5. #5

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    Ice axes? Do tell- where are you going with them?

    I arrived in Hong Kong several years ago with a full complement of ice gear (axes, crampons, plastic boots, etc), and needless to say it all went pretty much straight into storage


  6. #6

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    We are looking at walking the Haute Route (Chamonix to Zermatt) in early June next year. It's a walk but being early we may have to go over a few passes with snow, so were thinking that ice axe and crampons would be useful. We only have limited mountaineering experience - did an 8 day mountaineering course on the Tasman Glacier in New Zealand about 10 years ago, and nothing much since, so we just wanted something really lightweight and "just in case" rather than too specialised! If it's too bad we will just find alternative lower paths!


  7. #7

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    That'd be a great trip- I've thought of doing it, but there's always the issue of time off.

    I assume that you know what gear you need, but if you need advice in the shop, the only guy to ask is Mr Cheung- none of the staff there really have much of a clue.

    Off memory, Mr Cheung basically started the store because he wanted a way to finance his climbing trips around the world. Turns out that he also had the good luck to get in early on a HK trend- people buying too much gear for the hiking around HK island . It's called Chamonix because that's where he went to study when he was younger. He's quite a cool guy.


  8. #8

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    Yeah - we've hiked a fair bit in NZ so we have most of what we need. Our current ice axes are pretty heavy though so we were looking to see what advances in technology had brought in the past 10 years!